“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.
The resort is part of Red Sea Global, one of the giga-projects at the heart of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 social and economic reform programme overseen by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. This marks the first of its kind show in the Kingdom, where women were previously punished for not covering their heads and faces. The fashion industry in 2022 accounted for US$12.5 billion, or 1.4 percent of the national GDP, and employed 230,000 people, according to a report published last year by the official Saudi Fashion Commission.
