appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Agence France-Presse

Saudi tailor Habib Mohammed’s shop once made ornate, hand-woven cloaks for royals, a time-honoured craft he is determined to preserve even as mass-produced garments flood the market, threatening his traditional business.
He makes bisht, a long gown which for centuries has been a status symbol, worn by kings and princes – and ordinary men. They can take a week of meticulous work to create.
Now, with cheap Chinese-made robes taking a bite out of his business, the 60-year-old tailor is struggling to make a profit, and his only son will not take over the beleaguered shop.
But Mohammed refuses to let the ancient craft die, searching for ways to hand down his knowledge.

“We’ve started training here at the shop and at home,” he says in his windowless atelier in the oasis city of Hofuf, with bisht hanging all around.
“I am teaching my grandchildren, be they girls or boys.”
In Mohammed’s native Al-Ahsa governorate, it was “considered shameful for a man to go to a funeral or a market, or make a visit to anyone anywhere without wearing the bisht”, he says.
The bisht came to global attention in 2022 when Qatar’s emir draped one over football star Lionel Messi after the World Cup final.
Pieces I would make for 1,500 riyals now go for 150 riyals. It’s not enough to make a living
Habib Mohammed
Although Arabs across the Gulf still sometimes wear traditional garb, especially in formal settings, factory-made clothing has replaced tailor services in the oil-rich countries of the region.
At his workshop, Mohammed watches over his granddaughter Fajr, nine, and grandson Ghassan, 10, as they embroider delicate gowns.
For the veteran craftsman, who learned to weave when he was only five, this is “my entire life”.


“I came into this world … seeing only bisht around me,” says Mohammed, wearing the Saudi national dress of white thobe robe and chequered red-and-white headdress.
“I was born in [my father’s] tailor shop and grew up watching my mother sew. I saw my brothers and cousins work with my father in the tailor shop,” he adds with pride.
His wife was also a bisht seamstress, he says, skilled at collar embroidery.
But his modest shop in an artisans’ market in Hofuf has fallen on hard times.
“A sort of recession has taken hold,” he says.

A high-quality bisht could once have fetched up to 6,000 riyals (US$1,600), but machine-made cloaks sell for just a fraction of that price, Mohammed says.
“Pieces I would make for 1,500 riyals now go for 150 riyals. It’s not enough to make a living.”
Mohammed refuses to let the tradition die out, and he is far from alone.
A bisht revival is taking shape in Saudi Arabia even as it opens up to the world, attracting tourists and foreign businesses.
We will bring it to life once more
Habib Mohammed, on reviving the craft of bisht weaving
In 2024, the kingdom ordered ministers and other senior officials to wear a bisht when entering or leaving the workplace or attending formal events.
Saudi Arabia has named 2025 the Year of Handicrafts, when it will promote and support 10 crafts including bisht-weaving.
And Gulf countries are trying to include the bisht on the Unesco list of intangible cultural heritage in a bid to preserve the craft.
Some of the bisht hanging on the walls of Mohammed’s workshop are at least a century old, he says, proudly presenting a brown robe made from sheep’s wool.

“Someone offered me 200,000 riyals for this, but I refused to sell it because it is as dear to me as my life. It represents my country’s history,” he says.
“I want to pass them down to my children and grandchildren, and I will instruct them never to sell them,” he says, pointing to the pieces on the walls.
Mohammed also gives weekly bisht tailoring lessons at a nearby institute, mostly for young people.
“We didn’t give up,” he says, training the younger generation “to revive an old heritage that was disappearing”.
“We will bring it to life once more,” Mohammed says.


Meet Kylian Mbappé’s rumoured girlfriend, Netflix actress Ester Expósito

7 Hong Kong women’s footballers on the game, fashion and how the two mix

3 fashion drops celebrating the Fifa World Cup 2026, by Adidas, Nike and Puma

Bag made from ‘T. rex leather’ fails to sell at Paris auction

Fashion

Hit by cheap Chinese imports, tailor who hand weaves Saudi gowns fights to save his craft

Saudi tailor Habib Mohammed makes a traditional bisht robe. Photo: AFP

Saudi tailor Habib Mohammed shows hand-woven robes at his workshop in the city of Hofuf, where he teaches his endangered robe-weaving craft to young people. Photo: AFP

