This February, Dubai Fashion Week will welcome Alberta Ferretti as Guest Designer, opening the Fall/Winter 2026/27 season with a presentation that brings Italian restraint to the region’s global fashion stage. It marks the maison’s first full-scale runway show in the Middle East, and a meeting of two fashion capitals united by cultural confidence and a shared appreciation for refinement.
Announced by the Arab Fashion Council, the appointment signals more than a high-profile debut. It reflects the steady evolution of Dubai Fashion Week into a platform where heritage houses enter into dialogue with a region actively shaping its own fashion language. For Alberta Ferretti, a maison defined by emotional intelligence and precision rather than excess, Dubai offers a natural setting attuned to nuance, craftsmanship, and a contemporary vision of femininity. The collection unveiled will speak to Alberta Ferretti’s enduring codes of fluid silhouettes and a belief in clothing that carries authority through movement and restraint, not spectacle.
The maison’s story begins in 1968, when Alberta Ferretti opened a small boutique in Cattolica, Italy. From that intimate beginning, shaped by intuition and a deep understanding of how women dress, the house grew to Milan Fashion Week, the founding of Aeffe Group in 1981, and an international reputation for poetic, quietly powerful design. While the brand has since expanded across categories, its philosophy has remained remarkably consistent.
Since its launch in 2023, Dubai Fashion Week, developed by the Arab Fashion Council in partnership with Dubai Design District, has established itself as a conduit between regional creativity and the global fashion conversation. Welcoming Alberta Ferretti as Opening Designer further affirms Dubai’s role not only as a host city, but as an increasingly influential cultural interlocutor on the world stage.
