In a year when a raft of firsts are sweeping Saudi Arabia, the Kingdom now has another one to add to the list. The first Saudi Fashion Week will be held next month, HH Princess Noura Bint Faisal Al Saud announced at a press conference in Riyadh on Wednesday. The sartorial showcase will take over Al Faisaliah Hotel and Al Faisaliah Tower in the Kingdom’s capital between October 21 and 25, and will welcome both Arab and international labels to the catwalk.
Princess Noura, organizer and host of the flagship event, revealed that “fashion is the ultimate language of the global culture” in a statement posted on the Saudi Fashion Week website. “Therefore, the Saudi Fashion Community was born from the need for a platform dedicated to all aspects related to fashion: education, design, manufacturing, trade and retail.”
The first edition of the Fashion Week will welcome designers including Arwa al Banawi, Yanina Couture, Yahya Al Bishri, Lama Askari, Dar Walid Attallah, and Robert Abi Nader, who will showcase their Spring 2019 collections. “I waited 25 years for something like this to happen in my country, and I’m extremely happy to be part of it,” Al Bishri told Vogue.me. The event will also host a showcase for six young emerging designers from Saudi, the names of whom will be revealed nearer the time.
Saudi Fashion Week follows April’s Arab Fashion Week, which was held for the first time in Saudi Arabia earlier this year. The show, which was organized by the Arab Fashion Council in partnership with the British Fashion Council, featured ready-to-wear and pret-a-porter designers from all points of the globe, including the UAE, 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, alongside international heavyweights Roberto Cavalli and Jean-Paul Gaultier.
The first edition of Saudi Fashion Week will take place on October 21-25, at Al Faisaliah Hotel and Al Faisaliah Tower in Riyadh. More information is available at saudifashionweek.sa
Now Read: The Must-See Looks From Milan Fashion Week (So Far)