Emirati designer wins prestigious ADMAF x Dolce&Gabbana award for cultural fusion

Abu Dhabi's Maitha Alansaari, an Emirati fashion designer, has been awarded the prestigious ADMAF x Dolce&Gabbana Design Award 2025. The honor comes with a six-month internship at Dolce&Gabbana's Milan atelier, beginning in January 2027. Sponsored by the Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Foundation (ADMAF) and the Italian fashion house, the competition challenged emerging designers to reimagine the traditional Emirati abaya through floral, lace, patchwork, hand-painted, and embroidered elements.

Alansaari's winning design, titled "A Journey Woven in Fragments," weaves together patchwork motifs from Emirati heritage with Italian design traditions. Employing digital printing and hand-applied embroidery, the piece is a statement on identity, as Alansaari herself described. In her winning design, Alansaari highlights the dialogue between Emirati traditions and Italian craftsmanship, showcasing how the two cultures can coexist through innovation and storytelling.

Alansaari will spend six months in Milan, interning at the renowned fashion house, to hone her skills and learn from the world's most iconic brand. Competing for the top prize were two other Emirati designers: Fakhra Almansoori with "Lace Mirage," an interpretation of the black abaya inspired by the dunes of Liwa, and Mohamed Alowais with "Ethereal Being," a modern version of the Emirati mukhawar that incorporates lace, beadwork, and archival motifs.

All three designs will be displayed at Dolce&Gabbana's boutique on Al Maryah Island, Abu Dhabi, for six months. The award's organizers have opened applications for the third edition, inviting Emirati designers aged 18 to 35 to submit their concepts before November 16, 2026. The selection jury, chaired by ADMAF founder Huda Alkhamis-Kanoo, includes representatives from Dolce&Gabbana Alta Moda, media executive Asma Al Fahim, artist and designer Azza Al Qubaisi, and Marie Genevieve Cyr of Istituto Marangoni Dubai.