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Saudi Fashion Commission Launches ‘The Lab’ Fashion Industry Studio in Riyadh 

Officials are seen at the launch event in Riyadh on Tuesday. (SPA)
Officials are seen at the launch event in Riyadh on Tuesday. (SPA)
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Saudi Fashion Commission Launches ‘The Lab’ Fashion Industry Studio in Riyadh 

Officials are seen at the launch event in Riyadh on Tuesday. (SPA)
Officials are seen at the launch event in Riyadh on Tuesday. (SPA)

The Saudi Fashion Commission launched on Tuesday “The Lab,” Saudi Arabia’s first-of-its-kind studio for fashion product development.

The launch event was attended by officials, industry specialists, media representatives, and government entities at The Lab's headquarters in the Mohammed bin Salman Nonprofit City, “Misk City,” in Riyadh.

Fashion Commission CEO Burak Cakmak said The Lab sheds light on the progress and prosperity of the fashion industry in the Kingdom, serving as the first studio of its kind in the region, situated in the heart of Riyadh.

He noted that the studio facilitates the fashion manufacturing process, enabling local designers and brands to easily achieve their creative visions.

The Lab enhances innovation and provides essential support throughout the fashion cycle, Cakmak added.

Cakmak said The Lab not only focuses on promoting creativity, but also supports sustainable practices within the industry, embodying a deep commitment to developing a thriving fashion ecosystem in Saudi Arabia.

Moreover, the Lab represents a qualitative leap and an unprecedented initiative in the fashion industry in the Kingdom, he stated.

It provides advanced infrastructure equipped with cutting-edge technologies to boost manufacturing capabilities and foster innovation within the Kingdom.

The studio also offers local designers and businesses the opportunity to showcase their creativity under the “Made in Riyadh” label, Cakmak said.

Misk City CEO David Henry said The Lab aims to develop fashion products in the city, serving as a distinctive mark that will elevate the fashion industry in the Kingdom.

The studio will also allow local designers and businesses to showcase their creations at both the local and global levels, Henry added.

He highlighted Misk City’s contribution to promoting national retail brands in the fashion sector and supporting and developing small and medium-sized local companies.

The Lab highlights the broad support for the development of the fashion sector and aims to enhance the partnership between the Fashion Commission and Misk City.

Additionally, the studio seeks to support cooperation in the development of education and training programs for young Saudi designers and open new avenues for investment in the fashion sector in Saudi Arabia.

This positions The Lab as the starting point for hosting fashion events and festivals in Misk City.

The launch event was attended by Misk Foundation CEO Badr Al-Badr and the foundation’s deputy CEO Omar Najjar.

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Fashion

Dressed for Succession? Kim Jong Un, Daughter Fuel Speculation with Matching Coats

This picture taken on February 25, 2026 and released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on February 26, 2026 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (R) and his daughter Kim Ju Ae attending the military parade to commemorate the 9th Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea at Kim Il-sung Square in Pyongyang. (Photo by KCNA VIA KNS / AFP)
This picture taken on February 25, 2026 and released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on February 26, 2026 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (R) and his daughter Kim Ju Ae attending the military parade to commemorate the 9th Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea at Kim Il-sung Square in Pyongyang. (Photo by KCNA VIA KNS / AFP)
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Dressed for Succession? Kim Jong Un, Daughter Fuel Speculation with Matching Coats

This picture taken on February 25, 2026 and released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on February 26, 2026 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (R) and his daughter Kim Ju Ae attending the military parade to commemorate the 9th Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea at Kim Il-sung Square in Pyongyang. (Photo by KCNA VIA KNS / AFP)
This picture taken on February 25, 2026 and released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on February 26, 2026 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (R) and his daughter Kim Ju Ae attending the military parade to commemorate the 9th Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea at Kim Il-sung Square in Pyongyang. (Photo by KCNA VIA KNS / AFP)

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un donned matching jackets with his daughter at a military parade, state media photos showed Thursday, stoking speculation she is being groomed as heir.

Kim's teenage daughter Ju Ae featured prominently in state photos published to mark the closing stages of the ruling Workers' Party congress.

The duo donned matching leather jackets as they stood side-by-side to watch over a vast military procession.

