Wednesday 18 / September / 2024
Muscat: Conde Nast International conference in Muscat came to an end on Thursday, with the presence of Huda Kattan, the world renowned beauty blogger and influencer, who has a cult like following across the region and is based in Dubai.
In her conversation with Suzy Menkes, International Vogue editor and curator of the conference, Kattan, the founder of @hudabeauty, discussed the organic creation of digital beauty as a power point of social media, successfully building more than 18 million followers on her Instagram account by ‘being true to yourself.’
Kattan went on to discuss changing perceptions in beauty, with two clear trends, on the one hand a move towards homogenous beauty with east meeting west creating a more consistent beauty, while at the same time a sense that people are embracing individuality, whether a gap in their teeth or freckles.
Pierre Denis, chief executive officer (CEO) of Jimmy Choo, spoke about where he sees future opportunities for the accessories industry in the Middle East and beyond.
During the session, ‘In Online: A Road of Its Own,’ José Neves, founder and CEO, Farfetch, Morin Oluwole, head of Luxury, Facebook/Instagram and Yasmin Sewell, fashion director, Style.com, explored the factors shaping the future of luxury retail, from technology to smart cities, artificial intelligence to payment services, generational changes in virtual reality.
Some other speakers included Rania Masri, general manager, Level Shoes, Chalhoub Group, Edgardo Osorio, creative director and president, Aquazzura, Raffaello Napoleone, CEO of Pitti Immagine, Pascal Mouawad, co-guardian, Mouawad Group, Tarang Arora, creative director and CEO, Amrapali, Caterina Occhio, founder and CEO, See Me, and Noor Fares, founder, Noor Fares. The co-lead partners for the 2017 conference were Place Vendôme Qatar and Oman Air, host sponsor was Omran, destination sponsor was the Ministry of Tourism, and the car sponsor was Genesis. The seminar took place at the Shangri-La Barr Al Jissah Resort & Spa, on April 5 and 6. Maha Al Lamki from Oman was instrumental in helping bring the conference to Oman.
Host sponsor Omran—Oman’s Tourism Development Company—supported a few well reputed Omani SMEs and gave them space at the conference venue. Omran is a master developer of some of Oman’s iconic projects, and also the main partner in the conference.
“We made sure that we were involving some Omani SMEs, which were relevant to the theme of the conference. So we gave them some space here outside the venue; this was done so that the SMEs could interact with the delegates at the conference and perhaps make some fruitful collaborations with them,” said an Omran official.
Leadership workshops
A day before the conference, more than 100 Omani entrepreneurs and students benefitted from seven leadership workshops organised by the Conde Nast international conference speakers.
According to the official, this was the first out of the three conferences, where Conde Nast conference speakers held these knowledge sessions for young entrepreneurs and students.
The workshops were designed to provide Omani youth with insights from pioneers in the luxury and fashion sectors, and to enable them to benefit from their international success stories.
The workshops focused on topics, including jewellery design and development, travel, filmmaking, media and publication, technology, marketing and design.
Portugal will be the next destination for the Conde Nast International Luxury Conference, where its focus will be “The Language of Luxury,” it was announced by Menkes in Muscat immediately at the end of the second day.
“‘The Language of Luxury’ is one recognised the world over, and yet is something that can so easily become lost in translation or interpretation. We will address how today’s luxury industry operates with fewer geographical boundaries, whether real or imagined, with far greater global travel, and with ever-higher expectations from its consumers, unravelling the lexicon of luxury for this new world order.”
The inaugural Conde Nast International Luxury Conference took place in Florence in 2015, followed by Seoul, Korea last year, and the Mindful Luxury Conference came to an end in Muscat on Thursday.
‘The Language of Luxury’ conference will take place on April 18 and 19, 2018. Further detail will be announced in due course.
