Kuwaiti Couture?

This one's for all you ladies, because "you gotta lotta 'splainin' to do!"

In our new blogger NYChick's rant on my post from before the Eid, she went off the rails on several issues that annoy her in Kuwait, most of which we've talked about before... But the one that caught my attention is this latest phenomenon/fad/هبّة of some delusional young Kuwaiti women who call themselves "fashion designers", but are really just some untrained girls with spare time, a sketch pad, a few Filipina seamstresses, and unlimited access to some of the "less than tasteful" fabrics from البلوكات. The majority - if not all - of these "designers" specialize in درّاعات (i.e. nothing any sane woman would wear in public) as evidenced by their ads in the papers before Ramadan to announce their new collections just in time for all the private social gatherings and غبقات to come. And of course, the ones that hit the jackpot are the designers who manage to dress Kuwait TV's various female personalities during Ramadan, thus inflicting their eye-sore designs on an unsuspecting audience beyond our borders.

From what I understand, a small number of these young ladies are actually pretty good but just need to refine their technique a bit; a few courses in a specialized fashion academy wouldn't hurt. But the overwhelming majority of them are just plain terrible and tasteless, and are only supported by their friends and family out of obligation, and of course by their colleagues at the ministries since that's apparently where they show their "creations".

Don't get me wrong.... a local fashion industry and young Kuwaiti talent are definitely things to be encouraged, but only if done right and with proper guidance and training.

And yet.... now that we're on this subject.... how come NONE of these so-called designers make day clothes that women can wear to work, for example?