Meet Mohammed Ashi, Saudi Arabia’s designer to the stars: the camera-shy fashionista worked at Givenchy and Elie Saab before dressing celebrities from Beyoncé and Zendaya to Deepika Padukone
- In the 90s, Mohammed Ashi was the ‘only designer from Saudi’, but he says he didn’t want that to be the focus of his work as he independently made a career out of his natural talents
- He was recently appointed as a mentor for Saudi’s Fashion Commission, although critics suggest these changes are to distract from controversies surrounding Prince Mohammad Bin Salman
“In the 90s I was the only designer from Saudi. But I never said I was Saudi. I wanted the clothes to be out front, not me,” Ashi said in a rare interview at his Paris studio.
It is partly shyness – he still prefers not to be photographed himself – but also the fact that Western fashion was largely taboo in public, certainly for women, when he was growing up in Saudi Arabia in the 1980s.
Ashi made his career abroad, training in the United States and working for Givenchy and Lebanese couturier Elie Saab before settling in France.
“A few months ago, I was invited publicly to talk in Saudi for the first time, and so many people came up to me afterwards. I’m getting recognition from the younger generation that I never expected,” he said.
“They’re giving scholarships to people for something that was prohibited when I was growing up. It’s an iconic moment,” he added.