Arab Fashion Week’s Female Designers to Know

A former banker born in Jiddah, Al Banawi began her fledgling fashion brand in 2015 in Dubai under the slogan “A suitable woman.” A capsule collection with Adidas Originals last fall spurred a social-media craze, and for her official collection, “Bedouins,” Al Banawi took inspiration from the Arabian desert. Think slick silk pantsuits in reds, whites and black with serious 1980s shoulder pads, languid sand-hued suits with large collars with Ghutrah trim (the red checkered pattern of the headdresses worn by many Arab men), and sweeping shawls in traditional woven Bedouin fabrics.

Mashael AlRajhi founded her namesake brand — a hybrid of street wear and couture for both men and women — in 2013 and three years later was the first Saudi designer to be selected as part of the International Fashion Showcase at London Fashion Week. She was also the first Saudi to be nominated for the Woolmark Prize, in 2016, and a recent collaboration with Nike made her the first designer to bring a Nike hijab onto the runway, which could be worn with everything from black tailored jackets, to sneakers, chiffon skirts and a pinstripe shift.

While many of her Saudi contemporaries have focused their efforts on ready-to-wear, Alia Al-Sawwaf of SWAF Designs is an unabashed maximalist devoted to haute couture. Ruffled capes and trains swung dramatically from tailored pantsuits and evening dresses in blacks, blues, whites and reds on her catwalk, while several of the giant, tiered skirts to her ballgowns were finished with sweeping brushes of glitter.

A graduate of the Art and Skills Institute in Riyadh, Reem Al Khanal is a favorite of influencers both near (Saudi Princess Deena Aljuhani Abdulaziz) and far (the American Man Repeller founder, Leandra Medine), who champion the modern interpretations of traditional garb produced by this divorced mother of two daughters. The winner of Best Female Designer of the Year at the KSA Arab Woman Awards in 2015, she was also an International Woolmark Prize finalist for the Middle East in 2016. Her next collection features tailored white poplin and crepe dresses with patterns and trims inspired by Al-Qatt Al-Asiri — interior wall decorations by women in the Asir region of Saudi Arabia — and cutouts inspired by the windows of the region.