Ever since I moved here four years ago I have been admiring the many dress shops all over town. I have lived in seven countries, traveled to many more, and have never seen so many sequins as I have here. My daughters and I can’t resist deciding which dress would look best on which of us at each window. So it was with great pleasure that I sat down with Fayza Hussein, owner of Privato Haute Couture in Khalidiya, and her Turkish designer for ten years, Sawal Orcun to learn more about what goes on inside those shops.
Here’s what Fayza shared with me…
“I love business in general and am not complete without it. I started at the age of eight in Egypt. Every day after school, I would go to my grandfather’s business and learn as much as I could. My husband is busy with his law practice, so I started two restaurants and a wedding and event catering company called Hamood Popular Restaurant for Wedding Services and Outside Catering. Then, eight years ago, I decided to delve into dresses and abayas. I love beautiful things, so why not make them? My daughter is in fifth grade and is anxious to open her first store too.
“There are two wedding seasons here, December – March and June-July. Most local ladies will average 10 weddings per season. What is unique about the UAE is that it is not fashionable to re-wear our dresses. Each dress is worn to only one event, and then it is passed along to a relative or friend. I send mine to family in Egypt. So the market’s need for dresses is always there.
“From start to finish it usually takes about two weeks to custom-make a dress. We have 13 fulltime tailors. Beads are hand-sewn to the garments. The finest fabrics are used. Sawal is very talented in creating dresses to compliment each woman’s ideas and figure.
“About half of our sales are abayas and the other half are dresses. Remember, the dresses cost more than abayas. And we make special abayas to be worn over the dresses as well. We also make jalabiyas, the dresses ladies wear under their abayas. They can be casual or more formal for evenings at friends’ houses.”
I asked Sawal why their abayas weren’t just black, like other shops…
“When I moved here from Turkey fifteen years ago, my first boss told me to make abayas. I had never designed them before, so I didn’t know they should be all black.
“I started to incorporate colours and creative styles. And you know what? Ladies bought them. Considering the average lady has about 35 abayas in her closet, and changes them over regularly, a little variety is what they want. Ms. Hussein was one of my customers. She liked my designs so much that she hired me when she opened her shop.
“Earth tone colours, such as blue and beige, with the black are very popular. We are also seeing kimono-style closures which can be left open, or closed, and big pockets, called busht. Pockets are something new to abayas.”
By Heather Long Vandevoorde, Ph.D.
