Traditional elegance or the latest celeb styles – what do Middle Eastern brides really want when it comes to their wedding dresses and jewellery? The Bride Show has some unexpected answers to that question! The annual wedding event, comprising The Bride Show Abu Dhabi and The Bride Show Dubai, has just revealed the results of its survey. Read on for a sneak peek at the findings!
The survey, which included over 700 ladies, discovered that brides in the region clearly prefer classic fashion to celebrity fads. Think Kate Middleton over Kim Kardashian!
Out of the total number of women who participated, just under half (46 per cent) said that they preferred a traditional wedding look, like the Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen dress worn by the Duchess of Cambridge at her wedding to Prince William in April 2011.
The actual demand for Kate-style wedding gowns was high in the region too. Joumana Al Hayek, Owner and Head Designer at Dar Sara revealed, “The British royal wedding had a huge impact on our clients’ tastes. Over the past few months we’ve been asked to copy Catherine’s dress, or to design something equally as elegant. It is interesting to me that her dress was quite close to the Arabic tradition, which favours a covered, graceful and luxurious style."
Scoring much lower on the wedding dress popularity charts in the survey was Kim Kardashian. Less than a third of the survey respondents (23 per cent) said that they wanted to copy the style of a celeb like the reality TV star, whose marriage to Kris Humphries lasted just 72 days. Kim had three wedding dresses, all designed by Vera Wang, when she married Kris in August 2011.
Elaborate couture was the next leading pick in the survey, with 27 per cent of brides choosing it for themselves. Bohemian style did the worst, with just about 4 per cent of the women surveyed choosing it.
