São Paulo – The São Paulo, Brazil-based haute couture designer Emannuelle Junqueira had her first-ever parade in an Arab country. Her designs were featured at the Arab Fashion Week in Dubai, UAE late last October under the Brazil Noble project, alongside other Brazilian haute couture brands. The purpose of the project is to showcase Brazil’s high-end fashion industry across the Middle East.
“The brand is setting off on a new path. Bringing our DNA to a country with such a distinct culture from our own is a very positive thing, especially as a business,” Junqueira told ANBA via email. The designer did not travel to Dubai for the event. Her designs have been on sale at the AAVVA Fashion store in the emirate since the parade. This was the brand’s first-ever point of sale abroad. Mid-October saw the brand become available in France.
Junqueira has plans to branch out into the entire Gulf and all Arab countries, although her initial focus is on Dubai. She doesn’t have a clothing line purposely designed for Arab women. “In my eyes, Arab women are drawn to the DNA of what we do here in Brazil. The idea isn’t to compete with what they have, style-wise, but rather to provide our ‘perfume’ to them.”
The Emannuelle Junqueira brand has been in business for 20 years now. It designs impart a sense of female freedom on the altar, and women’s quest for emancipation. The dresses reflect the shifting behavior of brides in the past decades. “We have a mission of persuading women to allow themselves to be free, to celebrate love their way. There are no rules when it comes to the dress, the ceremony, or the codes.”
A wedding market icon, Junqueira designs exclusive, handmade items that can be found in her studio in São Paulo’s Higienópolis neighborhood.
Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
