Noor Al-Thani, Mary Katrantzou, Jonathan Saunders, Roksanda Illincic and Holly Fulton

Spring has officially made it’s debut; what better way to celebrate it than spending a whole day shopping and ending it by meeting prominent London-based designers? Sara M. Bou-Hamra gives us the inside scoop on the regionally famed and hot ticket event that is the Haute Muse Event in Qatar.

Qatar witnessed a first of its kind fashion affair. Executed by Noor and Fatima Al-Thani, and Muneera Al-Mosallam – founders of Haute Muse magazine a new Qatar based fashion magazine – the Haute Muse event was a huge success.

Down-to-earth Noor and Fatima have been injecting the gulf region with high doses of mode since the launch of their blog “Hautecouturista” and “Hautecouturista street style.” They are no strangers to fashion; and have been documenting their fashion week runway reports instantaneously as well as shooting their own street-style inspired photography whilst still maintaining a conservative attitude that appeals to our Islamic region.

This is their second Haute Muse Event; the previous event they organized for Haute Muse Magazine was one which included a collaboration with the ever famous boutique “Matches of London,” Stylist Iman Pasha and the attendance of celebrity guest Olivia Palermo! Olivia was also featured as the cover girl for Haute Muse magazine’s first issue.

This second event by Haute Muse magazine consisted of two individual functions. The first function was an open-to-public shopping event where Haute Muse collaborated with Matches of London boutique to create a pop-up shop at La Cigale hotel, in Doha. Rows and rows of Spring/Summer 2011 coveted items from designers such as Celine, Lanvin, Isabel Marant and YSL were on display for shoppers. The items included ready-to-wear clothing, shoes, bags and accessories. Depending on your purchases, you can choose to take them with you or have them delivered to you within 3 days max. Also available to order were the Pre-Fall 2011 collections (which still haven't hit the shops yet) including exclusive items from guest designers Holly Fulton, Mary Katrantzou, Jonathan Saunders, and Roksanda Illincic.

As soon as the doors opened, items started flying off the racks, look books were flipped over and over to make sure not one item was overlooked and all the while waiters served Choowy Goowy desserts and hors d’oeurves to customers. The service was quite exquisite, interns of Haute Muse treated customers with their undivided attention by being always readily available to answer any questions and take orders.

Next was the soiree event to meet the above mentioned guest designers. Holly Fulton, Mary Katrantzou, Jonathan Saunders, and Roksanda Illincic as well as fashion consultant and stylist Iman Pasha were part of the crowd. Pasha was one of the major hosts at the event, since she had a large part in organizing it and bringing the designers to the region. It was extremely joyous to have the chance to chat and carry fashion-related discussions with the designers and meet them one-on-one. All of the designers looked stunning and carried multiple conversations with true charisma and esteem, some even wearing their own designs which were displayed in the previous shopping event. Stylist Iman Pasha wore a stunning yellow Holly Fulton special edition customized dress while mixing with the crowds making her and her bubbly persona very hard to miss. The designers and guests were decked in head-to-shoe fashion statements, and if you weren’t able to see what was beneath those Abayas then you could at least catch a glimpse of their gorgeous shoes, exotic leather vintage bags and mesmerizing fine jewellery.

The event was a wonderful chance to meet many of the Gulf’s renown fashion bloggers, designers, and fashion enthusiasts, making it a great way to socialize with those who support the industry. Kudos to all the hard work put in by Noor and Fatima Al-Thani and Muneera Al-Mosallam.

I highly recommend that all fashion aficionados support such hard work by following the Haute Muse Magazine Facebook page, and Twitter account @hautemuse_ . Keep on the lookout for their upcoming events, as I heard their third event is going to be as huge as the previous two!

Wajd Al-Sabah, Afrah Bou-Hamra, Iman Pasha, Sara Bou-Hamra
Iman wearing a straight off the runway dress from Holly Fulton’s AW11 collection
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