First Saudi at Paris Fashion Week underlines dramatic changes

PARIS

Saudi Arabia hit a new milestone on July 5 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.

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 de facto ruler 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 realized, 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.

The Saudi elite already spent vast sums on international luxury brands for events behind closed doors.

But the Saudi Fashion Commission claims new freedoms around public dress and a growing private sector will see retail sales surge by 48 percent to $32 billion between 2021 and 2025.

It wants a lot of this money to stay in the country, creating a Saudi 100 brands program to incubate local designers.

CEO Burak Çakmak says there are stable foundations for a homegrown industry.

"Just because the country wasn't exposed to the rest of the world doesn't mean they are starting now," he said. "I had an event for a brand this week that's been running since the 70s.'