EXCLUSIVE: Riyadh Air’s First Uniforms by Ashi Will Debut at Paris Couture Week

WEAR BEFORE FLIGHT: New Saudi airline Riyadh Air has tapped Paris-based couturier Ashi, who only goes by his last name, for the uniforms of its flight crew as it heads toward its 2025 launch.

“Our cabin crew personify everything Riyadh Air stands for, making it imperative to partner with someone who understands Saudi Arabian culture and hospitality but also captures the essence of our brand with a bold, visual impact,” said the airline’s chief executive officer Tony Douglas. “We are confident that Ashi’s unique designs will leave a lasting impression, ensuring our guests remember them long after they have landed.”

The designs will be introduced at an event that will include a runway show on June 27, the evening after Ashi’s fall 2024 couture show.

“The airline will play an important role in the future of Saudi Arabia by making Riyadh one of the world’s key destinations,” said the designer. “I am delighted to be part of a project so significant for our nation. It’s an exciting time to be in Saudi Arabia and to witness another Saudi brand going global.”

He also made his mark by becoming the first Saudi designer to show on the official calendar at Paris Couture Week in July 2023, 15 years after launching his Ashi Studio label in 2007.

But the first thing he told airline executives when they approached him two years ago was that he was going to make “cabin crew fashion” rather than mere uniforms.

“I really wanted to take it to a different perspective and not only give it a style, but just to give it personality and that high fashion moment as well,” he told WWD exclusively. “They’re not uniforms, they’re fashion items, aligning the airline to the fashion universe.”

As a starting point he had as visual references the golden age of aviation, citing movies such as the 2002 comedy-drama “Catch Me If You Can” starring Leonardo Di Caprio and the British Royal Family’s midcentury travel photographs. “I went back to the 1950s and ‘60s and took the glamour from there,” he said. “Then I added touches of futurism to connect with the modernity of today and what that could look like in the future.”

That said, don’t expect his sculptural couture looks to be floating down the on-board aisles. “A couture dress that’s going to fly commercial, that’s not going to work,” he joked, explaining he’d also taken cues from the way couturiers such as Balenciaga had worked on such projects or even ready-to-wear pieces.

Although he demurred on silhouette details, the uniforms will include 35 full outfits for men and women, with coats, jackets and separates. For the palette, he worked shades of dark lavender dubbed “electric amethyst” for female crew and a “dark amethyst” variation for their male counterparts. Sustainable fabrics will also be part of the equation, he said.

In addition, there will be accessories such as earrings, hats and footwear, as well as purses and trolleys.

Riyadh Air, which is owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, was announced in March 2023 and its purple-toned livery was unveiled on a Boeing 787 aircraft at the Paris air show in Le Bourget in June 2023. The airline, which will start certification flights in September and has been assigned the code RXI, is slated to make its maiden voyage in July 2025. It is expected to fly to 100 destinations in the Middle East and across six continents.