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New models from a number of top-end brands including Balmain, Kenneth Cole, Marie Claire, Renoma and Lara D will be making their Middle East debut at the exhibition, which is generating significant "buzz" among trend-setters looking for the next wave of designer eyewear.
Spectacles and sunglasses are seen as major fashion accessories in the Gulf among both men and women, providing everybody with the opportunity to individualise their look.
"The new season is seeing bolder designs and more striking colours, with a range of stylish frames being released," said Jean-Philippe Van Hemden from Optivista, Belgium, one of the companies which will have a range of designer frames on show at Vision-X Dubai.
"We find the customers in the Middle East to be amongst the most educated and most excited about new fashions in eyewear, and we're anticipating a strong response to our display in 2006."
One of the major trends tipped for this year's exhibition is "frame innovation," which will see a variety of material and colours deployed to offer stylish and striking frames for glasses and sunglasses.
Vision-X Dubai 2006, the 7th Optical and Ophthalmic Exhibition and Conference is the region's largest industry trade event for eyewear dealers and eye specialists. The show will welcome Prestige Optique International, one of France's leading specialist optical design companies. The company specialises in the production of top of the range metal and plastic spectacles, distributed under its own brand names, including Jean Lempereur, Madison, Karavan and Airline.
As an industry, eyewear has changed significantly in recent decades, moving beyond the provision of spectacles and lens for those who need sight correction and support, and into the much more glamorous - and potentially profitable - area of high design and fashion. Companies now provide a wide range of frames, styles and accessories to complement the look of fashionable men and women everywhere.
As an exhibition, Vision-X Dubai has also undergone a significant transformation, from catering entirely to the medical side of optical and ophthalmic products and services, through to attracting trade exhibitors and visitors from the fashion and style side of the market. The exhibition and conference rebranded from its original title of Optical Middle East to support this change.
The event will also host the Vision-X Dubai Conference, a major meeting of world's experts in lenses and eye treatments, sponsored by Rodenstock, and Johnson & Johnson.
"Eyewear and optical products are part of an interesting and evolving market, in which both local and international companies are finding new customers and opportunities. Our role as the organiser of Vision-X Dubai is to ensure that the exhibition is adapting to provide the best possible showcase for these companies, and we're confident that Vision-X Dubai 2006 will provide the strongest platform yet," said Trixee Loh, General Manager - Events of the Dubai World Trade Centre.
Vision-X Dubai, the 7th Optical and Ophthalmic Exhibition and Conference, runs in Dubai from 12th to 14th February 2006. Conference will be on 13 and 14 February 2006. Day 1 will be from 10am to 5pm; Day 2 from 10am to 12noon.
Anne-Birte Stensgaard, Senior News Editor
