A New City on the Fashion Week Circuit

16-02-2025
Fashion Weeks’ from the ‘big four’ are well documented; New York, London, Milan and Paris have been long established on the designer Fashion Week circuit. Elsewhere other major cities have followed suit to ensure industry trade and media exposure. Cities such as Tokyo, Moscow, Lisbon and Sydney have been making their mark, and now Riyadh is set to join them.
A selection of the world’s top fashion houses and designers will be taking part in Arab Fashion Week Riyadh, the first official fashion week held in the Kingdom.
The Arab Fashion Council (AFC), the world’s largest non-profit fashion council representing all 22 Arab League member states, said in a statement that Arab Fashion Week Riyadh will take place from 26th to 31st March at the Ritz Carlton.
The milestone event has attracted big designer names such as Jean Paul Gaultier and Roberto Cavalli and is supported by the Saudi General Entertainment Authority (GEA).
“The first Arab Fashion Week in Riyadh boasts an impressive line-up of international and regional designers, which includes legendary French designer Jean Paul Gaultier, Russian renowned designer Yulia Yanina, famous Lebanese fashion house, Bassil Soda,” AFC said.
The first official Saudi platform will also be showcasing the latest collections by Saudi designers: Reem Al Kanhal, Arwa Al Ammari, Mashael AlRajhi, Arwa Al Banawi, and Alya Al Sawwaf. Other highlights include: Maison Alexandrine (Brazil), Naja Saade (Lebanon), Aiisha Ramadan (UAE), Asory House (Egypt), Bibisara (Kazakhstan), an Mua Mua Dolls (Italy).
Commenting on this important event, Princess Noura bint Faisal Al Saud, Honorary President of AFC, said: “We are proud of the significant progress achieved by the Arab Fashion Council in Riyadh, as we announce the first Fashion Week in the history of the Kingdom.
“We are excited to see the fruits of the effort to launch this event in a relatively record period, and we thank the global support shown by the International fashion community, which strongly reflects the firm position of Saudi Arabia not only as an economic force, but also as a cultural and creative hub. This is a new era that we are witnessing, an era where ‘only dreamers are welcome to join’ to use the words of HRH Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”
Headlining this inaugural event is the Italian brand Roberto Cavalli. Gian Giacomo Ferraris, CEO of Roberto Cavalli Group commented: “Saudi Arabia and the Pan-Arabic world has always embraced the Roberto Cavalli style, at the same time its rich culture inspired the brand profoundly. We are honoured by the invitation of HH Princess Noura Bint Faisal Al Saud and the Arab Fashion Council to open the very first edition of Arab Fashion Week in Riyadh and to be part of this historic moment for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia”.
This is latest move by the Kingdom to affirm its vision to transform the fashion Industry and retail sector in Saudi Arabia into both a regional and global destination by encouraging trade exchange and global business in line with the Vision 2030 and the “National Transformation Plan”, with the objective of reducing oil dependency and increasing revenues from other sources, AFC said in the statement.
Arab Fashion Week Riyadh 26th to 31st March