- Saudi Arabia is doing well in the travel and fashion industries despite the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
- Two dozen “resort wear” gowns with voluminous beige and little to no midriff exposure were on display during the event.
- The variety of styles on the show revealed Saudi Arabia’s commitment to competing with global fashion centers.
According to Saudi fashion designer Tima Abid, Saudi Arabia is doing well in the travel and fashion industries despite the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
Abid was taken aback to see models clad in her most recent couture collection gliding over an overwater promenade that connected beachfront mansions that can fetch up to $2,000 a night, considering the taboo nature of fashion shows and the dearth of tourists throughout.
Saudi fashionistas
At the St Regis Red Sea Resort on Ummahat Alshaikh island off the west coast, Saudi Arabia hosted its first Red Sea Fashion Week, which was a historic event for both the country’s fashion industry and tourism industry.
Two dozen “resort wear” gowns with voluminous beige and white materials and little to no midriff exposure were on display during the event. In a country predominantly Muslim and where women were once forced to cover their bodies with abaya robes, a second program examined women’s swimwear, which is a radical shift in this conservative area.
Within the audience were fashion journalists, designers, and Saudi celebrities such as Lojain Omran, who gained international recognition for her role in the Netflix series “Dubai Bling.”
The variety of styles on the show revealed Saudi Arabia’s commitment to competing with global fashion centers as well as Dubai. One of the megaprojects at the center of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 social and economic transformation initiative, which is led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is Red Sea Global, which serves as the week’s venue.
Red Sea Global officials emphasize that despite growing skepticism regarding the viability of their most prominent giga-project—a futuristic mega-city called NEOM—they are making headway, having opened two resorts in the last year and are getting ready to open fourteen more by the end of the next year.
