Saudi Arabia Fashion Week 2018 Riyadh

LONDON: The stage is set for the first major fashion week in the Kingdom and every bit designers from across the region frantically run up on the final sequin and trim those pesky hemlines, Arab News shares exclusive insights from Princess Noura bint Faisal Al-Saud, honorary president of the event organizers, Arab Manner Council (AFC), who shed calorie-free on the importance of this seminal sartorial effect in Kingdom of saudi arabia.
With the marketplace for luxury brands well established in the Kingdom, some of the biggest names in international style are attending the issue, which kicked off last night with a glittering opening ceremony. Italian way business firm Roberto Cavalli, French couturier Jean-Paul Gaultier and Russian designer Yulia Yanina will all exist in attendance, as volition British luxury section store Harvey Nichols, which is hosting a series of trunk shows with the AFC.
Attendees can await an eclectic array of designs reflecting the cosmopolitan character of Arab style and will get a forepart row seat as the fashion industry's who's who from across the Middle East showcase their latest innovations.
"A lot of things have been changing in Saudi arabia…. now nosotros tin invite everyone to come up here and be a part of this change. Nosotros have so many talented designers in this country and such a love for fashion. Now we can show that to the world," Princess Noura told Arab News.
"What we're doing is a manner result, but it'southward beyond that: We're opening doors to so many other things also," she added. The promise information technology that the inaugural Arab Way Calendar week in Riyadh will set a precedent, bringing the land'southward burgeoning way sector to the earth's attending while raising the profile of other industries in the Kingdom.
Past inviting people from every part of the world to see Saudi arabia, the issue seeks to promote tourism, attract foreign investment and create employment opportunities, all of which are "pillars of Vision 2030," Princess Noura said.
"It's non but almost women buying clothes. It'south virtually the knowledge they can proceeds past being creative, challenging people to think outside the box and bolstering creative industries beyond the board."
Last Dec, the state stepped into the style spotlight when the AFC announced plans to open up offices in Riyadh, claiming a spot on the Center East's fashion map amid bold statements that Kingdom of saudi arabia was to be a new hub for the region.
But information technology was news that the adjacent Arab Style Calendar week would be hosted in Riyadh that went global earlier this year, communicable the international fashion customs off guard as they rushed to secure a seat for the set of shows.
Demand for the event exceeded expectations, promoting organizers to postpone so they could increment chapters. Interest from the international community has been "really optimistic" and bodes well for an event that will "marking history," Princess Noura said.

The first Arab Fashion Calendar week in Riyadh is set to run from April 10-fourteen and is taking place in the metropolis'southward Ritz-Carlton hotel. With more than xiii way designers taking part — including renowned Lebanese-Italian talent Tony Ward and brands from Kazakhstan, Egypt and the UAE — it is the ideal opportunity to introduce the region'southward brightest fashion stars to the Saudi market.
This will no doubt go a long fashion in supporting plans to develop a mode city in Riyadh, creating a destination "with all the fashion brands in one place" as part of a push button to encourage more than global fashion houses to establish a presence in the Kingdom, according to Princess Noura.
"A lot of Arabs travel to Europe and the U.s. to purchase wearing apparel. The idea is that they volition exist able to do this in their ain country," she said. "It'south a really heady market for brands… Arab people care about wearing fashionable clothes every day. We dear to dress up, to evidence our sense of fashion, and that is really appealing for designers."
By alluring strange brands to establish a presence in the Kingdom, she hopes to "bring something new to the country" while building on a wealth of homegrown talent that lays the foundation for a flourishing manner industry that could reach across the region.
"I'd like to see brands hither that don't exist in many other parts of the world and (I would like) to have manufacturing done in Saudi arabia, creating more jobs for women," Princess Noura said.
She isn't the only 1 with high hopes for the country. Jacob Abrian, the 26-year-erstwhile CEO of the AFC, has similar dreams for the Kingdom.
"I'k so proud of Vision 2030. Not only does it support Saudi Arabia, but information technology volition brand it the hub of the Arab world… I'thou proud to say that (the land) is going to surprise everyone around the world in a peak-notch style," he told Arab News.

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