Paris Fashion Week made history on Thursday by including its first Saudi designer, Mohammed Ashi, in its official line-up. Ashi Studio, a well-known fashion brand dressing celebrities like Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, and Deepika Padukone, showcased daringly revealing looks during its haute couture show.
Ashi, a modest and unassuming designer, rarely emphasized his Saudi nationality in his work. However, he expressed his pride in being Saudi while also considering himself a global citizen. This inclusion in Paris Fashion Week marked a significant milestone in his career.
The show was inspired by perfumes and featured organic fabrics used to extract essences from flowers, as well as luxurious velvet. Ashi described it as a dark romance story, focusing on bringing inner beauty to the surface. The collection incorporated his signature feathered looks and long silk trains.
Despite feeling pressure, Ashi found his stride after the first look and successfully moved forward with the collection. His journey as a designer began outside Saudi Arabia, working with international labels before establishing his own brand in 2007. With recent social changes in Saudi Arabia under Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, Ashi has been welcomed back to mentor young designers and contribute to the development of the kingdom’s fashion industry.
The timing of Ashi’s recognition coincides with Riyadh’s announcement of its own fashion week in October and its aspirations to boost retail sales to $32 billion annually. This is part of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s broader strategy of diversifying the Saudi economy by investing in various sectors such as movies, sports, video games, tourism, and now fashion.
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