💜 Fashion Leads the Way for Change in Saudi Arabia

Earlier this month something unprecedented happened in Saudia Arabia. The country held its first ever fashion conference: Fashion Futures. Over the course of the two days a veritable who's who of international leaders and decision-makers in the field of fashion visited the Kingdom with the unique goal of educating and inspiring the fashion-loving citizens about the global billion-dollar industry. 

His Excellency Mr. Hamed M. Fayez - Vice Minister of Culture, (Fashion Futures Twitter).

The conference acted as a launching pad for Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Culture’s robust commitment and investment into the local, regional and global fashion industry – with education, sustainability and the digital world as the cornerstones of this major initiative. Keynote addresses were made by heavy hitters like Ravi Thakran, group president of LVMH South Asia and South-East Asia, Australia and Middle East, who pledged – on behalf of LVMH – a $500 million dollar fund to help support and invest in designers and creatives in the GCC. And Supermodel Halima Aden, who is known for proudly wearing her hijab while she walks the top fashion runways around the world, who gave a moving speech entitled "Don’t be afraid to be the first".

Halima Aden, (Fashion Futures Twitter).

There were also one-on-one onstage interviews with designers like Iris Van Herpen, Giles Deacon and the iconic stylist Carlyne Cerf de Dudzeele, and round table discussions on the topics of communication in the digital age, sustainable fashion and the evolution of the beauty sector that featured respected speakers such as Olivier Bourgis, Maria Cornejo and Frederic Fekkai.

“Today with Fashion Futures we open a new chapter for the fashion industry in our country,” said Hamed M Fayez, Vice Minister at the Ministry of Culture. He also revealed that the Kingdom was in the final stages of launching a dedicated Fashion Commission, to foster the nation's design talent. “It will help unleash the creative potential of our fashion community by addressing the needs of our designers and discovering hidden talents. All of which will help Saudia Arabia’s fashion sector to grow, develop and compete on a global level,” he added as he announced that the country had decided to partner with the renowned Parsons School of Design in New York to send four emerging Saudi designers to study at the institution.

Local talents were also celebrated with Saudi designers Honayda Serafi, Arwa Al Banawi, and Hatem Alakeel, as well as Saudi photographer Hayat Osamah taking part in panels. At the same time, in an adjacent space to the main conference hall, packed workshops were running on different topics related to how to build a fashion business. Their focus, to educate and support Saudi Arabia’s fashion youthquake. Currently, more than 50% of the Saudi population of 34 million is under the age of 25. The meritocracy of the fashion industry has shown itself to be a very appealing avenue of self-sufficiency and self-expression to the country’s Gen Z and Millennial generations. 

“By the very nature of attending, every single person here today is ambitious,” said her Highness Princess Noura bint Faisal Al Saud, an ambassador to the Minister of Culture, at the conference. “They all have dreams and they are gathered here to explore and craft ways to make them a reality.”

Another dream that came true during the 2-day conference took place at the Tuwaiq Palace cultural center. There, a private sit down gala dinner by three-star Michelin chef Yannick Alleno was held.  It was followed by the first-ever western fashion show to take place in the country. In front of 300 guests, the expansive fashion show was filled with both cutting edge offerings from international labels like Givenchy, Off-White, Simone Rocha, Sacai and Stella McCartney, and leading local fashion designs. 

For many of the women in the audience, the event was significant as an indicator of how far the country had come in such a short time. Many of them saying how one day they would tell their daughters and granddaughters that they were “there” on the night when fashion helped to bring about change in the Kingdom. 

The entire event was seamlessly overseen by Richard Attias & Associates and it deftly illustrated that the company is skilled at bringing the right talents together to nurture key and original partnerships in the region. As the rules and codes of conduct are radically evolving in the country, it was encouraging to see such a momentous occasion go off without a hitch. “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is an unexpected country. Saudi citizens are leading the march to create multiple new industries and to lead them with passion and professionalism. Fashion is one of them!”, pronounced Richard Attias, the Executive Chairman of Richard Attias & Associates.

