MUSCAT FASHION WEEK: Pre-show thoughts

Major contents previously posted on www.howtolivelikeanomaniprincess.blogspot.com

Last night was the opening night of Muscat Fashion Week. This involved very badly following the directions on the map of our fashion week invite. My husband, being Omani, absolutely insisted that there was no parking after Riyam Park (despite ME INSISTING that the map said there would be) so we followed a train of BMWs to the back side of Riyam up the hill, so at least I felt reassured that we would not be the only ones late.

What I wore aka made in about 1 hour before leaving for the show. All photos, unless otherwise credited are my own.

Finally, after driving down a lonely curving hill in the night, we got back onto the main road, and lo and behold, a side for parking near the old entrance was opened. Through-out the year it is closed but for the event, Muscat Municipality opened it.

We drove up to the entrance, passed two Omani Armed forces guards, male, and then two Omani armed forces guards, female (or maybe they were ROP [Royal Oman Police]---whatever, they were wearing blue camo). I was following behind a gaggle of girls, and it was the first time in Muscat I've seen the trademark red sole of a Louboutin shoe. The Shatti [a fashionable district in the Capital] girls are all Manolo addicts. It was a ladies-only night for the crowd.

The few of the girls who entered just in front of me.

As I followed behind in their Louboutin-encased-footsteps, not a soul asked to see anyone's invites, and we were left to mingle in the pink air. The Omani dudes in uniform seemed to be intimidated by us. I looked for Omani fashion-blogger Shurooq Al Haremi, but disappointingly I didn't find her.

Photo taken from  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Muscat-Fashion-Week/103505283101327

MFW13 Presenter, Hiyam Al Jabri backstage. Photo taken from  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Muscat-Fashion-Week/103505283101327

The abayas were shoulder-padded with studs, or trimmed with corded rope-style Moroccan embroidery. I saw a few last season DAS abayaat, one turquoise trimmed with a belt, and another emerald green with floral embroidery from the shoulder to the wrist. The Dior lady bag was carried in "black" by many a hand, and all of the Birkens seemed to be tan leather.

This is her, backstage, in another jacket. Photo taken from  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Muscat-Fashion-Week/103505283101327

I saw a very tall and striking woman stalking magnificently across the pink-lit domed pre-show waiting area, with leopards pouncing from the padded shoulders of her jacket, and there was never a moment you would think she could slip in her precarious stilletos, so strong her personality seemed to me, a stranger. 

The Muscat Fashion week pre-show consists of mingling, and appetizers. I took a glass of fresh watermelon juice off a tray, and began searching the sea of faces for those familiar, wandering across the room minimally clad with silver and white cushions pressed against white everything else and bathed in tones of rose and fuschia.

I am not one of those people who minds being alone. It allows me to think and observe.

Despite this, a very exotic looking woman with almond eyes and blue trousers, smiled at me enigmatically as if I were free to join in with her crowd's conversations. I drifted away despite, and sat in the corner of the room, to watch the photographer's setting up at the foot of the catwalk.

I always find photographers to be fascinating people. How they see the world and are able to capture a moment of it is a skill that defies me personally. There's a glamour in that.

Sitting in the corner of a room is something I absolutely recommend if one is trying to take in the fashion pre-show.

Dior's lady bag was the bag of the night. Tan Birkens are apparently perpetually popular. It was from there, trying to just sit and take it all in, that I accidentally made friends with a group of lovely Omani girls from Sur. Maybe it did change how I photographed the actual runway show, but since they were so kind as ask me to sit with them during the show, I somehow couldn't say no, even though I had planned to sit somewhere else entirely [i.e front row, where Shurooq actually turned out to be sitting, directly in front of me, the irony lol].

Because I was late, it was a very short pre-show. You'll have to stay tuned for the actual event through my eyes.