First Saudi at Paris Fashion Week underlines dramatic changes

AFP | Paris                     

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Saudi Arabia is continuing its multi-billion-dollar entry into all aspects of global culture, hitting a new milestone on Thursday with the first Saudi designer presenting at Paris Fashion Week.

Mohammed Ashi's haute couture show -- his first as part of the official roster after years of dressing top celebrities -- is "the peak of my career," he told AFP at a cocktail soiree at the Ritz Hotel in Paris this week, part of a lavish Saudi PR campaign throughout this fashion season.

Ashi forged his own path, having left the kingdom three decades ago, but his promotion to the top league is neatly timed as Riyadh announces its own fashion week in October and says new freedoms will create retail opportunities worth $32 billion a year.

Fashion is just one strand of a strategy that has seen Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman divert its oil wealth into movies, sports, video games and tourism, while overseeing dramatic social changes within the kingdom.

"For the first two years, I almost didn't believe it was real, but then I realised, wow, it IS real," said Yousef Akbar, 37, who began his eponymous fashion label in Australia in 2017 and has dressed the likes of Nicole Kidman and Rita Ora.

"I really never thought when I was growing up that this would happen. When I started my brand in Australia, I thought my whole life would be there since I'm a fashion designer," added Akbar, who now also runs his business from Jeddah.