Dubai Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2026 looks at the future from the past

Gulf Today

5 days ago

Dubai Fashion Week (DFW) returns to Dubai Design District (d3) this year, September 1-6, with an expanded Spring/Summer 2026 edition that attempts to push the boundaries of fashion's future, while honouring cultural heritage and craftsmanship. Building on the success of its Fall/Winter showcase, the September edition is aimed to strengthen the event's position as a global platform for creative expression, commercial opportunity, and cross-cultural collaboration.
Co-founded by d3, the global creative ecosystem by TECOM Group PJSC, and the Arab Fashion Council, the goal of DFW is to project high levels of design excellence, anticipate trends and include diversity of presentation. The SS26 footprint will extend citywide, with invite-only presentations, private dinners and collection launches hosted by global brands and industry stakeholders.
'As d3 celebrates over a decade of nurturing design excellence, this new and expanded edition of Dubai Fashion Week shows how we have grown together,' said Khadija Al Bastaki, Senior Vice President of Dubai Design District (d3). 'With a rich legacy of influencing the regional landscape, DFW is actively championing sustainability, innovation, and diversity in the global design narrative, cementing Dubai's position as the destination of choice for fashion and creative talent from around the world.'
Models display Dima Ayad dresses.
Mohammed Aqra, Chief Strategy Officer, Arab Fashion Council, said that 'with new countries joining our runway, a strengthened Buyers Programme, and transformative conversations led by Threads Talks, this season represents a powerful evolution of our platform. We're not just showcasing collections – we're building a creative economy rooted in diversity, design diplomacy, and long-term commercial impact. DFW SS26 is a bold statement of where fashion is going, and the world is watching.'
The new season marks a significant global milestone as Germany, the Netherlands, and Croatia make their official runway debut at DFW; it further reinforces the platform's growing influence and international reach. Among the newcomers are Maison Novague from Germany, Chic & Holland from the Netherlands, and XD Xenia Design from Croatia, each of whom will bring individual creative narratives and cultural aesthetics to the runway. The couture calendar's diverse mix of global talents features Maison Rizman Ruzaini (Malaysia), Heba Jasmi, Michael Cinco, Kresha Bajaj (India), and Erick Bendaña (Nicaragua), as well as Maison Novague and Chic & Holland.
A presentation by Etoile La Boutique.
The ready-to-wear lineup welcomes a notable cohort of returning and first-time brands such as Weinsanto (France) supported by the Federation de la Haute Couture et de la Mode, British Iraqi designer Tara Babylon, Les Benjamins (Turkey), XD Xenia Design (Croatia), Jozéph Diarbakerli (Canada), Fioletowy and London School of Trends (India), Linen Obsession, Otte, Benang Jarum, Nada Puspita, Jozeph Diarbakerli, That Concept, Buttonscarves, FLTRD, Dima Ayad, Lili Blanc, Mrs. Keepa, Lama Jouni, and BLSSD from the UAE.
DFW's strategic media partner, Meta, returns with Threads Talks V4.0 – a thought-leadership series shaping the global fashion agenda from the heart of Dubai. The DFW September edition will feature cutting-edge panel discussions and exclusive seminars, spotlighting the most pressing industry trends and challenges. From shifting consumer behaviour to sustainability and AI integration, the sessions will convene global and regional buyers, C-suite leaders and brand consultants, to drive a future-forward, solutions-based dialogue.
Following its strong reception in the previous season, the Buyers Programme returns to the current edition with expanded regional and international participation. The initiative will host key department stores, concept retailers and online platforms from Europe, Asia, and the Middle East – facilitating brand discovery, B2B matchmaking, and private showroom access in Dubai's thriving fashion ecosystem. Fariba Pourkhajani is a Berlin based creative director and the visionary behind Maison Novague, a fashion house known for sculptural silhouettes and poetic minimalism. Fariba's creative journey began not in a studio, but in movement; it was shaped by years of life between Berlin, Paris, Milan, London, Los Angeles, New York and Dubai. Fariba approaches fashion as a language of identity.
Fashion from Les Benjamins, Turkey.
Faiza Talat founded Chic & Holland in 2015, thus realising a childhood dream of bringing her vision of exquisitely crafted dresses to the world. Based in the Netherlands, Chic & Holland designs and manufactures luxurious, hand-crafted dresses for special occasions in a woman's life. Each collection is dedicated to the purity of couture colour, refined texture and embellished details. The dresses are filled with mesmerising, delicately embellished patterns, embossing a glamorous silhouette onto the magic of colours. Each dress is handmade in the in-house atelier of the couturier, passing through at least 25 pairs of hands from start to finish. It ensures quality and a high level of craftsmanship in every silhouette.
Ever since it was established in the city of Čakovec, Northern Croatia, located around 90 kilometres north of Zagreb, the Croatian capital, by Ksenija Vrbanić in 1986, XD Xenia Design has been at the forefront of Croatian as well as global fashion. Through innovative and unconventional construction, combined with a style that bases its designs around specific personalities, the brand says it 'takes classic tailoring to a new dimension - to the XD Dimension.' This aspect pioneers a fresh way of fashion that focuses on expressing skillfulness, launching trends that turn into permanent markers. The label features sustainable and transparently created clothing that exudes confidence and femininity. XD Xenia Design's collections have been exclusively produced in Croatia since the brand was established, and the make has become a leading Croatian fashion studio, with an international face. It is one of the pioneers of Croatian fashion avant-garde, with more than 350 stores around the globe today.