Kim's wife, Ri Sol Ju, also appeared alongside the duo in a similar attire, AFP reported.

The Kim family has ruled North Korea with an iron grip for decades, and a cult of personality surrounding their "Paektu bloodline" dominates daily life in the isolated country.

Ju Ae has long been seen as the next in line, a perception stoked by a string of recent high-profile outings.

Analyst Lim Eul-chul said the jackets - a staple of leader Kim's wardrobe, especially during key public appearances - were more than a fashion statement.

"In North Korea's political symbolism, that look carries weight -- it's tied to the image of the leader as the ultimate guarantor of national security and future prosperity.

"So when that same symbolic attire is put on his young daughter, it's hard to see it as accidental."

Other photos from the parade showed Ju Ae striding a red carpet next to her father as he received salutes from North Korea's military top brass.

Ju Ae has been clearly "designated as a successor", South Korea's national intelligence service said earlier this month.

Korean affairs expert Leif-Eric Easley said Ju Ae's latest appearance demonstrated her elevated status.

"But she still appears in her capacity as the leader's daughter.

"She is probably not yet old enough to participate in the congress with an official party title."

Ju Ae was publicly introduced to the world in 2022 when she accompanied her father to an intercontinental ballistic missile launch.

Before then, the only confirmation of her existence had come from former NBA star Dennis Rodman, who visited the North in 2013.

Pyongyang has never confirmed Ju Ae's exact age, but analysts believe she is in her early teens.

Ju Ae has drawn attention for her taste in luxury fashion, appearing in Gucci sunglasses and wearing a Cartier watch.

At other times, she has mirrored her father's distinctive style, wearing matching leather jackets and dark glasses.

Fashion

Maria Grazia Chiuri’s Fendi Homecoming Feted in Milan

Fendi's Italian fashion designer Maria Grazia Chiuri is pictured at the end of the Fendi collection show at Milan's Fashion Week Womenswear Fall/Winter 2026/2027 in Milan on February 25, 2026. (AFP)
Fendi's Italian fashion designer Maria Grazia Chiuri is pictured at the end of the Fendi collection show at Milan's Fashion Week Womenswear Fall/Winter 2026/2027 in Milan on February 25, 2026. (AFP)
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Maria Grazia Chiuri’s Fendi Homecoming Feted in Milan

Fendi's Italian fashion designer Maria Grazia Chiuri is pictured at the end of the Fendi collection show at Milan's Fashion Week Womenswear Fall/Winter 2026/2027 in Milan on February 25, 2026. (AFP)
Fendi's Italian fashion designer Maria Grazia Chiuri is pictured at the end of the Fendi collection show at Milan's Fashion Week Womenswear Fall/Winter 2026/2027 in Milan on February 25, 2026. (AFP)

Designer Maria Grazia Chiuri marked her return to Fendi at Milan Fashion Week on Wednesday, presenting a sensual and lightweight collection featuring "remodelled" furs and leathers crafted like lace.

The homecoming of the respected designer -- the first ever woman at the creative helm of Dior and a veteran of Valentino -- was one of the city's most anticipated events on day two of fashion week, with actors Monica Bellucci and Jude Law in the front row along with Fendi ambassador Bang Chan of the Korean boy band Stray Kids.

An experienced designer who has worked for Dior and Valentino, Chiuri received a standing ovation after Wednesday's runway show, some 35 years after her debut at the Roman fashion house.

Chiuri began her career in accessories at the luxury label, where fashion great Karl Lagerfeld presided for over 50 years and which is now owned by French fashion conglomerate LVMH.

"I am here to give back what they have given me," the designer told Vogue magazine this week of the Fendi sisters behind the business.

The designer's first Autumn-Winter collection, for both men and women, featured black, white and green furs, all restyled, and a minimalist color palette of mostly black, white and pale blue.

With delicately flowing slip dresses -- including a scarlet one that could have been in homage to the late Valentino -- and peekaboo lace, Chiuri explained that she wanted to present a "personal geography" of fashion, highlighting Fendi's history and collaboration with other designers, a method she had already successfully championed at Dior.

With stiff shirt collars worn as necklaces by women -- paired with plunging necklines -- and oversized furs for men, Chiuri also hoped to "go beyond the distinction between women's and men's wardrobes".

