They’ve dressed Princess Diana, Zendaya, Beyoncé – now Saudi designers have hit the catwalk at home in the first Riyadh Fashion Week
- Princess Diana was among couturier Adnan Akbar’s clients, along with French first ladies. Fellow Saudi designer Mohammed Ashi has dressed Beyoncé and Zendaya
- At the first Riyadh Fashion Week they and others showed how Saudi fashion is changing to meet the needs of professional women freed from the abaya and hijab
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 the inaugural Riyadh Fashion Week this year, a milestone in a country that used to require women to wear hijab headscarves and abaya robes in public.
On a catwalk 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.