21 countries going on 22. The world’s most popular fashion magazine has just added a new country to its ever-growing collection. Let me introduce you to Vogue Arabia…

Although Vogue Arabia is still very new (only launching online in October 2016 and the print edition on sale this month), the magazine has already created a lot of buzz. It’s attracted over 120k followers on Instagram (@voguearabia) plus 200k likes on its Facebook page-quite impressive after just four months. With this in mind it’s safe to say that fashion lovers, both in the region and around the world are thrilled to have their own Vogue. Too often, this part of the world is over-shadowed by the major fashion hubs of London, Milan and Paris.

The Middle East needs recognition of their style, culture and designers so could this latest version of Vogue be an aid to this? Having lived in Dubai for seven years myself, I think there is a huge appetite for luxury fashion in the region. Furthermore, there is a burgeoning local talent made up of lots of young and not so young designers, photographers and artists.

One hope shared by many is that the launch of Vogue Arabia will help empower women in the Middle East by creating an opportunity for them to be more vocal on an internationally recognised platform. However there’s already question of whether the platform is really being used to promote true arabic talent.

The issue in question is over Gigi Hadid being the coverstar of choice for the first edition. Depsite her being quarter Palestinian some are calling Vogue out for encouraging westernisation from the off by having such an American icon on the first cover. However Hadid is arguably the most popular model in the world right now – also on the March covers of Vogue China and British Vogue. I think it’s okay that she is on the cover, as such a big name will go a long way in promoting this new branch of the publication and getting it off the ground.

Cover Image: http://www.fashiongonerogue.com