“So you’re in Dubai now, but if you could live anywhere in the world, where would you be?” an Emirati artist asked me a few days ago. My answer? “Dubai.” I can explain. Next year, it will be a decade since I pitched up in the UAE with two suitcases and a dream the same week that Karl Lagerfeld debuted his Chanel Cruise Dubai – an oud-scented love letter to heady Arabian nights in an lantern-strewn show space built just for the night on an off-shore, man-made island. It was a brave move for me, but it felt like more of a risk to stay still.
However, as someone who seeks much of my sense of identity, conversational touchpoints and place in the world from being in amongst the current cultural moments – the newest exhibitions, the hottest performances, the latest openings – the seeming disconnection from the vibrant theatre, dance and music scene I knew hit me hard. I would have to wait two years before Dubai Opera opened its doors, bringing the world-class classical music and musical theatre I grew up with to the emirate, and until 2017 for the Louvre Abu Dhabi.
Since my arrival in the city of superlatives, a lot has changed both in the UAE’s creative landscape, and more importantly how I feel about my role in it. The psychological shift from seeing myself as a consumer of culture to being a contributor playing a part to help shape and document it was most important realisation I made to transform own my perspective.
I’m in good company. This spring sees Louis Vuitton launch the Dubai City Guide as the first Middle Eastern destination in its series, celebrating many of my favourite contemporaries and co-conspirators, guest edited by Butheina Kazim who started Cinema Akil, the region’s first art house cinema, and featuring fashion designer Faiza Bouguessa, founder of the covetable brand that bears her name, among others painting a more authentic, elevated and nuanced picture rarely portrayed in the popular culture that’s exported from the emirate.
This month saw the first Dubai Fashion Week – a partnership between Dubai Design District (d3) and Arab Fashion Council – which promised to “cement Dubai’s position as a global fashion capital”, from 10-15 March 2023. According to Khadija Al Bastaki, Senior Vice President of Dubai Design District. “Where there was Paris, Milan, London and New York, there is now Dubai. From economic activity to tourism and creativity, Dubai has carved its own space among the world’s cosmopolitan capitals, and fashion is one industry boosting its status. All eyes are now on the Middle East for fashion and creativity, and now the sky is the limit.”
Yet this is resolutely not an account of how Dubai has finally won the approval of the international fashion cognoscenti, or gained the recognition of European luxury brands that matter. This story is far more exciting than that. It’s the opportunity to dream bigger, change the narrative, challenge established ideologies, and write the next chapter. Let’s make it one that goes down in history.
My advice to those struggling to make Dubai feel like home? Dance, discover, love, make art, make a difference, be part of something, be drawn towards those who share your dreams, find what that stirs your soul, and if it’s not here, create it. This will turn Dubai from a curious habitat that’s so far away from home into a city that will change your life the way it’s changed mine.
ALISON TAY
@THESTYLEEDITOR
[email protected]
