The opening of Festival Avenue in 2023, will host more initiatives to support Egyptian designers, as well as open more doors for local talents, who can add to the fashion sector.
Recently, three emerging Egyptian designers; Amna El Shandaweely, Fatma Mostafa, and Mina Tahir were announced as the winners of Cairo Fashion Experience, which is a unique scouting project developed by Cairo Festival City Mall (CFCM), in collaboration with “Vogue Italia”, and took place from the 25th of November 2021 till the 10th of May 2022.
The three aforementioned designers, who were selected from hundreds of applicants who will get a chance to be mentored by Vogue Italia, attend and exhibit their collections at Milan Fashion Week in September 2022, and last but not least, Cairo Festival City Mall will also offer those finalists a pop-up display at Festival Avenue; Cairo Festival City Mall’s upcoming luxury expansion.
Speaking of the winners and their collections, Amna presented her work as an expression of Egypt heritage and of local artisans’ craftsmanship; Fatma combined her artistic background with the passion for embroidery and jewelry, thus creating sophisticated and unique pieces; and Mina explored her Egyptian roots through a cosmopolitan approach with strong influences from a street-inspired style.
The project has drawn hundreds of brilliant fashion enthusiasts, who have shown a strong desire to take their talents to an international level, given the fact that this opportunity is happening for the first time in Egypt. When it comes to the project’s jury, it comprised this field’s most talented experts, along with a list of renowned celebrities, who know what it takes to break through in the fashion world.
In other words, the jury members included; Elisa Sednaoui, Model and Social Entrepreneur, Heba Abdallah, Head of Marketing Al-Futtaim Malls, Arab film star Hend Sabry, WFP Goodwill Ambassador, Manuel Arnaut, Editor-in-Chief of Vogue Arabia, Mounaz and Aya Abdel Raouf, Founders of Okhtein, Sara Sozzani Maino, Head of Special Projects Vogue Italia, and Veronica Etro, Creative Director of Womenswear for Fashion Label Etro.
Heba Abdallah, Head of Marketing Al-Futtaim Malls stated: “We are thrilled to announce the winners of Cairo Fashion Experience Project, who were shortlisted by a prestigious jury of experts. I would also like to thank all the rest of the participants for their exerted effort, wishing them all the best in their upcoming journey. At the end of this project, we are happy to be highlighting the portfolios of some promising, Egyptian talents.”
Abdallah added: “We are proud to be contributing to the fashion industry by opening up new opportunities for the next generations of local fashion designers. I believe that creating shared values through empowering those talents is a driving force towards positioning Egypt among International players in the industry. And we will be proudly supporting those rising talents to display their inspiring designs at Festival Avenue.”
Sara Sozzani Maino, Head of Special projects at Vogue Italia, said, “The overall level of the projects we have received during these months have been a surprise and also a confirmation of the talent of Egypt's new generation of designers. We are very proud of the selection the jury has done. The 3 designers represent different examples of creativity from a more traditional approach passing by the clash of different cultures with also a focus on art as inspiration.”
Cairo Festival City Mall’s role in enriching the fashion realm in Egypt will not stop with the end of Cairo Fashion Experience Project, as with the opening of Festival Avenue in 2023, the Mall will be hosting more initiatives to support Egyptian designers, as well as open more doors for local talents, who can add to the fashion sector.