Dubai-Shops We Love/ Designers We Love

Ritzy glitzy Dubai has the biggest, tallest, daffiest shopping malls (a trip down the piste of our indoor ski slope to go with that Prada skirt, madame?) but the city’s 50 million square feet of shopping space is so tiring to navigate. We prefer to stick to the manageable little Village Mall, Jumeirah, where the hip local Emirati girls - aka the “funky shillahs” (shillahs is basically a group of very cool, young and trendy individuals) - shop. We love S*uce (pronounced “sauce”?) the hip boutique owned by Fatima al Mazrui and Zayan Ghandoor for joyfully bright clothes by London’s Alice Temperley, Pakistani designer Eissa and the fabulous Emirati accessory and t-shirt line called Pink Sushi designed by the adorable Raghda Bukhash.

Raghda customizes the traditional clothing of her culture, making handbags and i-Pod holders out of the fabric used for checked male headscarves (the fluoro-yellow ones ARE traditional in the Yemen). Every Middle Eastern country has its own check; in Dubai they wear the red and white which is also very common in Saudi; in Palestine black and white is more common. As Raghda, who is Mutahajiba, (which means she doesn’t show her hair to men who are not related to her), says, “All the guys really get shocked when they see my stuff! The fabric I use is traditional, it’s not religious, they do a double take. I’m not going to do anything to hurt my culture.” Ragda adds, “just because I wear a scarf doesn’t mean I don’t speak English and I’m not educated. I’d like to be a successful businesswomen, I’d like my brand to represent Arab women to a large audience and show we are not just rich kids who don’t do anything. I’d like to represent my country and my culture in the wider world.”?

Also check out her t-shirts with Arabic slogans, which translate to such things as “shake your hips little duckie” , her “I love DB”? badges and customized handbag trinkets.