Fashion Week Comes to Saudi Arabia—in Modest Style

April 13, 2018 11:45 a.m. ET

Billed as part of the social change rippling through Saudi Arabia, the event drew big Western fashion lines, such as

Roberto Cavalli

and French designer

Jean Paul Gaultier,

giving them an opportunity to show off to deep-pocketed Saudis as the country cracks the door open further to Western brands.

“This is a celebratory moment, not only for fashion but for the kingdom,” said Arwa Al-Banawi, the first Saudi designer in the show’s line-up.

The idea of a fashion week in Saudi Arabia, which doesn’t have an industry of its own to speak of, would have been unimaginable until recently. The country is undergoing changes pushed by

Prince Mohammed bin Salman,

including lifting the ban on women driving and the opening of the first cinemas in decades.

But still it remains one of the world’s most conservative and opaque countries. The event kicked off Thursday at Riyadh’s Ritz-Carlton hotel—which until just a few months ago was operating as a makeshift prison for hundreds of wealthy Saudis rounded up in what authorities called a sweeping corruption crackdown.

When a beauty event opened to a male and female audience in Riyadh a few months ago, hard-line conservatives vented their anger on

Twitter,

and days later, King Salman fired a government official who had publicly endorsed it.

So any Saudi fashion week was destined to stand apart from established events in New York, Paris, Milan and London. Organizers said the event happening at all was a triumph.

Designers were given a host of restrictions: No cleavage, no transparent fabrics and nothing showing the knees. Some said they altered some clothing to show less skin. None of the models were Saudi.

A couple of the models in Mr. Gaultier’s show wore sheer and loose headscarves, long-sleeved gowns and opaque leggings under shorts and miniskirts. Maison Alexandrine, a Brazilian fashion house, kicked off its collection with abayas with embroidered necklines and sleeves.

“We are not doing this to break rules,” said Princess

Noura bint Faisal Al-Saud,

the executive president of the Arab Fashion Council, which organized Riyadh’s fashion week. “We are doing this hand-in-hand with the culture and our tradition and religion.”

Prince Mohammed has suggested that women aren’t required to wear abayas under Islamic law, though no official decrees have been made on the subject.

Women at the show were allowed to abandon them. To prevent photographs of uncovered women, only a handful of photographers were allowed. The government approved all photographs distributed to the press, and the typical media blitz accompanying fashion weeks elsewhere was absent.

Oil-rich Saudi Arabia—where per capita income ranks just below the U.S. —has a large and important market for high-end women’s fashion, said

Jacob Abrian,

chief executive of the Arab Fashion Council.

“The Saudi clientele are the favorite audience for our fashion friends because they spent the highest,” Mr. Abrian said.

At home and in women-only settings, many Saudi women pride themselves on expressing their own personal style.

“What we do behind closed doors is totally different than what we do in public,” said

Hala Al-Harthi,

a Saudi fashion stylist.

Princess Noura said this fashion week, which also featured a roster of Arab designers who have long catered to Saudi clients but have never shown their work in the kingdom before, was just the beginning of a series of fashion-related moves for the kingdom.

Saudi authorities are looking to build a “fashion city,” likely in or around Riyadh, to support local designers and attract foreign investment. The Arab Fashion Council is trying to establish a fashion school in Saudi Arabia.

The council’s immediate next goal: Training Saudis to be models at Riyadh’s next Arab Fashion Week.