Vivienne Westwood show to open Riyadh Fashion Week, event has international labels for first time

The Vivienne Westwood label will host its first-ever fashion show in the Middle East as part of Riyadh Fashion Week this month with it debuting there on 16 October. The show will be staged at a Palm Grove in Riyadh.

Company CEO Carlo D’Amario said the label is working “on a special collection of embroidered gowns, a result of the union of the expertise of our couture team and the craftsmanship of local artisans: a concrete way to promote local traditions through an international perspective. Today, fashion must go beyond aesthetics – it must be a connection between cultures. ‘Global-local’ is a key concept for us and for this reason we have started collaborating on special projects and shows like this”.

The embroidered capsule pieces, which are in collaboration with ‘Art of Heritage’, a cultural institution safeguarding Saudi Arabia’s legacy of craftsmanship, will be shown alongside the main Vivienne Westwood SS26 collection.

The label has also invited around 100 students from local fashion schools to attend and will be hosting a mentoring session with students prior to the show.

In its third edition, Riyadh Fashion Week is now well established in the region but this year is the first time the official calendar is open to international houses, hence the Vivienne Westwood involvement.