Missoni and Emilio Pucci in Abu Dhabi for Abu Dhabi Fashion Week

These two design houses represent generations of unbroken success and achievement in international fashion. Showing alongside them will be the rising stars of the Arabian fashion industry. The question is, who will become the Arabian equivalent of such great established designers?

Many contenders will be showing at the Abu Dhabi Fashion Week. Among them will be a group of young ladies from Abu Dhabi who are set to make history on Saturday at the opening night of the Abu Dhabi Fashion Week.

Twenty-one young ladies from the Sheikh Zayed Private Academy have spent the last months designing a fashion collection which will be shown on the runways of Abu Dhabi Fashion Week alongside the collections of the great Maestros.

The students at Sheikh Zayed Private Academy, aged between 15 and 17, have worked closely with Maven, the founder of the Abu Dhabi Fashion Week, in producing their collection and will have their designs worn on the catwalk by top international fashion models that have flown in especially for the event. The Academy Collection, inspired by Arab culture and traditions, will debut in front of crowds of international and regional buyers, fashion critics and media.

The opening night of the Abu Dhabi Fashion Week provides a magnificent encapsulation of everything that this Event is all about: the best of Arabian and international fashion from established international Masters through to exciting new Arabian Designers.

Following the formal Inauguration Ceremony the first show on the catwalks will be the debutant Collection from the Sheikh Zayed Private Academy, following this will be a Collection from Aisha Desmal, a fast emerging young Emirati Designer.

Next up will be Milia Maroun, a Lebanese Designer fresh from her triumph in Milano as the first ever Arabian Designer to show at the Milano Fashion Week.

The climax of the evening will be the assured, sophisticated Collection of Missoni, one of the oldest established and most respected fashion houses in Italy. These four wonderful Collections represent designers at different stages in their careers, from debutant to international master.

Following the Opening Night, the Abu Dhabi Fashion Week embroiders upon this theme: with Collections from established and emerging Arabian Designers showing their collections alongside the international stars of the fashion industry.

Emilio Pucci, a world famous and long established fashion house will be in Abu Dhabi, as will be Albino D'Amato a young Italian designer whose work is creating a great stir in the fashion capitals of the world. Designers from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and many other countries will be showing alongside these established names.

Alice Teeuwen of Maven, said: 'It is wonderful; there is enormous creative talent in this region and watching that talent emerge and blossom is very exciting. The importance of this event can be seen not only by the presence of great international designers at the Abu Dhabi Fashion Week, but also by the number of buyers, VIPs and key opinion formers from the international industry who are coming to Abu Dhabi, people like the Editors-in-Chief of Vogue and Elle from Italy, the CEO of Calvin Klein Europe and representatives of great fashion houses who are not showing such as Maria Luisa Trussardi. But fundamentally this is all about Abu Dhabi and the leadership role that it is playing in this industry in the region'.

A charity auction of the Sheikh Zayed Private Academy's designs will be held on the final night of the Abu Dhabi Fashion Week, Tuesday March 18, on the same day that Emilio Pucci's glamorous collection will be paraded - a fitting climax to a wonderful 'festival of fashion'.

Sponsors for the Abu Dhabi Fashion Week include ALDAR - the Foundation Sponsor - and Mubadala, Etihad and Emirates Palace. The Abu Dhabi Fashion Week takes place from 15-18 March at a specially constructed venue at the Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi.