Lady Gaga showcases Dubai-based fashion designer

Dubai-based Filipino designer Ezra Santos (pictured below) had his work showcased to the world this week when American singer Lady Gaga posted a picture on her Instagram page wearing a dress from his latest collection.

On Sunday the 28-year-old, whose real name is Stefani Germanotta, posted an image in which she was wearing an embroidered cobalt blue dress from the UAE designer's recent Autumn-Winter 2014 collection called Jardin Majorelle. The singer currently has nearly 4.5 million Instagram followers.

Santos is not the first UAE-based designer Lady Gaga has showcased as she also wore dresses from the collection by Filipino designer Furne One while in Dubai for her first ever Middle East concert at Meydan Racecourse earlier this month.

The image may give a boost to Dubai’s fashion industry after the emirate slipped out of the top 30 rankings of the world’s most fashionable cities, compiled each year by the US-based Global Language Monitor and based on over 250,000 blogs, print outlets, and social media channels around the world.

Dubai was ranked 31st, slipping three places since last year’s list and placing it outside of the top 30. “A burgeoning global presence and the No.1 fashion capital in the Middle East,” the report said of the city.

“Couture ateliers in Dubai are like mushrooms that are sprouting every single day and in a few months these same outlets close shop,” Santos said in February, months before he was showcased by Lady Gaga.

“Couture in Paris is dead, but not in Dubai,” he added. “In the Middle East a lot of ladies want something that is really special. Some of the richest people can go and order Haute Couture, and I must say what’s keeping Haute Couture in Paris is that most of their clients are Middle Eastern.”