Mohammed adds embroidery on a bisht at his workshop in Hofuf. Photo: AFP

Qatar’s emir amim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani presents Lionel Messi with a bisht after the World Cup final in 2022. Photo: Reuters

Mohammed’s 10-year-old grandson learns to embroider a bisht at his grandfather’s workshop. Photo: AFP

Mohammed’s bisht shop has fallen on hard times. Photo: AFP

Mohammed gives weekly bisht tailoring lessons to young people. He says he won’t give up on keeping his craft alive. Photo: AFP

In Afghanistan, young women under Taliban ditch the burka for something ‘more comfortable’

Young Afghan women wearing niqabs in Kabul. These and hijabs are seen by the new generation as less stifling than the burkas many older women still wear. Photo: AFP

An Afghan woman sews a burka inside her house in Mazar-i-Sharif, in northern Afghanistan. Photo: AFP

An Afghan man shows burkas to a burka-clad woman at his shop in Mazar-i-Sharif. The Taliban’s restrictions do not specifically mention the burka, leading many young women to wear abaya robes and headscarfs that cover less of the face. Photo: AFP

An Afghan woman shops for a burka in Mazar-i-Sharif. Photo: AFP

An Afghan man shows varieties of burkas at his shop in Kandahar. The Taliban have gradually erased women in public space in what the UN calls a “gender apartheid”, despite promising to be more flexible than during their first rule. Photo: AFP

Donatella Versace, out at fashion label brother Gianni founded, overcame many obstacles

(From left) Claudia Schiffer, Donatella Versace, Naomi Campbell and Cindy Crawford on the catwalk in 2017. Versace, 70 in May, will step down as creative director of the label her brother Gianni founded on April 1. Photo: AP

Italian fashion designer and businesswoman Donatella Versace at the Green Carpet Fashion Awards in West Hollywood, California, in 2024. Photo: EPA

Models wear creations as part of the Versace autumn/winter 2025-2026 womenswear collection presented in Milan, Italy, in 2025. Photo: AP

Gianni Versace and Donatella on the catwalk with some of their models at the end of the Versace autumn/winter 1996/97 menswear collection, presented in Milan in 1996. Photo: AP

Versace is applauded by British supermodel Naomi Campbell at the end of the Versus collection she designed for spring/summer 1998. It was the unveiling of her first collection since the death of her brother. Photo: AP

Jennifer Lopez and Versace accept applause at the conclusion of the Versace spring/summer 2020 collection, unveiled in Milan in 2019. Lopez wore a skimpier version of the jungle dress that wowed the 2000 Grammy Awards audience. Photo: AP

No hijabs, no miniskirts. Ex-Soviet republic’s fashion advice for women rankles with some

Tajik fashion designer Khurshed Sattorov presents traditional garb at his workshop. Women in Tajikistan are being advised by the government to wear more “Tajik-style” clothing. Photo: AFP

Women in the Tajik capital of Dushanbe. A manual from the government in 2018 advised women to avoid revealing European clothing, miniskirts, and low necklines. Photo: AFP

Tajik fashion designer Khurshed Sattorov presents traditional garb at his workshop. Authorities are counting on fashion designers to promote traditional garb. Photo: AFP

Sattorov at his workshop in Dushanbe. The culture ministry said it was thinking of issuing a separate manual with a male dress code. Photo: AFP

People walk along a street in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe. State media have criticised “so-called artists” who wear miniskirts, “imitators” of American style and women wearing the hijab. Photo: AFP

Year of the Snake 2025 predictions for 12 zodiac signs. How is your health, luck, wealth?

Feng shui master Tong Pik-ha predicts the varying fortunes of people born under the 12 Chinese zodiac signs in the coming Year of the Snake. Illustrations: Victor Sanjinez

Lifestyle

Fashion & Beauty

Lionel Messi wore a bisht at 2022 World Cup, but the traditional Arab hand-woven gown is under threat. One tailor is passing on his skills


Lionel Messi wore a bisht at 2022 World Cup, but the traditional Arab hand-woven gown is under threat. One tailor is passing on his skills.


Saudi Arabia

Hit by cheap Chinese imports, tailor who hand weaves Saudi gowns fights to save his craft

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Lionel Messi wore a bisht at 2022 World Cup, but the traditional Arab hand-woven gown is under threat. One tailor is passing on his skills

Lionel Messi wore a bisht at 2022 World Cup, but the traditional Arab hand-woven gown is under threat. One tailor is passing on his skills