Fashion shows are the ideal stage for presenting new designs within a narrative, whether to introduce an idea in a specific context or to deliver a message. In Saudi Arabia, the fashion industry has witnessed remarkable progress and leaps in recent years, reflecting the readiness of designers to express their passion and creativity in a clear and powerful way.
On the other hand, the community’s response to these creative expressions, be it at Riyadh Fashion Week or during events like the Saudi Cup, offers a telling sign: fashion in Saudi Arabia is beginning to command real attention. The presence of reactions, positive or negative, is itself proof of influence. And that influence represents the true essence of fashion.
Image from the Kaf by Kaf account
At the forefront is designer Kawthar Al-Huraish, founder of KAF by KAF, whose artistic vision has played a key role in introducing avant-garde fashion. Her work has encouraged other designers to experiment boldly, exploring unconventional cuts and materials, producing pieces that are more artistic statements than wearable garments, without hesitation.
The Saudi Cup has become the stage where all these elements converge. Each year, designers push their creative boundaries to present their most daring work, aiming for designs that leave the strongest impact and generate wide attention.
In 2023, Qormuz presented a design that can best be described in fashion terms as camp, a reference to one of the themes of the Met Gala, where the concept is associated with theatricality in fashion. Qormuz’s creation was a wearable representation of the pigeon towers in Al-Dilam, reimagined as a structured brown leather gown featuring openings that housed live pigeons.
During the show, the model released the pigeons, turning the gown into a live performance retelling the story of Al-Dilam’s pigeon towers. These towers were built in the 1940s during the reign of King Abdulaziz as part of the Al-Kharj agricultural project. The aim was to establish an integrated farming system that benefited from pigeons’ presence through natural fertilizer. This performance reinforced Qormuz’s vision of grounding its fashion identity in storytelling through design.
Image from the Qormuz account
Today, the Saudi Cup is regarded as the most anticipated annual event for the fashion community in Saudi Arabia: designers, stylists, celebrities, journalists, and content creators alike. It has become the stage that showcases the highest levels of creativity in design, craftsmanship, and ideas.
However, the event has also begun to feature ensembles that seem incomprehensible, created merely to appear strange or avant-garde for the sake of grabbing attention, with little regard for the quality of the final product.
Riyadh Fashion Week also witnessed a number of theatrical moments and concepts that fell under avant-garde fashion. Some of these will be remembered as milestones, while others remained purely performative spectacles. In those cases, the show served as a façade for the collection rather than giving due focus to its core: the fashion itself.
This year, KAF by KAF, led by designer Kawthar Al-Huraish, opened its show with Sara, the first Saudi humanoid robot, dressed in a coat inspired by the famous Hail Dress silhouette. Sara walked the runway with her artificial beauty and presence, as if the realm of KAF by KAF’s creativity had expanded to encompass even a robotic woman.
Sara the robot served as the opening look of a collection built around a central question:
“What is the difference between natural beauty and artificial beauty?”
Image rights belong to Athaqafia Fashion Platform
The robot’s appearance was seamlessly aligned with the collection and the brand on every level. From a fashion standpoint, it was fully connected to the lineup. Conceptually, it reinforced the collection’s theme of juxtaposing natural and artificial beauty. This was expressed through garments blending craftsmanship that ranged from handmade to machine-made. The moment carried real value and impact, not strangeness for its own sake.
As for Honayda’s collection, also presented at Riyadh Fashion Week, it carried a strong performative element. When I asked some attendees, they described it as a refreshing finale to a long day, highlighted by music and the rhythmic beating on green drums. The collection celebrated the flourishing of music in Saudi Arabia while paying tribute to influential women in the field, such as Umm Kulthum, Fairuz, Etab, and others.
The theme of celebrating music in Saudi Arabia also dominated the show through the use of green drums as theatrical props, alongside a drum-shaped handbag that referenced the performance of the Saudi Orchestra in New York last September. Yet this blending of musical icons with the performative setup blurred the intended meaning. Performance in fashion shows is meant to deliver a clear message. When too many ideas converge, the direction becomes unclear and leaves the audience questioning the meaning.
When presenting avant-garde fashion or using fashion as a performative tool, one must always consider the context in which it is placed and ask the following questions:
Does the performance align with the vision of the brand or designer?
Do the ensembles presented, whether avant-garde or ready-to-wear, reinforce the brand’s vision?
And how can this moment serve the brand in the long run? Is it purely performative, or a carefully planned strategy for launching and marketing the collection? Does it contribute to the next step?
The creative arena is wide open, and there is indeed a need for more of this type of fashion. But only when a brand truly understands its own vision, without letting social media exposure be the main driver behind artistic fashion or performative shows, will Saudi Arabia’s fashion industry reach a higher level of maturity, where fashion carries deeper influence and greater impact.
