Emirates Fashion Week Dubai 2025: A Global Stage for Regional Talent
Across its recent editions, Emirates Fashion Week has positioned itself as a launch pad for emerging and mid-size labels, rather than a single-headline-designer show. Coverage of past seasons highlights brands such as Alisia Fiori, Icona by Stile, Boulas, TopTato, Kibovskaya, From Luna and Alessandro Borelli as examples of designers who have grown with the platform and returned to show new collections.
For 2025’s Spring/Summer 26 season, organisers trail a mix of around 40 local and international designers, spanning kidswear, couture and ready-to-wear. The aim is clear: give Dubai-based designers a serious runway, while welcoming labels from Europe, the CIS region and beyond who want to test the Gulf market.
For regional brands, sharing a schedule with international names – and showing in front of buyers who fly in specifically for the event – is a powerful step towards export. For international designers, the appeal is access to a young, luxury-hungry consumer base and a city that increasingly sits on the global fashion map.
Beauty, Awards and the Emirates Fashion Week Ecosystem
One of the most interesting parts of Emirates Fashion Week Dubai 2025 is how it integrates beauty into the fashion conversation. The week has developed a close partnership with the International Deluxe Beauty Awards (IDBA) and related beauty events.
In April 2025, Emirates Fashion Week wrapped with a Beauty Showroom Day and the Deluxe Beauty Awards at Skylight Gallery – a finale that brought together beauty brands, skincare technologies and fragrance houses alongside the fashion crowd. The November 14th-season shows continue that spirit, with plans for beauty activations, product discovery zones and crossover collaborations between designers and beauty labels.
For readers, that means this is not just a runway week – it’s a space where you can literally shop the looks: from the dress on the catwalk to the lipstick, facial or hair treatment used backstage.
Emirates Fashion Week Dubai 2025 and Dubai’s Fashion-Hub Strategy
Dubai is openly competing to be the fashion capital of the Middle East, and Emirates Fashion Week sits alongside Dubai Fashion Week, retail festivals and industry summits in that strategy. Reports on Dubai’s wider fashion calendar emphasise how the city uses fashion weeks, trade events and cultural programming to attract global buyers and align itself with Paris, Milan, London and New York.
Emirates Fashion Week plays a specific role in that ecosystem:
Access for emerging labels – Over 300+ designers have reportedly shown with the platform across its history, giving smaller brands a staged, professional runway environment and media exposure.
Industry networking – The week includes portfolio presentations, pre-launch parties and buyer meetings at Skylight Gallery, all geared towards connecting designers with retailers, stylists and investors.
Innovation experiments – For the 14th season, Emirates Fashion Week has even launched an AI Advertising Contest, inviting creatives to design AI-powered campaign concepts for partner brands; shortlisted work is showcased during the week.
Together, those elements show how Dubai uses the runway not just for aesthetics, but as part of a bigger economic story around creative industries, tourism and soft power.
What to Watch This Season
For Niche readers looking ahead to Emirates Fashion Week Dubai 2025, here’s what to keep an eye on:
Which regional labels break out – Watch how GCC-based designers use the platform to sharpen their storytelling, from modest eveningwear to experimental streetwear.
The beauty–fashion crossover – Expect more news from the Emirates Fashion Week x International Deluxe Beauty Awards partnership, especially around new hero treatments and niche fragrances making their Dubai debut.
Audience and street style – With hundreds of guests, influencers and buyers attending across four days, the front row and outside-venue style is increasingly where you see how Dubai locals actually wear luxury – abayas layered with couture jackets, sneaker-and-suit mixes, and regional jewellery styling.
