Fashion
Hala Algharbawi’s approach to design is to seek out the authenticity and connections between cultures, telling her story through the medium of fashion
From issue 49 of Lucire
Our cover story for issue 49 features a breathtaking gold gown by designer Hala Algharbawi, a true fashion talent whose name will be familiar to those who observe Saudi Arabia’s wider fashion industry. She showed at the inaugural Riyadh Fashion Week last year, though her history goes back further, as one of the country’s successful expatriate designers. She already had been chosen, while studying at ESMOD in Berlin, to show at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in Beijing, which she duly did in 2017. By the time she was selected as one of the 30 Saudi brands at Riyadh Fashion Week, Algharbawi was already a veteran of fashion shows and the demands of international customers.
Based in Berlin, Algharbawi hails from Jeddah, a city she says she holds close to her heart for its memories. She also says she has a sense of pride over how rapidly the fashion scene in her home town is accelerating.
Among those early memories was an interest in fashion. ‘When I was young, I loved playing with fabrics, and I loved handicrafts and coordinating clothes, even ones from boutique stores. I loved to make or change them.’
Her university studies took her in the same direction, studying art at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah for her four-year degree, before a break of some years and embarking on a second bachelor’s degree in fashion and apparel design at ESMOD in Berlin.
Circumstances took Algharbawi to Germany, with her husband an orthopædic consultant. ‘We had to go to complete his specialization. From the first moment there, I decided to study fashion design at esmod, which I regarded as a strong university.’
It was during this time that she was selected to show in China. She had won the 25th China International Hempel Award for young fashion designers, and her début collection made it on to the Beijing catwalk.
‘It was different and wonderful,’ she says of her experience. ‘I made friends and I expanded my network. I learned about the fashion industry in China and the detail of what takes place in fashion competitions. I would really like to repeat the experience because of the memories that gave me.’
The same year, she began showing at Berlin Fashion Week.
Algharbawi’s approach can be summarized as blending eastern and western ideas, something that she finds enriching. ‘I have lived for 14 years in Germany, and my studies were at an international university where I got to know different citizens from different environments and nationalities.
‘This desire grew as I studied, and I absorbed a huge amount of information and different ideas that affected me and influenced me positively,’ she says.
Core to her belief is representing her nation and culture on the world stage, and she finds it important to study, work hard, persevere, and build her network of friends. From that, she gains both knowledge and inspiration. When a designer understands both their own and another’s culture, they can deliver a message through the medium of fashion.
‘The way to develop a unique style is about making those cultural connections, and telling that story. It is important to start with a story about associations in respect to culture, history and fashion.’
Each collection, therefore, is based around a topic that Algharbawi finds exciting, or a message that she would like to send through fashion.
She says this cultural exchange goes both ways. She notices in Germany that a large number of people are interested in other cultures, seeking out their artistry and authenticity.
Beyond designing for her own label, Algharbawi has also been training fashion designers from around the world for their bachelor’s and master’s programme. This has further grown her interest in making those cultural connections that enrich her thinking. To date, she has trained over 50 female students from international universities around the world.
Her sumptuous and detailed designs demonstrate a keen eye for craft, quality tailoring and artistry. To achieve this, Algharbawi notes that there are daily challenges in her work, and this is more the case in the fashion field as she sees it as one of constant experimentation. However, when it comes to her own work, she says that quality tailoring and execution are her priorities, something she would prefer to do within her own company.
In 2020, she headed to Rome Business School for her master’s in fashion management. ‘I naturally do not like to sit at home, so after I started I decided to complete my studies and obtain a master’s degree in fashion. I chose the fashion management major so that I would have extensive knowledge of different topics and diversities between the theoretical and practical parts of the fashion industry.’
With the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia diversifying its economy for Vision 2030, Algharbawi says she is proud of the Ministry of Culture’s and the Fashion Commission’s efforts to develop the fashion sector and support its professionals. ‘The Commission is setting a new strategy to enhance and boost the sector and proposing new projects targeted at increasing its contribution to the economy. Their vision is to evolve the Kingdom’s fashion industry through culture, amplifying Saudi heritage and identity, while responding to global needs and impacting the national economy. Their mission is to enable the development of a thriving Saudi fashion industry, sustainable and inclusive, fully integrated along the value chain, maximizing local talent, experiences, and competencies. So what can I ask more than that? We are so lucky to have them in our business.’
As to her own label, Algharbawi says she expects big, strategic changes in her brand and the projects she is involved in. ‘Stay tuned,’ she says—something we will keenly do with this ever-strengthening, beautiful and story-rich label. •
Denis Campos
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