The idea of seeing a fashion show in Riyadh fascinates me! From what I've heard, Dubai is the shopping capitol of the universe, which is noteworthy, because this is a part of the world where women are expected to cover themselves from head to toe. Dubai Fashion Week would be an excellent change of pace if I could afford the plane tickets and the cost of staying in a hotel room with solid gold toilets.

Dubai Fashion Week will take place from the 5th to 9th of October, 2008 at the Godolphin Ball Room in Jumeirah Emirates Towers, another good reason to visit if you're middling royalty (Jumeirah owns the Essex House in Manhattan, the hotel I got married in, and their service and amenities are completely peerless). Designers that showed in Riyadh at the most recent Fashion Week in March include Amal Murad and Hend Halawani, who design high-end hijab, Arifa Ali, who presented red-carpet worthy draped gowns that reminded me of Rami Kashou's collection at New York Fashion week, Deeya Nanda, whose collection looks like she designs for rock royalty, and Lamia Asudari, whose ideal customer seems to be a hot mom (you know the acronym) with a penchant for science fiction movies.

I love the fact that ancient and modern, Eastern and Western, modest and sexy are all mixed up. It's even better that most of the designers in this masculine-dominated world are women. But my favorite collection for clothes I would actually wear is Charu Parashar, whose fall palette of plum, gold ,grey and periwinkle was so sophisticated it would suit royalty (and it probably will do that, literally).

Ms. Parashar's fall fashion show was clearly influenced by her Indian background and consisted of modern interpretations of classic Indian dress merged with a hippie look featuring flowing skirts, ombre and wallpaper pattern fabric and offbeat accessories. It kind of looks like the teenaged daughter of a Bollywood superstar raided her grandma's suitcase and put together something fabulous. It's so against the perfect stylist aesthetic that I just have to love it. I can't wait to see what she shows for spring!