Jean Paul Gaultier Fall 2017 Couture
New dates have been announced for the first ever edition of Arab Fashion Week in Riyadh. The five-day event, which was meant to kick off on March 26 in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, has been postponed. It will instead take place on April 10-15. Riyadh’s Ritz Carlton will play host to the event.
Jacob Abrian, CEO of the Arab Fashion Council, explained in an official statement that the reason the event was postponed was to accommodate the international guests attending. “The Arab Fashion Council is overwhelmed by the incredible feedback that we have received from the local and International fashion community,” he said. “The decision for postponing the event was made simply so that we are able to accommodate all the international guests who had applied to attend. We are extremely thankful for all the trust and support that we have received to make it happen.”
Echoing on his statement, Miss Layla Issa Abuzaid, Vice Chairman and Executive Director for Saudi Arabia at The Arab Fashion Council, added: “Since the initial announcement made in February, Arab Fashion Week Riyadh has garnered significant interest from International guests wishing to attend. Given this important historical moment for the Kingdom, the AFC together with the GEA and the participating designers have collectively taken the steps to postpone the dates in order to be able to welcome guests from all over the world, which we are only able to do by taking some additional time.”
The programme for the five-day event will remain the same. An earlier schedule, which has since been removed from Arab Fashion Week’s official website, featured ready-to-wear and pret-a-porter designers from all points of the globe, including the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Italy, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, the United States, and Saudi Arabia. Arwa Al Banawi, Reem Kanhal, Aiisha Ramadan, Yanina, and Basil Soda were among the designers set to showcase their collections.
International designers slated to participate in Arab Fashion Week with the aim of tapping into the Middle Eastern market include honorary guests Roberto Cavalli and Jean Paul Gaultier. In addition to runway presentations, there is also trunk shows held in partnership with Harvey Nichols in Riyadh scheduled to take place throughout the five-day event.
Arab Fashion Week, which is organized by the Arab Fashion Council in partnership with the British Fashion Council, represents 22 Arab countries across the region. The AFC, which recently launched an office in Riyadh, was established in 2014 and already hosts an annual fashion week in Dubai.
