SAUDI DESIGNER 1ST FROMGULF TOJOINFRENCHCOUTUREFEDERATION

‘They’re giving scholarships to people for something that was prohibited when I was growing up’

Saudi fashion designer Mohammed Ashi announced on Monday he had joined France’s haute couture federation, becoming the fifirst couturier from the Gulf region to join the prestigious roster.

His eponymous label Ashi Studio will have its first show as part of the official lineup of Paris Fashion Week’s haute couture shows on July 6. “This appointment is the highlight of my career,” Ashi said in a statement. “This recognition brings me the greatest emotion, it offers me the opportunity to share with you who I am.”

Ashi’s clothes have adorned many stars and celebrities on red carpets, including Beyoncé and Lady Gaga.

He launched his label in Beirut in 2007 and moved his headquarters to Paris in 2018.

As he told Agence France-Presse (AFP) in an interview earlier this year, he never made a point of his nationality, partly out of shyness and partly due to the fact that Western fashion was still taboo when he was growing up in 1980s Saudi Arabia.

“In the ’ 90s I was the only designer from Saudi. But I never said I was Saudi. I wanted the clothes to be out front, not me,” Ashi told AFP.

Now, with his country going through momentous social changes, he has been welcomed home as a mentor for its Fashion Commission, set up in 2020 to help build a homegrown industry.

“They’re giving scholarships to people for something that was prohibited when I was growing up. It’s an iconic moment,” he said.