“Egyptian women are beautiful, but need to be more open to the international fashion world to better show that beauty”. These were the words said by five young Egyptian designers, who participated recently in the Salon de Pret a Porter in Paris, and presented a collection for Fall/Winter trends 2010/11. The five won the competition made by the Fashion and Design Centre (FDC), a joint project between the Egyptian Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Italian fashion institute, Instituto di Moda Burgo, based in Milan, in order to speed up the development of the fashion industry in the Middle East. The Egyptian Young Designers competition aims at creating a young generation of designers able to compete with international fashion designers say organisers. The competition includes designers from all regions, who after presenting a portfolio of designs, have been selected by a jury with members from the fashion field worldwide exporters, as well as international fashion magazines editors. Zeinab Zeidan is one of those young designers. Her love of fashion started very earlier. When she was nine, her mother would sew her clothes and the little Zeinab would help her, but she didn't build on her fashion design hobby until last year when she met with an Egyptian fashion designer, Mohamed Dagher. Training with him for six months, she knew then that she wanted to join a design school, and after finding a newspaper advert about the FDC, Zeinab successfully applied. Using materials like velvet, chamois' and silks, patchwork and appliques, she presented 14 items in Paris, including dresses, skirts and blouses. "I was so proud of myself, my colleagues, the FDC and my country. We were the only Egyptians to present our fashions and our designs were equal to our peers in the Salon de Prete Porter Paris exhibition," Zeinab, 37, told the Egyptian Mail. For Nehal Hommos, who studied in the fine arts decor department, being a fashion designer is not a difficult matter. Her parents encouraged her when she discovered her love of designing. "When I was in my third year I discovered my fashion passion, so I decided to improve my skills by studying fashion design and pattern making in the FDC,” Nehal, 24, said. Heba Ahmed graduated from Faculty of Arts, French department in 2004 and worked for some time as a French-language teacher and translator. Despite that, like many Egyptians who end up working in careers far away from their studies, she has found her way to designing. Studying couture at FDC, her designs are distinguished by using new and different raw materials, by blending different materials such as leather, wool, integrating different types of leather and adding embroidery. “Before arriving in Paris, I feared the standard of the Egyptian designs compared with the designs offered by the countries of the world, but what we have seen is a level of equality in terms of design and raw materials,” Heba, 29 said. “I was very happy when they specifically commented on my designs,” she added with joy. Mohamed Taha, the youngest of the five, is a 22-year-old student in hi last year at the Faculty of Commerce at Egypt's Suez University. When he was child, he adored playing with colours and his friends and relatives noticed this as he put together his outfits. "I told myself, why don't I start to draw my ideas on paper," he said. He started drawing and painting and mixing colours together whilst watching TV fashion shows. For him, any woman in the world can be fashionable and exciting, but she must know and understand the type of clothes that fit and suit her body. For 25-year-old Osama Adel, his uncle is the one who discovered his hobby when he opened a clothes factory. Despite the fact Osama studied media, he believes that designing is his own way to success. He used to draw the designs, which his uncle then used to create his clothes. Osama believes his style is all about simplicity. Since FDC opened in 2003, more than 1,500 designers have graduated, said Italian Stefania Gulina, the director of FDC. "We chose the winning selected designs according to the latest international fashion standards and the ability and skill of turning the designs from the imagination into reality," she added.
