ARABS IN PARIS: HYPE HEADS TO FASHION WEEK WITH THE SAUDI FASHION COMMISSION

Off the back of partnering with Egypt Fashion Week this year as Official Communications Partner, Hype’s sartorial escapades have taken us to further afield, to France, where Paris Fashion Week is in full swing, as we continue to work with the Ministry of Culture’s Saudi Fashion Commission in its goal to champion and showcase the Kingdom’s tailoring talents.

Now, you can proverbially open any proverbial newspaper to get some kind of understanding of the magnitude of the Kingdom’s ambitions in regard to Vision 2030. What the column inches so often neglect to cover, however, is how this all manifests in the real world, what it means at ground level - and this is the perfect example of the strides being taken.

There are few more celebrated occasions than Paris Fashion Week; more than an event, it has come to be an icon of its own, a space that reaches beyond the world of fashion to bring together the best of modern culture, art and the creative industries - a perfect platform for the Saudi Fashion Commission to showcase some of KSA’s growing pool of design talent.

The move builds on the commission’s initiative, Saudi 100 Brands, which was launched in 2021 with the aim of developing, promoting and supporting 100 Saudi fashion brands in order to develop its domestic and global markets through mentoring, training, and specialized consultations. 50 of those brands, covering womenswear, menswear and streetwear, have touched down in Paris to participate in a special ready-to-wear exhibition on June 25-27, as well as one of Paris Fashion Week’s most unique spectacles, the Couture Exhibition on July 3-5.?

This is only the tip of the iceberg, however, with the commission also set to open its own pop-up, Emerge. Taking place at 8 Rue de Francs Bourgeois, the setup is looking to open up the occasion to a cultural dialogue, inviting visitors to learn more about modern Saudi culture - but not only through fashion. While brands such as Torba Studio, Hindamme, Mazrood, Noble & Fresh, 1886 and Not Boring are set to take centrestage, Emerge has been conceived as a gateway to explore all manner of Saudi creativity, with the the Saudi Culinary Commission, as well as the Music Commission, also getting in on the act. Top Saudi chefs are primed to cook up a storm, and the likes of Saudi rapper, Beast, Riyadh band, Jazzy Spa Sounds, and the Saudi National Orchestra all set to showcase the depth and breadth of a growing Saudi music scene.

Like our previous extensive work with the Ministry of Culture, Hype has sent over a dedicated team to elevate proceedings even further and lead on full multimedia production and content creation - or that’s one way to think about it. Hype airs on the side of something bigger; that our role is to beam his new Saudi frontier to the world, to capture what is still only the beginning of a cultural and social revolution for the Kingdom and tell its story.?

You can follow Hype’s shenanigans in Paris via our Instagram. Stay tuned.