The poolside show featuring the work of Moroccan designer Yasmina Qanzal included mostly one-piece suits in shades of red, beige and blue. Most models had exposed shoulders and some had their midriffs partially visible.
“It’s true that this country is very conservative but we tried to show elegant swimsuits which represent the Arab world,” Qanzal said.
“When we came here, we understood that a swimsuit fashion show in Saudi Arabia is a historic moment, because it is the first time to have such event,” she said, adding it was “an honour” to be involved.
The show took place on the second day of the inaugural Red Sea Fashion Week at the St Regis Red Sea Resort, situated off Saudi Arabia’s western coast.
The resort is part of Red Sea Global, one of the so-called giga-projects at the heart of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 social and economic reform programme overseen by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Prince Mohammed, who became first in line to the throne in 2017, has initiated a series of dramatic social reforms in a bid to soften Saudi Arabia’s austere image stemming from its historical championing of a purist form of Islam known as Wahhabism.
Those changes have included sidelining stick-wielding religious police who used to chase men out of malls to pray, reintroducing cinemas and organising mixed-gender music festivals.
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They have coincided with ramped-up repression targeting dissent, including from conservative clerics who might protest such moves.
Shouq Mohammed, a Syrian fashion influencer who attended Friday’s show, said it was not surprising given Saudi Arabia’s attempt to open up to the world and grow its fashion and tourism sectors.
The fashion industry in 2022 accounted for US$12.5 billion, or 1.4 per cent of national GDP, and employed 230,000 people, according to a report published last year by the official Saudi Fashion Commission.
“It’s the first time to have a swimsuit fashion show in Saudi Arabia, but why not? Seriously, why not?” Mohammed said.
“It’s possible and we have it here.”
Raphael Simacourbe, a French influencer who also attended on Friday, said there was nothing risqué to his eyes but in the Saudi context it was a major achievement.
“That’s very brave from them to do that today, so I am very happy to be part of it,” he said.
Earlier, the wine store in Riyadh came as Saudi Arabia's assertive Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman aims to make the kingdom a tourism and business destination as part of ambitious plans to slowly wean its economy away from crude oil.
However, challenges remain both from the prince's international reputation after the 2018 killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi as well as internally with the conservative Islamic mores that have governed its sandy expanses for decades.
The store sits next to a supermarket in Riyadh's Diplomatic Quarter, said the diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a socially sensitive topic in Saudi Arabia. The diplomat walked through the store Wednesday, describing it as similar to an upscale duty-free shop at a major international airport.
The store stocks liquor, wine and two types of beer for the time being, the diplomat said. Workers at the store asked customers for their diplomatic identifications and for them to place their mobile phones inside of pouches while inside. A mobile phone app allows purchases on an allotment system, the diplomat said.
Saudi officials did not respond to a request for comment regarding the store.
However, the opening of the store coincides with a story run by the English-language newspaper Arab News, owned by the state-aligned Saudi Research and Media Group, on new rules governing alcohol sales to diplomats in the kingdom.
It described the rules as meant "to curb the uncontrolled importing of these special goods and liquors within the diplomatic consignments." The rules took effect Monday, the newspaper reported.
For years, diplomats have been able to import liquor through a specialty service into the kingdom, for consumption on diplomatic grounds.
Those without access in the past have purchased liquor from bootleggers or brewed their own inside their homes. However, the U.S. State Department warns that those arrested and convicted for consuming alcohol can face "long jail sentences, heavy fines, public floggings and deportation."
