Saudi women have started to show their hidden talents recently. Fashion designing is a talent some Saudi women have and are practicing. It is easier now for Saudi women, attracted to fashion, to find designers who are from the same environment and can satisfy their styles instead of traveling abroad.
Three Saudi female designers Fatima Aabed, Muna Abul Faraj and Wed Bogari had their latest nightgown collection on display after years of working in the field of fashion designing.
Fatima Aabed started designing three years ago. She graduated from the university with a BA in psychology and she states that this had a direct effect on her designing. “Whenever I have a customer, I know what she wants according to her style and body shape, so I design the piece in a way that flatters her figure. My designs are never readymade,” she says. Aabed usually prefers conservative dresses because she sees that it is part of a woman’s femininity to appear conservative. However, the last opinion is the customer’s as she is the one who is going to keep the final product. Aabed’s latest collection was under the name of ‘C’est Moi’, which is French for ‘it’s me’, to show that her designs reflect her own style.
Aabed was distinguished between the other two designers for designing dresses for children from three to thirteen. She said, “Young girls, especially in the ages between 10 and 13 find difficulty in finding dresses that suit their ages. They either find clothes for children or for adults. I thought of designing dresses for their ages, especially that I have girls at these ages.”
Fashion designing is an art on its own. Muna Abul Faraj — MA in environmental art — started her artistic steps to design rosaries made up of precious stones. She also designs wedding invitations. “I started my career in fashion designing traditional dresses — thobes — to be worn in the month of Ramadan. My designs succeeded to attract many women, so I thought of designing nightgowns.” Her latest collection of nightgowns is called ‘Earth & Spirit’.
Wed Bogari’s talents for design bloomed in her early age. It flourishes in the environment of encouragement according to Wed Bogari, owner of Wed Haute Couture Gallery. She has always added her unique touches in anything she wore since ever she was a child. “I didn’t like wearing outfits without adding my personal style to it. My family and friends encouraged me to design my own clothes, that is how I started fashion designing.” Bogari started six years ago designing traditional dresses and Abayas, until she designed this year a collection of nightgowns. “I love my what I do, it is my favorite hobby,” she concluded.
