Meet the Winners of the 2021 Fashion Trust Arabia Prize (2024)

In the pantheon of prestigious international awards supporting young designers—Andam, LVMH, Hyères, Trieste’s ITS—the Fashion Trust Arabia Prize is claiming its place as a glamorous (and well-funded) recent addition. The brainchild of Lebanon-born entrepreneur Tania Fares, FTA launched as a nonprofit initiative in 2018 under the royal patronage of Her Highness Sheikha Moza Bint Nasser of Qatar and her daughter and cochair, Her Excellency Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani. Intended to provide financial support and international recognition to emerging talents of the Middle East and North Africa region, it grants each winner up to $200,000 and offers business mentorships and sustainability training.

“As an Arab woman,” said Fares, “it was my dream to do something to help build a fashion community in the Middle East and put my expertise and knowledge at the service of talented designers.” During the years she spent in London, Fares partnered with Fashion East’s Lulu Kennedy, worked with the British Fashion Council, and founded the Global Fashion Trust. In 2017 she met with the Qatari mother-daughter duo, who are both active in promoting access to education and the arts.

The first edition of the Fashion Trust Arabia Prize coincided with the 2019 opening of the National Museum of Qatar in Doha, a stunning piece of architecture envisioned by architect Jean Nouvel and inspired by the shape of a desert rose. The pandemic forced last year’s edition of the prize to go virtual, but this week it returned to a physical format. Among those who traveled to Doha were Pierpaolo Piccioli, Virgil Abloh, Remo Ruffini, Juergen Teller, and Mugler’s Casey Cadwallader. The events were bookended by a Valentino party launching a capsule of haute couture abayas at the Islamic Museum and Virgil Abloh’s “Figures of Speech” exhibition, which traveled from Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art to Doha’s Fire Station. In between, the awards ceremony was held at the National Museum of Qatar with a gala dinner.

From the 700 applications received, the advisory board picked 24 finalists, six of whom received awards. Iraqi-born, Los Angeles–based Zaid Affas was the winner in the ready-to-wear category; Morocco-born, Amsterdam-based Mohamed Benchellal was awarded for eveningwear; Alia bin Omair was the jewelry designer winner; Bilal Fellah was granted the accessory designer prize; and French-Sudanese Abdelgader El Tayeb scooped up the Franca Sozzani debut talent award. This edition’s guest nation was Colombia, with designer Agustín Nicolás Rivero taking home the first prize.

Although individual and diverse, with aesthetic choices running the gamut from minimalism to flamboyance, the majority of the designers addressed social and environmental issues, emphasizing the need to protect local artisanal communities and preserve sustainable savoir faire traditions. “What I like is when I see identity and culture merge to become fashion,” said Piccioli. “I liked the variety of their experiences. You can feel an individual truth at the heart of each work.” Piccioli singled out the project of El Tayeb for its exemplary balance of good intentions, personal inspiration, and over-the-top aesthetics, rendered with pristine execution.

A graduate of Brussels’s La Cambre, El Tayeb presented a flamboyant collection celebrating traditional Sudanese dress through a contemporary lens, combining basket-weaving techniques with boldly colored, playful silhouettes. He works with fabric leftovers, scraps of leather, and recycled beads, which he transforms into imaginative textures. His affinity for artisanal weaving has caught the eye of Bottega Veneta’s Daniel Lee, and he was offered an internship at the label. “What I love at Bottega is how Daniel has pushed the traditional Italian intrecciato into a fresh new territory, very contemporary and playful,” he said. “It inspires me in the way I want to bring novelty to the techniques I’ve known since I was a child. Basketry is applied all around Africa to everyday objects, and I want to use it for fashion in an imaginative way. I want to bring my African heritage into the future. It will stay at the very heart of my work.”

Bogotá-based Rivero is on El Tayer’s wavelength. He focuses on the artisanal as a way of giving fashion a more meaningful and value-based relevance. His collection references traditional South American tropes like ponchos, capes, layered tunics, and square-cut jackets, made modern and no-gender via pure, functional cuts. Rivero works closely with craft communities in Colombia. “I travel across the country to stay with the artisans in their territories, where I understand the many issues they have to confront in their daily lives,” he said. “Colombia has been plagued by war for 60 years, and this has altered artisans’ capability to keep producing their work. They’ve been forced out of their lands to take up completely different jobs to survive, losing their traditional art and knowledge. My contribution is to give them a chance to reenergize their craft.”

Rivero sources most of the natural fabrics he uses in Colombia, but he also tries to activate a connection between different communities, inspiring a dialogue that can bring about fresh creative perspectives: “I import linen from India, for example, and I have it embroidered in Peru or Colombia, so the artisans have to connect, talk to each other, and learn new techniques. Today technology has made borders softer, and it makes for unexpected, fruitful connections.”

In her speech introducing the winners at the ceremony, Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani emphasized the importance of “glamour and sustainability coexisting.” A good example is the work of Benchellal. “I started in 2015, and from the very beginning and out of necessity I’ve always used deadstock, leftovers, and recycled fabrics,” he said. “I’m a one-man company; I do everything myself, from the design to the shipping. I didn’t have the means to afford expensive fabrics, so I had to be clever and reuse materials, and I’ve kept it that way. At this point, I don’t even know what to do with a yard of expensive silk!” Benchellal’s collection was a virtuoso exercise in controlled extravagance; his air-mesh gowns can be folded into the smallest suitcase and pop back up in perfect shape.

Affas takes a completely different approach. His work is resolutely minimal and functional, with no indulgence of decoration. “My father is an architect. I see myself more as an industrial designer than a fashion designer,” he said. “For me what’s important is the pure form, a concept of timeless luxury.”

Gherardo Felloni, the creative director of Roger Vivier, praised the winners’ individuality. “Their approaches to common issues—sustainability, environmental responsibility, the love for craft, no-gender identities—entail rather distinctive narratives, which is beautiful. The belief is there, embraced by all the designers—and it feels honest. I hope that their storytelling remains at the core of what they do.” Fabio Piras, M.A. fashion director at Central Saint Martins, agreed. “You can see the designers’ honest attention in celebrating their provenance, to collaborate with and enhance local expertise—to create special pieces, not only a ‘product.’ There’s authenticity and honesty in their artistic practices and in the way they present themselves. I find it promising.”