What does it take to get the fashion press, fashion and beauty bloggers, Dubai’s shopperati, Ingie Chalhoub and the Al Futtaims under one dome-shaped roof? Why, a grand opening of the Fashion Dome luxury wing at the Mall of the Emirates, of course.

We’re basing our assumptions on our limited abilities for visual math here, but we’re going to say at least 100 fashionistas drove up to MoE to join the shopping celebrations and attend one of the biggest opening events since Fashion Avenue. Everyone was huddled around the ledge to listen to the speeches, get a glimpse of the opera singers, or just take in the view of a grand luxury retail destination. The event was like watching a personified Mall of the Emirates signal at the Dubai Mall and say “Bring it!”

We were also invited to check out a couple store openings that happened in conjunction with the event. First up was D&G, where we met buyer David Dessureault who chatted with us about styling and trend consultations. The store features the latest design concept straight from Italy, spread over 700 square metres of designer heaven, and is the largest D&G store in the Middle East (bigger than the one at the Dubai Mall, imagine that), and the third largest in the world.

The highlight of the new D&G store is the futuristic cluster of monitors that play videos from past runway shows. When we were there, they played the D&G AW 2010 show at Milan Fashion Week in February. But seeing as MFW SS 2011 has been concluded for like a week now, we suggest they update their video playlist to the new Spring line, just to generate some more buzz around the new collection among shoppers.

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