Time To Shine

Women in Saudi Arabia have been waiting years for their moment to show the world what they are capable of. The inaugural Arab Fashion Week in Riyadh last month was a watershed moment opening a new window for a very promising future

- Elizabeth Paton

Fashion week in New York, Paris and Milan can often be a surreal experience, full of towering fantasy, inflated egos and sky-high stilettos. But last week, on the eve of the inaugural Arab Fashion Week Riyadh, the backdrop was very different: sandstorms and thunderstorms loomed. The first official fashion week ever held in Saudi Arabia was, said Marriam Mossalli, a luxury consultant in Jeddah, “an amazing opportunity to shift the disconnect in the minds of outsiders about Saudi women, how they design and how they dress. Women here have been waiting for years for a time to shine.” The high-profile, high-stakes plan for a first fashion week in Saudi Arabia, unthinkable even two years ago, comes at a time of ambitious plans for economic and social reform in the country, led by crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto ruler.

Taking inspiration from the successes of smaller Gulf neighbors like Dubai, Saudi Arabia is trying to shift away from a reliance on oil and gas revenues and is repositioning itself as a dynamic place for business, hospitality and leisure – and foreign investment and visitors.

“MBS,” as the crown prince is known, has been spearheading a rapid easing of strict and long-standing social restrictions. This has included reining in religious police, introducing public concerts, lifting bans on cinemas and allowing women to drive.

However, women here must still abide by guardianship laws, which give male relatives the power to make many decisions integral to their daily lives.

Crown prince Mohammed bin Salman has been on an outreach tour of the United States, from Harvard to Hollywood, and in an interview with 60 Minutes in March, the crown prince even said that women should be able to choose what they wear in public, as long as it was “decent” and “respectful.”