Live from Abu Dhabi: A Night of Innovation, Culture and Irish Design
16 designers, 5 esteemed industry panelists, a team of 20+ creative professionals, a pop princess, an astronaut and over 300 international guests and industry insiders gathered together in Abu Dhabi!
Hello Tech Powered Luxury listener, and now reader!
🎙️ This week, I’m giving a short recap on our first live event in the Middle East: Live from Abu Dhabi!
🌟 A warm welcome to all of our new readers this week! We’re thrilled to have you join our amazing community. Keep reading to discover everything about Tech Powered Luxury, our Community Rewards, and how this newsletter came to life.
💎 I’m Laoise O’Connell and I’m very excited to welcome you to this week’s edition!
Let Me Tell You About Live from Abu Dhabi✨
We’ve just wrapped up an incredible evening, Live from Abu Dhabi, dedicated to celebrating Irish creativity in fashion and design. Hosted by HE Alison Milton, the Irish Ambassador to the UAE, in collaboration with Tech Powered Luxury and supported by Enterprise Ireland and Tourism Ireland, this event was a massive milestone for Irish designers, showcasing their creativity on the global stage.
☁️ The night was an absolute dream! With the stunning backdrop of the Abu Dhabi oceanfront and a packed schedule of exciting events, the atmosphere was charged with positivity.
We welcomed guests on the carpet, with some being interviewed by the incredible Lorraine Keane and Triona McCarthy (catch up on our Instagram if you missed them!).
Then came the live discussion, where our host Ashley McDonnell moderated a thought-provoking conversation with global fashion, beauty, and tech innovators. The live podcast featured guests including Akash Mehta of Fable and Mane, Dr. Shawana Vali of By Dr. Vali Clinic, Rosy Temple of Magee 1866, and Jamie Ray of Buttermilk Agency, offering insights into the intersection of design, heritage, and the future of Irish excellence in the global marketplace. 🌟The podcast episode will be available to watch and listen tomorrow on Spotify.
At the heart of the evening was a show-stopping fashion show featuring over 40 looks on the runway from 16 of Ireland’s most celebrated designers, including Aoife McNamara, Triona Design, Magee 1866, Chupi, ALĒO, Melissa Curry, Bróg, Oceanus, Evelyn McDermott Millinery, Linen Shirt Company, Helen Steele, ANDTate, HEINTZ, Roisin Linnane, The White Era and Jennifer Rothwell. All of the looks were curated by stylists and visionaries Jess Colivet and Anne O’Shea. From timeless, locally-sourced Irish linens and tweed to contemporary creations, the runway was a true celebration of Irish talent.
The audience was brimming with pride and excitement for the future of Irish fashion. I personally couldn’t be prouder to have been part of it. 💖
🫶🏽 Our Partner This Season: Azure Communications
This season’s sponsor of the Tech Powered Luxury podcast is Azure Communications, and we’re thrilled to continue our partnership with them. For quite some time now, Azure has been our go-to provider for all things print and marketing. Whether it’s branded materials for our content, from print and direct mail to event invitations, they’ve been behind the scenes making it all happen.
If you’re looking for top-tier branded collateral, print services, or marketing support, we highly recommend checking them out. They took care of all our print materials for the event, and their work was absolutely exceptional. Take a look below!
You can visit them at www.azurecomm.ie or follow them on Instagram at @AzureCommunications.
Highlight of the Night: Ireland’s Pop Princess: Lyra
💎 To top it all off, we concluded the night with a private concert by Lyra. When I say EVERYONE was on their feet dancing and singing... I mean everyone! She completely understood the assignment and had the crowd moving just 15 seconds into her set.
Being surrounded by so much Irish creativity was incredibly inspiring. Speaking with each designer, artist, photographer, videographer and guest - there was so much pride in seeing such great Irish talent. 🇮🇪
Ashley McDonnell reflected on the evening:
“Live from Abu Dhabi was the ultimate celebration for Irish fashion, creativity and innovation. To have 16 Irish designers as well as the country’s top creatives across styling, photography, beauty, videography, music and more - it was a dream come true! The Middle East and in particular the United Arab Emirates are an increasingly important hub not just for over 12,000 Irish citizens based there, but also one of the fastest growing markets for luxury brands - meaning a huge export opportunity for Irish businesses. It was my absolute pleasure to co-host Live from Abu Dhabi alongside HE Ambassador Alison Milton at the Irish Residence in Abu Dhabi. Our collective vision was to bring the best of Irish design to the UAE and to provide them the platform to showcase Irish design in this market.”
It’s clear that the world is starting to really take notice of Irish creativity, and events like these are paving the way for even more global recognition. We already have exciting plans lined up and we’re so excited to share these moments with you. Stay tuned for more insider insights, behind-the-scenes content, and of course, take a look at more of the stunning moments from the night are on our Instagram.
We also hope you’ll tune in to the next podcast episode on February 25th to hear the live discussion - available on all podcast platforms. 🎙️✨
Plus, stay tuned for a special bonus episode this Friday with Anne-Marie Tomchak, where she and Ashley will dive into the intersection of AI, sustainability, and fashion innovation. It’s not one to miss!
Lastly, for Irish designers looking to take part in our next events - stay tuned! We will be doing an Open Call here on our substack for designers to showcase in our upcoming events. ⭐️
Thank you so much for reading!
Until next week,
Laoise 🖤
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💫 Who are we and what led us here today?
🎙️ Launched as a podcast on November 1st 2022 by Ashley McDonnell, Tech Powered Luxury has since nurtured a vibrant community of experts passionate about the evolving synergy between technology and luxury. We have reached over 20 million people through the podcast, social platforms and media, and have hit +500K downloads.
🪄 This season, our weekly newsletter will be curated by Laoise O’Connell, a luxury marketeer with experience in client relations and communications at fashion houses and global brands Chanel and Givenchy in Paris. Laoise has been a proud contributor to Tech Powered Luxury since Season 1 and we are excited to have her guide our content for the newsletter this season and look forward to the insights she will bring. 💎
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