A star-studded line-up of international designers and top models may be taking centre stage at this year’s Audi Fashion Festival (AFF), but home-grown favourites

Alldressedup and Raoul are certainly not about to fade into the background.

Both labels will be presenting their fall/winter 2010 collections in AFF fashion shows at Ngee Ann City Civic Plaza’s Tent@Orchard.

Raoul will show next Thursday at 7pm and Alldressedup next Saturday at 5pm.

These collections made their debuts at showrooms in Paris and New York during the recently concluded fall/winter fashion weeks, and were viewed by buyers from top international retailers as well as members of the international fashion press.

However, this will be the first time the collections are being sent down the runway in a full-fledged fashion show.

“Singapore is our home and we wanted to show our support for the AFF by participating,” says Douglas Benjamin, the chief executive of fashion retailer FJ

Benjamin, which owns Raoul. “It will also give us a chance to invite the local press to view the latest collection.”

Participating in a fashion show for glitzy events like the AFF also helps to build a brand’s cachet.

A spokesman for Alldressedup, which is owned by local retailer The Link Group, says: “It is more dynamic to see the clothes styled and worn on models, instead of displayed on racks in a showroom. You get a stronger sense of what the brand stands for.”

Making a splash at the AFF should be a breeze for both brands, judging by their increasing popularity abroad.

Supermodel Elle Macpherson was spotted carrying a black Raoul clutch in

London in February, while Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi was photographed in a Raoul smocked sheath dress. A Raoul rucksack was also recently featured on Style.com, the online home of American Vogue.

American pop star Fergie was spotted wearing an Alldressedup necklace last December and the brand’s spring/summer accessories are featured in the May issue of American magazine Teen Vogue.

The five-year-old label was recently picked up by retailers Kika Ioannidou in Cyprus, Bossa Palma in Spain and Hip Cairo in Egypt.

Upscale boutiques Top Ten in Turin, Italy and the famed Vanilla in Britain will also be stocking the brand for the first time starting this year. This means Alldressedup now boasts a total of 65 stockists in eight countries.

Raoul, which roped in world-renowned fashion scout Joy Yaffe as consultant and American knitwear designer Tom Scott as collaborator for its fall/winter collection, is also growing from strength to strength.

According to Benjamin, the company is now more trend-conscious and offers 800 styles, up from 80 when it was first launched in 2002.
He added that while opening a Raoul boutique in the United States is on the cards, the label will concentrate on distribution in South-east Asia for now.

Raoul currently has stores in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, the Middle East and Australia. Its bags are stocked at Harrods in London and the boutique Tea Rose in Milan.

Benjamin also confirmed that the brand would make its debut in Rome, Tel Aviv, Casablanca, Moscow and Athens later this year.

According to him, a “well-known department store in Paris” is also in the process of finalising orders, while representatives from several major American department stores attended the brand’s New York Fashion Week presentation.

The Milan-based Yaffe, whom Benjamin met at last year’s AFF, says Raoul’s presence in New York is part of the growing force of design talents emerging from Asia.

“The talent from Asia is strong and Asia is getting more respected in the fashion world,” she says.