Event | Nilara Christmas Reception

Last Monday evening, I had the pleasure to attend a Christmas reception at Nilara in Paola, house of locally designed evening and occasion dresses.

photo courtesy of Nilara Facebook page

For those new to the shop, it has only opened its doors 8 months ago in April and despite it being so young, the brand has already accomplished a good number of milestones with the pinnacle of them all being sponsoring the latest edition of the Mercedes-Benz Malta Fashion and Week and Awards last May where Nilara showcased some of their designs during the Awards night and they even had their own VIP area.

The owner and designer, Nilay introduced me to her brand and brand manager Donna Borg Leyland (Miss Malta 2013), has guided me through some of the dresses while we waited for other guests to arrive. Nilay explained how she designs the dresses herself and has them sewn at their atelier in Turkey and one thing I really liked is that the designs are quite exclusive and there are only two or three sizes available for each garment.

The shop decor really struck me in a good way - it feels as if you have just entered a princess' dressing quarters with evening and cocktail gowns for all tastes lining the walls of the shop and girly decorative ornaments adorning the shelves. Nilara also offer a selection of shoes and bags as well as jewellery to match your dress.

The event was quite an intimate one where I had the pleasure of meeting some amazing people from the fashion industry who are very passionate about what they do. All of them have worked with Nilara but the one collaboration that struck me the most is the project run by Ekaterina Camilleri, Queen of The Planet. This is essentially a contest, which aims at bridging a friendship with Russia and Malta through a beauty pageant. Ekaterina also led the publication of a calendar which was shot at various palaces one finds in Malta, featuring twelve Russian women who are married to Maltese husbands and their kids. The aim of this calendar is to help girls at a Russian oprhanage and the Creche of the Ursuline Sisters here in Malta with the funds collected between the participants. Nilara's contribution to this project is the donation of a dress that was showcased at Fashion Week for auction and all proceeds will go towards the Ursuline Sisters.

I really enjoyed my time at the event and time passed really quickly over the Proseccos and delicious food we were served. I would like to thank all the staff at Nilara for the invitation and hospitality and with a family wedding coming up next year, I know where I will be getting my dress from!

Nilara is situated at Mater Boni Consilii Street in Paola and they offer dresses for special occasions at affordable prices. For more information kindly check out their page on Facebook.