Conde Nast, UAE announces $250,000 Arab Fashion Prize

Seeking to cultivate home-grown design talent, Style.com/Arabia and the Dubai Design & Fashion Council (DDFC) have announced they’ll host an annual contest for Arab “ready-to-wear” fashion designers.

Winners will receive cash and benefits worth an estimated $250,000.

These include a financial grant, the opportunity to produce a capsule collection for sale on FarFetch.com, a year of mentoring, media coverage, and an advertising campaign.

Eligibility is limited to women’s wear designers who predominantly work in the Arab world, as defined as Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, the UAE, and Yemen. Applicants must have been in business for at least one year and no more than seven years, backed by a team of professional staff or a production facility
The award selection committe includes Tim Blanks (Style.com), Peter Dundas (Creative Director, Roberto Cavalli), Suhair Murad, Stephanie Horton (CMO, Farfetch), Patrick Chalhoub, Nez Gebreel (DDFC), Shashi Menon (Style.com), and Afef Jnifen.

The preliminary application deadline is May 15, 2015. Apply at http://arabia.style.com/fashionprize/.