In her rousing keynote address to the conference Her Royal Highness Princess Reema bint Bandar al Saud, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the United State, gave her countrymen a galvanizing call to action when she spoke directly to the designers and creatives in the Fashion Futures audience. “Tell us who you are, come and join our journey. Learn from our guests. And be the future. Be the future not just of fashion. But be the future and the face of this country.”

Her Highness Princess Reema bint Bandar Al Saud, (Fashion Futures Twitter).

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💭 Iris Van Herpen for VOGUE Arabia

Originally printed in the October 2019 issue of Vogue Arabia.

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How Iris Van Herpen is Paving the Way for Never-Before-Seen Haute Couture

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The Dutch designer has an insatiable appetite for knowledge, leading her to pave the way for never-before-seen haute couture.

Iris Van Herpen FW19 Couture Collection. Photographed by The Bardos for Vogue Arabia; Collage by Shay Colley

If haute couture is a factory of dreams, Iris van Herpen is one of its master weavers. This soft-spoken, slender, and unassuming woman with long strawberry blonde hair has, for more than a decade, consistently transformed jaded fashion front row regulars into wide-eyed children staring with wonder at her otherworldly creations. “It is like wearing a piece of art. What she creates is so special. Each piece is an exceptional surprise,” says veteran Hollywood stylist Leslie Fremar, who recently dressed actor Eva Green for a red-carpet premiere in Los Angeles in one of Van Herpen’s designs. “Eva fell in love with Iris’s dress as soon as she saw it. She appreciated the art and craftsmanship that went into it. I’ve never received such positive feedback for a dress that I’ve styled.” It takes a certain kind of woman to wear one of Van Herpen’s designs. Women like Björk, Solange Knowles, Tilda Swinton, Gwendoline Christie, Cara Delevingne, Cate Blanchett, and Lady Gaga. They have the character it takes to not lose themselves in the artistry and the technical prowess to pull off such imaginative and unusual garments.

Since Van Herpen started her company in 2007, the Dutch designer has found that exploring the juxtaposition between the beauty of Mother Nature and the beauty born from man-made innovations to be her happy place. 3D printing has become one of her signature avenues of sartorial expression, as has the incorporation of unconventional materials. She also bends state-of-the-art techniques and technological advancements to her creative will to bring into being sculptural garments that always seem to have a sense of movement at their heart.

“In my world, I don’t see a distinction between nature and technology. They influence each other and they are obviously intertwined in our lives, even in our bodies nowadays. I think they are pure expressions of the dichotomy of our lives,” says Van Herpen from her Amsterdam studio that overlooks one of the city’s many canals. “The pieces I make live in-between the worlds of art and fashion; I am very flexible about how people perceive them, as both are the truth.”

Designer Iris van Herpen with models showcasing her FW19 couture collection. Photographed by The Bardos for Vogue Arabia

Iris Van Herpen FW19 Couture Collection. Photographed by The Bardos for Vogue Arabia; Collage by Shay Colley

Van Herpen was raised by her ballet teacher mother and a father who worked as an advisor to a governmental water agency in a quiet village outside of Amsterdam. With no television or computer screens to stifle her imagination, her formative years were filled with painting, playing the violin, and a serious love of ballet, which she studied until she was 16. She would go on to study fashion design at the renowned art academy ArtEZ and intern for Alexander McQueen and Claudy Jongstra, before deciding to head out on her own.

Ask the designer, who likes to sky-dive to give her mind a creative clean slate, what superpower she wishes she had and the answer reveals much about her. “Time travel,” she states matter-of-factly. “There are so many people from the past I would love to meet. If I could go back and visit with only one, it would be Leonardo da Vinci. What I love about him is his unlimited curiosity about every layer of life and how he wasn’t scared to move from one discipline into another. He never limited himself by defining himself.”

