France's Fashion TV said to eye Dubai venture

French-based broadcaster Fashion TV has announced plans to open a restaurant and bar in Dubai, it was reported on Sunday.

Studio F at the Boulevard Jumeirah Emirates Towers, will be a fashion studio by day, restaurant and bar in the early evening and a late night VIP lounge by night, Fashion TV president Michel Adam said in comments published by Dubai daily Gulf News.

The 600 capacity venue will be located on the upper floor and is set to open mid-February, it said.

Adam was quoted as saying: “I am very excited by the opportunity to bring Fashion TV’s after-dark energy to the Emirates in the form of Studio F.

"I feel that the market here is now ready for us having experienced our previous events in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Dubai is the natural home of luxury, fashion and style and it is fitting that Fashion TV has a new home here."

He added that with 30 high definition cameras, the studio will be able to broadcast live satellite and Youtube feeds of in-house runway events and parties to its 500 million Fashion TV viewers around the world.

In 2011, Dubai was named as the location for the world's first Fashion Hotel, with more to follow in key fashion cities around the world.

Fashion TV said it had signed an agreement with the UAE's Al Habtoor Group to build the five-star hotel but no further details have been announced.

The hotel is set to be 30 storeys high and the exterior will display a projection using a 100 metre LED screen, broadcasting the latest Fashion TV highlights, Fashion TV said at the time.

Its 200 rooms will be equipped with the latest lighting and audio-video technologies and the hotel will also have a wide variety of restaurants, bars, lounges, nightclubs, spas and cinemas, as well as fashion-themed rooms.

Launching in Paris, Europe's fashion capital, Fashion TV's initial strategy was to obtain a global dominance of the fashion-broadcasting sector.

Today, the broadcaster reaches more than 350 million households worldwide.