With the ongoing process of liberalization taking over Saudi Arabia, it is now all set to host its first ever Arab Fashion Week in March.
The Arab Fashion Council announced Monday – overturning decades of policies against arts and entertainment – that soon, the Arab kingdom will have its own addition to fashion.
The Dubai-based Arab Fashion Council said on its website that fashion week would be held in Riyadh from March 26 to March 31, with a second edition already scheduled for October. Arab Fashion Week will take place at Riyadh’s eco-friendly Apex Center, a white honeycomb-like venue designed by the late celebrated Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid.
In December, the Arab Fashion Council announced the opening of a regional office in Riyadh and named Saudi Princess Noura Bint Faisal Al-Saud as its honorary president.
“The first Arab Fashion Week in Riyadh will be more than a world-class event, it is a catalyst through which we believe the fashion sector will lead other economic sectors such as tourism, hospitality, travel, and trade,†Princess Noura said in a statement on the council’s website.
Listed as an international fashion week alongside Paris and Milan, the twice-yearly Arab Fashion Week offers exclusively see-now-buy-now collections and pre-collections. However, the line-up for the Riyadh event has not been revealed yet and it remains unclear whether it will be limited to modest designs in accordance with the strict dress code observed in Saudi Arabia.
Apart from the new announcement, Dubai will continue to host its own parallel Arab Fashion Week, with the sixth edition slotted for May 9 to May 12.
