Students shine

Entrepreneur Hamra Alam staged a colourful fashion show highlighting the creative designs of her three star students as well as the works of emerging designers over an exquisite gala dinner at the Ramee Grand Hotel and Spa over the weekend.

The 2014 Fashion Fair, which was organised by Hamra, the founder of Lights Camera Fashion (LFC), featured the stylish collections of Wid Zahid from Saudi Arabia and Eleganza from Khobar.

Also, Hamra’s fashion protégées, who have been learning the ‘ins and outs’ of the industry for the past nine weeks, presented their storyboards on the catwalk. They featured their journey from ‘pencil to paper’ to the final ‘masterpiece’. During the show they walked the crowd through the experience step-by-step before having models exhibit the outcomes.

I had a chance to catch up with the three students before the show to discuss the design process completed at Level 1 of the LCF course. 

Student Amina Albalooshi, a 24-year-old Bahraini, said: “I really enjoyed the course because it gave me all the tools I needed to complete the whole design process. My favourite part was painting the sketches.”

I was really impressed with one of Hamra’s young hearing-impaired students, Pakistani schoolboy Haitham Dar, 12, who is very talented and was sketching for the crowd before the show. 

I was told his father was an architect and figured he may have inherited his talent from his Baba because he started drawing at a very young age. 

While taking this course he found he enjoyed sketching for fashion and may very well decide to one day become a fashion designer. He designed a thobe for the event and ended up empowering the stage by showing that there were no obstacles to prevent him from becoming the artist he wants to become, thanks partly to LCF, which provides equal rights for all through its programmes.

The third student, Fathima Hussain, a 24-year-old Keralite, was inspired by Indian designer Manish Malhotra and shares his love for playing with colours. She said: “I started styling for friends when we went shopping and then I found this course. I really enjoyed sketching and doing my research searching for colours and different textures in the souq.”

Hamra was delighted with the excitement that emanated from the crowd due to the inspirational work of the students.  She said: “There is plenty of talent here in Bahrain but not enough encouragement. Bahrain lacks a fashion and modelling industry on an international level. And, where is the film industry? We are doing our level best here at LCF to educate more fashion designers that will create more jobs.”

The students now progress to Level Two where the focus is on branding. They will take a trip to India in order to visit factories and see how fabric is made. The end goal is to design a whole collection that will be exhibited in November.

Level Three brings a recognition trip to Europe to get to know the buyers, showcase the designer labels and receive accredited certification.

The event raised investor interest and BD320 was donated to the Rehabilitation Institute for Autism (RIA) in Adliya.

For details on Hamra’s courses for adults and children, visit www.lightscamerafashion.net or contact 37773986.