Qatar will witness a burgeoning fashion scene due to the growing interest of young and aspiring designers to pursue their careers and establish their own businesses, Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts (VCUarts) in Qatar fashion design assistant professor Nayla al-Mulla has said.
“I think in the next three to seven years, the boom will really happen in terms of fashion design (in Qatar),” she told Gulf Times  Friday on the sidelines of Shop Qatar’s Design District, which concludes Saturday.
Opened on January 5 at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Centre, this new and unique concept brings together the biggest names in fashion and makeup from the region and beyond aimed at “cementing Qatar’s position as an emerging fashion and style hub.”
Al-Mulla said VCUarts Qatar, established 20 years ago, has a track record of its students and graduates who have gone through education and now ready to assume positions.
“We have been hearing about our students and graduates who have big plans in terms of production units and building their own companies as well, whether in marketing or design,” she pointed out.
“We’ve started seeing the fruits of that especially with everything that’s happening economically in the past two years, it has given the country a really big push in that sense,” she said, citing Qatar’s openness as an emerging hub for fashion, as well as sports and tourism destination.
She lauded the Qatar government and its various agencies, including the Qatar National Tourism Council, in supporting the fashion industry in the country coming up with events and initiatives such as Shop Qatar and its Design District.
Besides fashion shows, VCUarts Qatar also hosted a series of workshops that talk about various topics such as design and sustainability, illustration, and “everything that goes into what makes a good designer and industry,” and “about what we do in the university as well.”
The District brings a colourful showcase of local and international pop-up shops, cafes, fashion shows, workshops, masterclasses as well as engaging design dialogue all under one roof.
Al-Mulla said the District provided their students and other designers in Qatar a platform to showcase their works and a place where conversations about design and fashion take place.
“I think it’s a good start, it is a platform where designers can get together, showcase their work and the main thing is have conversations about what is happening in the industry and all of that, it has the potential, it’s a good seed at the moment,” she added.
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