The designer collaborated with young artist SAGG Napoli for football T-shirts and scarves with slogans in Italian such as "Rooted but not stuck" or "Loyal but not obedient".

A dozen anti-fur activists demonstrated outside Fendi's Milan headquarters where the show was held, calling on Milan Fashion Week to ban fur, as London and New York have done.

Chiuri, a Rome native, began at Fendi in 1989 as an accessories designer, working side by side with Pierpaolo Piccioli to mark the beginning a long collaboration.

Coming to Valentino in 1999, Chiuri spent the next 17 years at the Roman design house, serving as co-creative director with Piccioli upon the retirement of Valentino Garavani in 2008.

Named to head Dior in 2016 after Raf Simons, Chiuri became the first woman creative director of the storied French couture house, bringing an unapologetic feminist and global eye in reworking Christian Dior's celebrated hourglass silhouette.

How the designer would envision her task at Fendi -- whose roots are in fur and leather goods -- following the departure of artistic director Kim Jones in 2024 had been much discussed in fashion circles.

Fashion

Frenzy of Fashion Week to Add to Milan’s Olympic Party 

The company's logo is seen at a Prada store in Zurich, Switzerland January 25, 2021. (Reuters)
The company's logo is seen at a Prada store in Zurich, Switzerland January 25, 2021. (Reuters)
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Frenzy of Fashion Week to Add to Milan’s Olympic Party 

The company's logo is seen at a Prada store in Zurich, Switzerland January 25, 2021. (Reuters)
The company's logo is seen at a Prada store in Zurich, Switzerland January 25, 2021. (Reuters)

The fashion set return to Milan this week, bringing back glamor and runway revelry to Italy's northern city that has been wrapped up in Olympics fever.

Hundreds of buyers and media from around the world will descend on the fashion capital beginning Tuesday for Milan Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2026-2027 and its more than 50 catwalk shows from top Italian luxury names like Dolce & Gabbana, Prada and Giorgio Armani.

The upcoming shows, which run through March 2, come during a "moment of extraordinary visibility for Milan", sandwiched between the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics and the Paralympic Games, Mayor Giuseppe Sala told journalists earlier this month.

Fashion watchers are eagerly awaiting the first collection of veteran Dior and Valentino designer Maria Grazia Chiuri for Fendi, the Rome-based luxury label where she began her career 35 years ago, now owned by French fashion conglomerate LVMH.

And eyes will be on the Gucci runway to see if the debut looks presented by new artistic director Demna Gvasalia, formerly of Balenciaga, are compelling enough to help reverse a protracted sales slump at Kering's flagship brand.

The week's festivities will be a welcome distraction from a myriad of challenges facing the luxury fashion industry, which has struggled against a two-year global slowdown in demand, fueled by high inflation, economic turbulence and geopolitical uncertainty.

A warning from LVMH Chief Executive Bernard Arnault last month that "2026 won't be simple either" points to the difficulty of a sector recovery.

The president of the National Chamber of Italian Fashion, Carla Capasa, told journalists this month that revenue in Italy's fashion industry was estimated to rise in 2026 by a mere 1 percent.

The industry has also seen the recent passing of two designer giants, who enjoyed outsized influence on the world of fashion and exemplified the art of Italian tailoring.

Giorgio Armani, 91, died in September and Valentino Garavani, known just as Valentino, died in January aged 93.

- Green, white, red -

The Olympics opening ceremony paid tribute to Armani, whose Emporio Armani brand has dressed Italy's Olympic athletes since 2012. Willowy models dressed in satin suits of green, white and red paraded across the stage in three lines, mirroring the Italian tricolor flag.

Top Italian model Vittoria Ceretti was flag bearer, wearing a high-collared white Armani gown that recalled that worn by Carla Bruni for Italy's last Winter Olympics in Turin in 2006.

Official marketing for Milan Fashion Week has also tapped Olympics fever, with billboards featuring brooding models in an Alpine landscape, carrying vintage iceskates, skis and other sports equipment hailing from the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Milan is expected to get a financial boost of 320 million euros ($380 million) from the Winter Games, while the February fashion week typically brings in about 200 million euros, according to Milan city council member Alessia Cappello.

"The two things influence each other. Some people come for fashion and stay for the Olympics, or vice versa."