DUBAI: The Islamic Fashion Design Council (IFDC) just wrapped up a successful modest fashion event in Dubai after six days of meet and greets, fashion shows and pop-up shopping opportunities. Dubbed Pret-A-Cover Buyers Lane, the inaugural showcase of cutting-edge modest fashion took place from March 28 to April 2 in Dubai’s chic City Walk shopping district. Event organizers put on startling, tech-savvy shows using a high-definition projection system that showcased 90-second videos by each of the participating designers. The multi-platform projections included water curtains for holographic effect and LED screens, which gave designers a powerful platform to bring their brand to life. “We’re trying to be revolutionary,” Alia Khan, chairwoman of the IFDC, told Arab News before the event. “We felt that the fashion week model presented a lot of issues for the industry which weren’t being addressed. Designers weren’t getting proper exposure, orders weren’t getting placed, and people weren’t able to connect with their work in a meaningful way. We wanted to create a base for engagement.” The self-declared “modest fashion and design week” took place between 10.00 a.m. to midnight every day and sought to turn the conventional fashion show format on its head through a program of video shows, interactive pop-ups and social media competitions. A raft of international designers took part in the event, including Talabaya, a brand that describes itself as the result of a marriage between Middle Eastern elegance and minimalist European style, and Huda Nagassi, an Atlanta-based brand founded by business mogul Andre Amos, marketing guru Jabari Abdullah Huda Salaam and fashion designer Yasmin Hu. Other notable design houses that took part in the event included The Modist, The Hijab Lee, Astel and Blue Meets Blue. Pret-A-Cover Buyers Lane took place with the support of the Dubai government’s Islamic Economy Development Center and came at a time when modest fashion is gaining mainstream interest across the board, with several retailers and brands — such as Dolce & Gabbana, Uniqlo and Burberry — entering the field. The estimated $250 billion international industry is projected to grow exponentially to be worth almost $370 billion by 2020, according to a recent Global Islamic Economy report. Headquartered in New York, the IFDC has offices in 10 countries and is seeking to encourage the success of the modest fashion and design industry by ensuring the major players have access to an international market of style-savvy consumers.