Introducing The Women’s RTW Designers Of The Saudi 100 Brands: Season 1

Progressive, innovative, and inspiring, if fashion is an expression of the zeitgeist, then the womenswear brands from the initiative are holding a mirror to the transformations in Saudi society with their latest collections. Meet the designers who are united in their desire and determination to empower and be empowered through fashion

“Women wearing DANEH are changing the world,” declares Saudi designer Daneh Buahmad. It’s a bold claim but few could argue with her design philosophy of building a “beautiful and timeless, modern wardrobe with character and edge that can multitask and make women feel their best.”

The Central Saint Martins-trained executive, creative business owner and mother, whose modus operandi is “making women wearing DANEH feel strong, unique, confident and empowered,” is in good company. Salma Zahran, who launched her international high-end womenswear brand DAZLUQ in 2016 also prides herself on “designing garments for the modern-day woman of power.”

Meanwhile, their contemporaries are letting their trends do the talking, from the sharp tailoring of Amarah, Mona Alshebil and Rosa Canina, to the strong silhouettes of Pavone and Qoftan Studio.

Perhaps the journey most reflective of Saudi’s modernisation strategy is that of Zaina Elyas, a designer that began the programme in the heritage category, whose creative evolution has led her to eschew embellished abayas for form-flattering, fit-and-flare ready-to-wear symbolising an emboldened new global outlook.

This timing is intentional. Following staggering reforms in women’s rights in 2018, the General Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises (Monsha’at,) reveals the number of female-led SMEs has doubled in the KSA since 2017, reaching 45 per cent in 2022 – an astonishing ratio considering women make up 45 per cent of the population in Saudi Arabia.

The statistics for the fashion industry are even more encouraging with 80 per cent of the Saudi 100 Brands participants being female and under the age of 30, according to the Ministry of Culture.

And thanks to new legislation, ambitious recruitment targets, and accelerated training programmes, women are now holding top leadership positions across the public and private sectors.

“Our culture has deep roots and we have always progressed and moved with the times, yet maintained our identity and values,” Daneh defends. “And that’s what makes us so special.”

The Fashion Commission is contributing to this shift not just with the Saudi 100 Brands initiative but by putting strategic partnerships and infrastructure measures in place to ensure it continues.

According to Aljoharah, Seba, Seeta and Aljazi Aladel, the sisters behind Adelfés, “Participating in the Saudi 100 Brands programme gave us the confidence, power and ability to compete in a professional world among different international brands, knowing we are bringing the best quality in fashion communication and designs,” they admit. Another benefit is the creation of a sisterhood among their contemporaries.

Daneh continues that her year spent alongside the rest of the participants has “strengthened relationships with fellow designers I already knew and allowed me to meet new designers from different experiences and backgrounds, to form an amazing, supportive community.” She adds, “We hope to build and thrive together, and get stronger with each step no matter where we were when we started the programme.”

This outcome is exactly as HRH Princess Reema bint Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Head of the Executive Committee, Fashion Commission and the first female envoy in Saudi Arabia’s history, had intended.

Addressing the new wave of Saudi design talent at the inaugural Fashion Futures conference in 2019, she insisted, “In this budding industry, you all have a choice: to be the collective and the community, to support each other, to lift each other up; or you have the ability to shut each other out, to block each other’s careers and successes. In order to have a creative economy, there’s room for all of us to celebrate our successes. This is simply the Ministry of Culture, and all of us who work in the government to serve you, asking you, ‘Come tell us who you are, join our journey. Be the future not just of fashion but of this country, share this vision and drive your own.”

And these womenswear designers are proudly proving they’ve understood the assignment.

Photography By Umberto Gorra. Styling By Anna Castan.