The same can be said about Van Herpen. She is passionate about exploring different artistic and scientific disciplines. She often works with masters in other fields, such as Bart Hess, Daniel Widrig, Tara Dougans, and Joost Vandebrug to create her designs. Sometimes this collaboration is more directly, like when she worked with the American kinetic sculptor Anthony Howe on her most recent haute couture collection, Hypnosis – the ideal title for a show filled with undulating geometrically designed ensembles.

The pieces felt structured while portraying a sense of fluidity, with sharp black piping denoting the fabric edges and rivulets of dégradé colors cascading down dresses. For the 10-year anniversary of her brand, Van Herpen collaborated with the performance musicians Between Music for her Aeriform couture show, with the artists performing live underwater during her presentation.

Iris Van Herpen FW19 Couture Collection. Photographed by The Bardos for Vogue Arabia

Iris Van Herpen FW19 Couture Collection. Photographed by The Bardos for Vogue Arabia; Collage by Shay Colley

These creative partnerships can also be felt more subtly in her work. Trips to the scientific research center CERN in Geneva will spark an interest in using magnets and their effect on fabrics. Currently, she is fascinated by the work being done at TU Delft University, where researchers have found a way to transform wastewater into a pearlescent shell material. “I almost can’t believe what they are able to do,” Van Herpen says with audible excitement in her voice. “It’s like 21st-century alchemy.” She also recently worked with Neutelings Riedijk Architects to create the new Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden, which opened in August. For this collaboration, she was inspired by fossils in the center’s archives to create more than a kilometer of three-dimensional designs, hand-sanded into concrete, to mimic the idea of beauty through erosion over time. Her contribution was woven, like sedimentary layers of rock, into the overall structure of the building. According to architect Michiel Riedijk, they reached out to Van Herpen because they were drawn by the research she has undertaken into natural organic references. “We are fascinated by the ways she turns this inspiration into research and innovation as a novel expression in contemporary collections. This matches the ambitions we had in mind for the design of the new Naturalis.”

Iris Van Herpen FW19 Couture Collection. Photographed by The Bardos for Vogue Arabia

This collaboration has only sparked in Van Herpen an even more fervent desire to explore the world around her. And one place that is at the top of her bucket list is to revisit the UAE. Her curiosity about the Middle East was first piqued via the work of her fellow countryman MC Escher. The mathematical beauty found in his tessellation patterns lead Van Herpen to discover the geometric beauty in Islamic artwork and architecture. “It is mind-blowing, the mathematical perfection of it. The architecture is stunning and so fundamentally different from anything else on this planet. I really want to go there and do a deep dive into that,” she says. The mind begins to spin at the thought of what a talent like Van Herpen could conjure up in her atelier if she ever turned her full attention to the mathematical precision of Middle Eastern artwork. It could end up being some of her most engrossing and original designs yet. Fusing fashion’s future with the world’s past in a way that would be, without a doubt, both breathtaking and bold.

Originally published in the October 2019 issue of Vogue Arabia

Manuel Arnaut: Editor in Chief
Caterina Minthe: Features Director

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💭 Wafaa Abbar and Noura Binzagr for VOGUE Arabia

Originally printed in the September 2018 issue of Vogue Arabia.

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This Mother-Daughter Duo is Proof That Women in Saudi Don’t Just Work – They Lead

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Much has been written in Western press about the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s male-dominated society and the status of women’s rights. Meanwhile, one mother-daughter team has been working diligently to bring about real change from within.

Wafaa Abbar and Noura Binzagr. Photographed by Rawan Althomali

Wafaa Abbar is the president of the country’s leading luxury retailer, Rubaiyat Group. Her daughter, Noura Binzagr, is its ladies division manager. Together, they contribute to impressive advancements for women in Saudi. They have done this on a number of fronts: through the curated choice of luxury designer products (from the likes of Gucci and Prada) sold in their stores, to the local fashion initiatives that they support. Now, they are heralding the opening of a new ladies store spanning over 2000 square meters in Olaya, Riyadh. Industry pioneers, the two women are regional and international examples of what women with vision and drive can accomplish.

