Qatar’s emerging fashion industry

From brand new talent at Qatar’s first fashion school, to a design incubator in the heart of Doha, Qatar 365 explores the innovative collections of the next generation and discovers how Qatar is becoming a hub for fashion in the region.

One of the key centres of innovation is the oldest fashion and design university in the country, Virginia Commonwealth School of the Arts. The fashion programme helps budding designers from conception to final project.

Fashion graduate, Ayatallah Mohamad is part of a talented batch of fashion graduates, who showcased their designs in a catwalk show titled: “It’s history (non) repeating.” She explained her concept, “It's called Ana Ahli u Ahli Ana, in Arabic it means I'm my family and my family's me. We slowly take their traits and then decide what to keep and what to remove. That's when we become ourselves.”

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Hira Nisar’s collection was called “Swing Motion,” “It’s about my personal conflict of swinging back and forth between my Pakistani roots and my life here growing up in Doha. I combine that with modern embroidery and tailoring techniques.”

Christopher Fink leads the team of professors, all of whom have worked for international fashion houses, “We want our students to find their inner voice…and translate that into a collection. The journey of a fashion designer is really to be the voice of their generation.”

The graduates are now getting ready to start their own lines right here in Doha.

M7 is a series of studios, co-working spaces and incubation programmes designed to nurture new and upcoming designers. It’s a vital step in Qatar’s goal of becoming a knowledge-based economy. M7’s Director, Maha Al Sulaiti said, “We partner with