After success abroad, Saudi designers hit the runway at home

RIYADH

Couturier Adnan Akbar's past clients included Princess Diana and two French first ladies, but until recently he had never staged a major fashion show in his native Saudi Arabia.

The 74-year-old, dubbed the "Saint Laurent of the Middle East", was among the most decorated designers at this year's inaugural Riyadh Fashion Week, a milestone in a country that used to require women to wear hijab headscarves and abaya robes in public.

On a runway set up in Riyadh's financial district, in front of a mixed-gender crowd of Instagram influencers and diplomats, models donned more than two dozen of Akbar's floor-length gowns, and one wedding dress sewn from French lace.

It was a world away from most prior fashion shows in the Gulf kingdom: small, women-only gatherings in private homes or, in one famous example, a public show that did away with models altogether, hanging dresses from flying drones.

"It's a huge change, what's happening now," said Abdullah Akbar, Adnan's son and managing director of the family brand.

"I think the world is seeing how creative we are, the strength of the designs that we have."

But as the Saudi government extends previously unheard-of support to veterans like Adnan Akbar along with up-and-comers bringing out their first collections, it remains to be seen whether authorities can develop the infrastructure needed to support them.

The Saudi fashion industry last year accounted for $12.5 billion, or 1.4 percent of national GDP and employed 230,000 people, according to a report by the official Saudi Fashion Commission.

Under the right conditions, the report argues, the industry could become "a major driver" of de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's Vision 2030 reform agenda, which aims to transition the world's biggest crude oil exporter away from fossil fuels and transform it into a business, sports and tourism hub.

One challenge will be lowering the current dependence on imports. In 2021, the kingdom spent $7.3 billion on imported fashion goods, the fashion commission report said.

With that in mind, Riyadh Fashion Week was structured to showcase local talent rather than well-known international designers.

Beyond Adnan Akbar and Mohammed Ashi, who has dressed celebrities including Beyonce and Zendaya, the line-up was rounded out by Saudis with much less visibility overseas.

"We are basically creating curiosity around a group of designers that have never been explored and seen from outside," said fashion commission chief executive Burak Cakmak.

The fact that these designers already have "healthy businesses" at home points to the strength of the local market, Cakmak said.

Projects like a new manufacturing space, the commission's first, expected to open in Riyadh next year, will help keep more of these brands' value chains in the country, Cakmak said, potentially making fashion more of a force for the non-oil economic growth authorities want to see.

"Ultimately, our goal is to build the local economy," he said.