On Thursday, hitting a new milestone, Saudi Arabia continues its multi-billion-dollar entry with the first Saudi designer presenting at Paris Fashion Week into all aspects of the global culture.
Mohammed Ashi’s haute couture show, his first as part of the official roster after years of dressing top celebrities, is “the peak of my career,” he told AFP at a cocktail soiree at the Ritz Hotel in Paris this week, which is part of a lavish Saudi PR campaign throughout this fashion season.
Fashion is just one strand of a strategy that has seen de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman divert its oil wealth into movies, sports, video games, and tourism while overseeing dramatic social changes within the kingdom.
Yousef Akbar, 37, who began his eponymous fashion label in Australia in 2017 and had dressed the likes of Nicole Kidman and Rita Ora, said: “For the first two years, I almost didn’t believe it was real, but then I realized, wow it IS real.”
Moreover, Akbar, who now runs his business from Jeddah, added, ” I never thought when I was growing up that this would happen. When I started my brand in Australia, I thought my whole life would be there since I am a fashion designer”.
‘Big Opportunities’:
The Saudi elite already spent vast amounts on international luxury brands for events behind closed doors.
CEO Burak Cakmak says there are stable foundations of a homegrown industry.
He told AFP in Paris, “Just because the country wasn’t exposed to the rest of the world doesn’t mean they are starting now; I had an event for a brand this week that’s been running since the 70s.”
While the wider community has heavily influenced the fashion industry worldwide, LGBTQ people face severe repression in Saudi Arabia, criminalizing same-sex relations.
Susanne Koelbl, author of “Behind the Kingdom’s Veil,” said, “The authorities are certainly aware that many couturiers and designers are gay.”
She added that their approach is to” try to ignore it,” and the authorities ignore almost everything.
Koelbl said, ” Maybe you can’t dance naked on the table, but almost everything else is possible now, as long as your family is OK with it and you are loyal to the ruler.”
Further, she added, ” It’s a well-planned, long-scheduled reform process that is about to change society completely. The Saudi people don’t tend to be revolutionary, and for the vast majority, there are indeed new and big opportunities now, especially for women.”
The excitement is certainly genuine for those who are benefitting.
Moreover, Akbar also stated, ” It sounds cliched, but seeing something happen that we all thought was impossible is very inspiring for my own business.”
