Abid’s collection of two dozen “resort wear” dresses featured flowing white and beige fabrics and only the occasional visible midriff. A second show on Friday was billed as the first to focus on women’s swimwear, an envelope-pushing development in a conservative Muslim country that less than a decade ago required women to wear body-covering abaya robes. “You may say it is boldness, but I look at it in another way: keeping pace with globalism,” Abid told AFP while surrounded by models and harried, headset-wearing show producers.
“The borders and restrictions that used to exist have been abolished, and this has given us an opportunity to show our creativity in a more beautiful way.” The crowd on Thursday included designers, fashion journalists and Saudi celebrities like Lojain Omran, best known abroad for her turn on the money-drenched Netflix show “Dubai Bling”. The range of designs on display demonstrated Saudi Arabia’s seriousness about competing not just with Dubai but other fashion capitals, Omran said. “If you want to reach a global audience in fashion, you have to reach all types of people — the conservatives, and those who are the opposite,” she said.
