Essa @ Soiree!

In the past I've covered my dear friend, Mariya Kassam's store Soiree and its' events a few times, like for example the Umar Sayeed fashion show or the more recent Umar Sayeed Sadequain collection at DFW. I don't really like covering events though as a) I rarely go to any, b) there are a lot of other great blogs out there who do the job a lot better, and most importantly, c) once you cover one friends' event, you'll be expected to cover everyone's, whether you're in attendance or not. My friends know better now than to ask or to expect a post from me on their event... unless of course it's ultra fabulous and I would do a post regardless. The last week saw two such great events take place in the UAE.. One was a dinner with Carolina Herrera in Abu Dhabi (which will be my next post), and the other was Soiree's third anniversary which also saw the launch of the freshly designed boutique and the introduction of a new partnership with the fabulous designer Essa!!

Fans of the boutique Sauce would be very familiar with Essa's designs and I dare say he is one of the most popular local designers in the UAE. He's known for his funky take on classic Arabic attire, or the reverse, using "ghutra" fabric in some very quirky tops and dresses. Though born in the UAE, Essa's parents are of Indian origin, and so it was only natural for him to take his design expertise and launch his first Transnational collection... and it was just a natural fit for him to partner with Soiree to do just that. It was the first time I met the designer and although I've seen his pieces all over the place, I'd never actually owned any of them myself... I fell in love on both counts! Not only is he an absolute darling who is so full of life and energy (and one of the funniest people I've met in a long time), he is also such a fabulous designer and his creations are crazy whacky, and just SO much fun! While the store was absolutely packed and I didn't get to take too many pictures, here are some of my favourites that I snapped up. If you want some really funky, different pieces for Diwali and want to be the talk of the party (in a good way that is!) definitely check out his work, selling exclusively at Soiree.

The pictures were taken on my iPhone so you can't really tell these are NEON colours in the outfit! A very trendy take on a classic look

This is my favourite piece of the collection! I couldn't snap a picture of it properly, but it's gorgeous baby pink, elasticated at the waist with a full sequins inner skirt that shows through the bottom.

I fell in love with the prints on the kaftans! Here's the man himself holding the one I bought

There were many floor length flowy more traditional outfits as well... I loved this one on the mannequin 

Here's Mariya with Essa!

The event was organized by the fabulous Image Nation, and you can check out Red Velvet Nation's coverage of the event here to see what all the fashionistas at the event had on!
Also do go "like" Soiree's facebook page to be up to date on all the events of the store, here
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