“CREAM is a concept store that has everything a girl needs from clothes and handbags to magazines and nail polish,” she explained. The 23-year-old Saudi co-owner studied in Jeddah and later traveled to Lebanon to obtain her degree in Marketing and Advertising from the American University of Beirut.

The owners of CREAM — Dana Malhas, Dania Ghandour, and Dana El Khazen — handpick their collection every season choosing the funkiest and most exclusive pieces from around the world.

The concept of CREAM was founded in 2007 in Beirut, Lebanon and brought to Jeddah in 2010 for the first time in Saudi Arabia. CREAM exhibits over 70 selective designers from Paris, London, Italy, New York, LA, Miami, Lebanon, Kuwait, Iraq and recently, Saudi Arabia.

CREAM combines collections from both “up and coming” designers and the best of the established ones.  The purpose is to encourage young and trendy designers from all around, especially Saudi Arabia.

“Having ‘up and coming’ designers at CREAM brings to the Saudi market new trends that are unique and never seen before. One of our clients actually once said she shops here, as it has everything and definitely what no one else will have,” explained Malhas.

CREAM has introduced an Iraqi designer who designed an exclusive collection for Ramadan. The pieces are rich with Arabic culture, and every piece is incorporated either with Arabic Calligraphy or with the Saudi “shumagh” or the famous “kaff.” 

During Eid, many works of designers from Paris and London were displayed. MANOUSH’s dresses are best sellers this season.

At CREAM they sell style, not fashion. CREAM is for young ladies who are trend setters and not trend followers: the ones who like to be daring and different. Their taste is continuously in touch with what is moving on the catwalks rather than the mainstream.

There are three things exclusive to CREAM:

They have one of each item.

Their pieces are exclusive and cannot be found anywhere else in Saudi Arabia.

They are constantly presenting something new to their clients.

As for the price range, it varies. You can find T-shirts that are for SR200 and others for SR1,000. The same applies for dresses, bags, accessories and, so on.

In terms of style, the latest trends are the Arabic Calligraphy printed “shirwals” and vests. “You can find them on our Facebook page in the Ramadan collection. In terms of color, mixing pink and orange is the ultimate fashion trend this season,” revealed Malhas.

After speaking to Malhas, we found out how she felt about the stereotypes in pursuing fashion as a profession. “Being a fashion buyer in Saudi Arabia is very interesting. Clients request very different things and have very specific likes and dislikes. I think anyone who is planning on going into this path should be able to recognize what people want.”

The secret is to be able to satisfy all these diversified tastes and needs, she explained.

She also noted that one of the biggest accomplishments for the owners as fashion buyers is that they are able to satisfy their women customers no matter what age. “I was able to satisfy women of different ages, tastes, needs and incomes, all in one place,” she added.

In fact, fashion and styling has always been Malhas’ passion. “Ever since I was a little girl, having my own boutique, traveling around the world and buying and discovering the latest trends has always been a dream of mine.”

Her dream rolled into reality and CREAM hopes that you find yours at their store.