Riyadh Fashion Week opened its debut season Friday night with the triumphant return of local hero couturier Mohammed Ashi in a gala show outside King Fahad Library.
 
Staged on a wooden runway built inside a custom-made rocky landscape, the show marked the opening of a four-day season and an ambitious drive to create a significant and sustainable Saudi fashion industry.

The collection featured all that’s best about his brand Ashi Studio – fantasy volumes, voluptuous shapes, technical complexity and a romantic mood. Though the essence of the collection was the way the textiles and embroidery echoed the raw nature and terrain of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
 
In a 20-look collection made essentially in white and ecru, Ashi completed ecru silk columns with small clouds of cotton floating off the elbows; finished cocktails with trains and belts of white fabric posies, and wrapped a perfectly cut little white dress in a raw shawl that recalled the inside of a winter thobe.

“It’s my first show here after 18 years away, so I wanted to express my love for our culture and country,” explained Ashi, who entitled the collection ‘8pm: An Evening in Riyadh’.
 
Ashi made history this July when he became the first Saudi designer ever to show in Paris couture week on the official calendar. He has taste, a unique sense of glamor and, above all, the design chops. And was an ideal choice to kick off the season in Riyadh, a sprawling city of seven million where glittering skyscrapers, giant mosques, high-speed freeways and the rocky desert intersect.
 
“I wanted to capture the evanescence of moonglow, our stars, and the graceful curves of dunes,” explained the couturier, who called the collection a love letter to his native city.
 

Post-show, guests gathered for a gala dinner at Building 207, a huge atrium within the King Abdullah Financial Center, or KAFD, a giant new development and the latest expression of the country’s ambitious development plans.
 
KAFD is owned by the Public Investment Fund, the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia – with over €600 billion in assets, among which Newcastle United football team – that is controlled by the country’s de facto rule Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. KAFD is a truly gigantic €7 billion development of 17 million square feet, with over 60 impressively futuristic towers – linked by solar powered sky bridges and a high-tech monorail. Designed also to house 50,000 residents it also boasts the last building designed by Zaha Hadid, a magnificently undulating station for the capital’s new metro.
 
“Riyadh Fashion Week has been organized to serve as a platform to nurture our emerging fashion ecosystem. We are committed to bringing the fashion industry together to witness the landmark moment in our remarkable journey of transformation,” explained Burak Cakmak, CEO of the Saudi Fashion Commission in a speech to the 400 guests. 
 
One night later, a dozen Saudi couturiers staged shows in the open air at KAFD’s Financial Plaza. Though temperatures can soar to 50 degrees celsius in August, since Riyadh is located on a plateau 600 meters above sea level, they fell to the mid 20s this month during the runway season. 
 

Tima Abid

Three couturiers stood out, led by the very glamorous Tima Abid, who hails from the Kingdom’s second city Jeddah.

There was plenty to admire about the latest collection of Abid — the Diane von Furstenberg of the Gulf. A very proud mum of three daughters – two of whom have studied in fashion UK colleges – Abid is a local indie star, though very much on a rarefied level. 
 
Matter of fact, one of her most astounding looks was a gold embroidered gown with train and mesh niqab. It’s original owner, Princess Hassa, the only daughter of King Salman who wore it as part of her nuptials.
 
“I like each collection to remind me a great part of life, and of each day,” explained Tima, who is graced with natural movie star looks.
 
Elsewhere in the collection there were even merry widows in black lace, that suggested gulf girls in Dolce & Gabbana. Like all the collections in Saudi couture, Abid’s could have used a good edit. Too many gauzy wings, silver pendulums and metallic roses and blooms. Une grande merci to Schiaparelli. But overall, this was a memorable expression of grand couture by a couturier not afraid to take a few risks. 
 
One month before Covid locked down the world, Tima staged a powerful off-calendar show inside the Ritz in Paris. This show felt like a powerful return to action.

Yousef Akbar

A far more streamlined vision of Kingdom couture emerged at Yousef Akbar. Born into a conservative family, Akbar was inspired to become a designer after a scholarship to study logistics and supply chains in Australia led him eventually to enter a fashion school.

He went on to open his own label in 2017, and three years later, he won the Fashion Trust Arabia Evening Wear Prize. Yousef’s fondness for high gloss chic in primary color satin has won him a host of red-carpet appearances on the likes of Nicole Kidman, Sharon Stone, Alicia Keys, Rita Ora and Chrissy Teigen.
 
His show starred some great glistening anthracite-hued techy columns, artfully embellished taught gowns and snazzily tailored coat dresses. Akbar is a first-rate draper and cool colorist, whose collection looked the most likely to appeal to a western audience. Definitely, he is a name to watch.
 

Adnan Akbar

Couture with a capital C from Adnan Akbar who embellished and embroidered with considerable energy in a collection that seemed ideal for grand GCC soirees.
 

Starring finely draped and bouffant gowns in imperial Roman purple – a color sourced historically from Essaouira in Morocco – and a great opening series of silk robes cut with grandiose trains and faux crinolines. All the way to the icy blonde model in a white wedding dress with a 10-meter train.
 
The collection cried out for a self-editing button to clear up the endless beading and multiple folds. Still, this was a very professionally made collection and a show staged with poise.