Carla DiBello On The Beauty, Magic And Promise of Saudi Arabia
Having recently returned to The Kingdom, the entrepreneur and celebrity style insider reveals how being back in KSA felt like a much-needed reset
Aside from the crackling of the fire and low whispers amongst us, the night is quiet. The sky is pitch black, save for the stars that dance boldly across the sky, and the giant rock above me, twisted and gnarled in all its glory and illuminated by my team’s lights as they capture concept footage for a future project. I’m writing this from beneath this monument, aptly named Elephant Rock, with its anthropomorphic, sprawling shape. It’s one of the most surreal visions I have ever come across in person. I have to pinch myself to be sure I’m even really here. Feeling our true size in comparison to the universe, being here gives us the feeling that we are on a different planet altogether. And considering how this year has gone, an otherworldly vacation is a readily welcomed departure from reality.
As though we are actually on a different planet, I feel lighter here. The air is a little bit more crisp, more clear. After returning from a few months in the States, being back in the Middle East, and right now especially in Saudi Arabia, feels like a much-needed reset.
In the last few days, we have been travelling through so much of Saudi Arabia, taking in all its natural wonders, beauty and culture. We’ve had long, winding Bedouin dinners by camp res that seem to never die. We visited Jizan and untouched regions of the Farasan Islands. We drank in the history of Al-Hijr in AlUla. We met new friends and, with them, toured the historic city Al-balad in Jeddah as well as Rijal Almaa, the old regional trade centre in the Asir region. We sat with a camel racer and went to meet his caravan of camels beneath the immaculate slabs of AlUla.
With the long hours and amount of travelling my team and I have been undertaking this past week, we are completely exhausted. And yet we feel more alive than ever. Energised – electric, even. Being here in this moment in time feels like being a part of history in the making. Oddly enough, while here, I have a strong sense of nostalgia. In many ways, it reminds me of when I first moved to Dubai all those years ago. Saudi Arabia feels so full of potential. So full of hope.
There is something so special about each place we visit and the people, culture, and stories that come with them. Each community feels like an integral connection to both Saudi Arabia’s past and future. There is so much development and so much optimism in this country right now, and it’s infectious. It’s got a hold of our entire crew and none of us can wait to share the wonders that we’ve seen here with the rest of the world.
It’s fascinating to see the preservation of such awe-inspiring, historical sites in tandem with modernisation and so many new builds. It’s an exercise in balance, and Saudi Arabia is doing it extremely well.
Because of this, it’s impossible to not draw a parallel to where we are right now in time. This year has ripped so many familiar things away from us. In some ways, we are eager to preserve some semblance of our old lives. After all, that’s where we had cultivated our identities before the chaos of this year hit. And yet now, we’re realising along the way that maybe, just maybe, we’ve discovered better ways to do some of the things we assumed weren’t broken before. We’re learning that while individuality is certainly a key to progress, there is no such thing as an individual without community.
You never know where your biggest realisations will hit you. Sometimes, it’s in the middle of grief, or in the laugh of a stranger. Sometimes, it’s a passage in a book, or in the eyes of a loved one. And other times, it’s sitting under a massive rock in the dark beneath dancing stars with the crackling fire and murmurs of your crew punctuating your thoughts – in the heart of Saudi Arabia, writing this to you.
From Harper’s Bazaar Arabia’s December 2020 issue.