“I think it’s only fair that the likes of Noura and I speak out so that all women sitting at home – or who are working but hiding it and don’t want to be seen – reveal themselves to the public. There is no shame in that. It’s a power,” says Abbar about her choice to do interviews with the press. Abbar, a woman who always has a smile on her lips and a joyful twinkle in her eyes, has had the drive to make her mark on the world since she was a child. The youngest of six children, she remembers looking up to her older brothers and wanting to be like them. “I have the spirit of competition inside me; to be number one,” she admits. That drive translated into a work ethic that saw her become one of the first Saudi women to start a retail business in the Kingdom. She is also the main shareholder of the company, which she helped to co-found in Jeddah in 1980. In 2014, under her guidance, Rubaiyat opened the city’s first luxury fashion department store.

Meanwhile, Binzagr is a diminutive beauty with a head for business, a love of fashion, and a clear-eyed understanding of the challenges women face in her home country. “I think it’s because we feel we have to work so hard to prove ourselves that Saudi women in the work force end up being very accomplished. I see it at work: most of the Saudis in our company that excel are women,” she says.

Both Abbar and Binzagr relish the challenge of finding luxury goods that will sell in their unique market. Often they work hand-in-hand with designers to help them create products that are in keeping with the label’s esthetic but that also incorporate the particular needs of Saudi customers. “Saudi is a tricky market. It’s very sheltered in the sense that it is one of the only markets in terms of retail that caters only to locals. In Europe the offering is different than what we have because we buy a very tailored edit. I’ve heard customers say things like, ‘We’ve been to Europe and we didn’t see these products.’ This is why we’re here. We buy for you because we know what the market needs,” explains Binzagr.

Portrait of Wafaa Abbar. Photographed by Rawan Althomali

Portrait of Noura Binzagr. Photographed by Rawan Althomali

Now, the launch of the three-floor ladies store, promises even more selection for its dedicated customers along with a café and mini spa. “This is a dream that we’ve been wanting to realize for many years,” comments Abbar. The mezzanine will offer footwear from brands including Aquazzura, Malone Souliers, Sergio Rossi, but also Golden Goose and Nike while the store’s ground floor will propose handbags and accessories by brands like Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, and Saint Laurent alongside labels Phillip Lim, MSGM, Helmut Lang, and Alexander Wang. Upstairs, eveningwear from Jenny Packham and Naeem Khan will satisfy special occasion indulgences. Décor on the walls will feature a curation of large-scale works from the Kingdom’s art foundation l’Art Pur, established in 1999 by Her Highness Princess Adwa Yazid bin Abdallah Al Saud.

What the market also craves is the promotion of its own homegrown talents. To that end, Abbar has been instrumental in highlighting regional designers on both a macro and micro level. In 2016, Rubaiyat Group backed the first ever Jeddah Vogue Fashion Experience. This saw a number of leading fashion designers, tastemakers, and journalists fly to the Kingdom to judge a group of up-and-coming local designers. The winners of that competition were then flown to Europe to present their creations during Milan Fashion Week. Furthermore, since the Rubaiyat luxury department store opened four years ago, during Ramadan, Abbar creates a dedicated area for emerging designer products. Over the 30-day period, a different designer is given the entire space to display their creations for two days. Often, a selection of abayas or kaftans is presented exclusively for the store.

The Dolce & Gabbana department at Rubaiyat Department Store, Jeddah

With the launch of the new store, Abbar aims to satisfy a growing need, “Our customers in Riyadh have been wanting a bigger Rubaiyat store in their city for a while now. We’ve always wanted to satisfy our cosmopolitan customer and now it’s finally the time.” She adds that along with providing a bigger space, they will “take everything to the next level,” from the interior to the merchandise and customer service. “We hope it will be as exciting for them as it is for us and that it was well worth the wait.”

Photography: Rawan Althomali

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