Within a specially devised outdoor setting in Saudi Arabia’s capital, models in magnificently embroidered gowns of satin, lace, mesh and velvet walked the runway in a presentation that distinctly married contemporary couture with Arabian heritage. Showcasing intricate beadwork and glistening sequins, capes and at times shimmering headscarfs, Saudi designer Tima Abid’s latest collection marked her first public presentation in her home country for the inaugural Riyadh Fashion Week last fall.
Saudi couture designer Tima Abid merges contemporary fashion with Arabian heritage.
Saudi Couture Designer Merges Contemporary Fashion with Arabian Heritage
The scene echoed the celebratory vibe of Abid’s debut show more than three years prior. During Paris Haute Couture Week she presented an equally glamorous 50-piece collection to invitation-only guests and the alluring songs of famous Tunisian singer Oumaima Taleb.
“Tima Abid has been a household name in Jeddah, known for its glamorous take on the female silhouette and an unapologetic esthetic of decadence,” says Marriam Mossalli, a Saudi lifestyle editor and founder of communications agency Niche Arabia.
Abid’s collections are regal, grand, bold and ultrafeminine. Highlighted pieces at Riyadh Fashion Week included a skirt made entirely of metallic sequins and blue and red feathers that glistened with every step the model took as well as a wedding gown with jewel-embellished silk panels.
Some contemporary looks came in the form of fitted bolero jackets decorated with jewels and waist-hugging corset dresses; other garments featured high jeweled necklines and fitted long sleeves with feathers or other jewels at the wrists.
Abid’s career did not begin with such a spectacle but stems from more than two decades of hard work.
Left Abid sketches a dress that would be worn by Saudi television presenter Lojain Omran. Right A model walks the runway of the Riyadh Fashion Show in another of Abid’s designs.
From the time she was a young girl in Jeddah, Abid loved fashion. Elegant dresses represented a magical world about which she would dream.
Growing up, Abid says, she didn’t get much exposure to the world of fashion. “There’s wasn’t much television in my household or magazines for me to read about the latest trends. I still always loved dresses. I even have dresses I have kept for over 25 years.”
Abid’s first trip to Paris was for her honeymoon. “It was there that I was exposed to the world of international fashion—to Max Mara and Dior,” she says, adding, “I fell in love with everything I saw in the designer stores.”
The looks she saw in Paris, one of the centers of the fashion world, became her biggest inspirations.
“I began … to try and re-create what I had seen with my own style and vision.”
—Tima Abid
Abid returned home with her passion amplified. “I began looking at the differences in couture versus ready-to-wear and began to try and re-create what I had seen with my own style and vision,” she says.
“I had a new fire in me—a fire that led me to design dresses,” she says.
Entirely self-taught, Abid would go to local shops to buy fabrics she loved. “I would then teach myself the difference between the fabrics, the cuts and the way they’d fall on the body,” she recalls. “I would have a big pile of fabrics on the floor, and I would select from there and just begin designing, first creating dresses for myself and then for my family and friends.”
She began designing bridal gowns for friends’ and family weddings. As she received more and more compliments, she realized she could open her own business.
Abid’s website includes gowns that are “demi couture,” meaning an existing silhouette’s color or fabric is changed to the customer’s taste.
Abid’s daughter, Sultana Bokhari, remembers the family living room becoming a place for her mother’s work where she would meet with clients to discuss the dresses they wanted.
Abid studied psychology at university—a subject that had little to do with the garments she was designing. However, an understanding of emotion has also enhanced the way she creates fashion for women.
“When meeting clients my mother would at first learn about them, their personality, their tastes, dreams and style—the fitting had very little to do with the actual garment,” Bokhari explains. “It was from getting to know the client that she would then design the gown.”
Over the decades Abid’s designs have come to represent both contemporary fashion through avant-garde cuts and Arabian heritage. It is here where she has found her power. This is found in her latest collection through structured gowns exposing legs and arms while covering other parts in long abayas (loose-fitting robes), shaylas (headscarves) and, at times, even embellished batulah—the Arabian Gulf metallic-looking traditional mask.
“My mother is an artist. She loves music, art and meeting other people. All of this is reflected in her designs.”
—SULTANA BOKHARI
“Whoever wears my dresses should know that they evoke boldness with deep balance, strength and freedom and represent part of the personality of whoever wears them,” she says.
Fashion shows in the Arabian Gulf have grown exponentially over the past decade and a half. In this emerging environment, Abid has a clear goal. “I want to be the Chanel of Saudi Arabia,” the designer told Vogue Arabia after her first haute couture presentation in Paris in 2020.
Recently, leading fashion brands like Dolce & Gabbana, which staged its first fashion show in the historical desert region of al-’Ula in 2022, have flocked to Saudi Arabia. Additionally, the national Fashion Commission is producing numerous events such as Riyadh Fashion Week to encourage young and established designers like Abid to present their creations to a wider audience.
For this dress Abid incorporates what she calls “traditional elegance” that honors Saudi Arabia’s origins.
Her latest collection reflects, she says, “darkness, light and opposites.” Designed especially for Riyadh Fashion Week, her highly architectural looks were inspired by her country’s natural desert landscapes, its lush, verdant oases and mountains.
That approach has inspired her before.
“Sometimes even rocks on top of each other at the beach grab my attention,” she says. “I even remember one time I was on a plane. I saw the clouds from above, and it gave me a different feeling, so I made a white dress out of cloudy-looking feathers. The dress ended up in the Paris fashion show.”
Glamorous and bold, Abid’s latest designs merge Arabian heritage with a sense of modernity, where traditional Arabian details, such as the abaya, headscarf and batulah are incorporated into cutting-edge western styles, such as form-fitting long sleeves, tight high waists, slits, bare shoulders and short skirts.
The results are lavish intercultural gowns that reflect an Arabian woman—one who wears her heritage with grace and dignity while embracing the rapidly changing present.