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DUBAI: Design fair Salone del Mobile.Milano is making its way to the Middle East for the first time with an event in Riyadh titled “Red in progress. Salone del Mobile.Milano meets Riyadh,” set to run from Nov. 26-28.

Staged in partnership with the Architecture and Design Commission at ������Ƶ’s Ministry of Culture, the event will take place at King Abdullah Financial District in the Kingdom’s capital.

More than 35 Made in Italy brands focused on furnishings, lighting, surfaces and accessories will be showcased alongside Saudi designers at the first edition, which acts as preview of a larger Salone del Mobile to be held in Riyadh in 2026.

Maria Porro, president of Salone del Mobile, said: “Riyadh is the place where vision becomes city. With ‘Red in progress. Salone del Mobile.Milano’ … we are bringing the design culture of the Salone and the exhibiting companies to this country to listen and work together with contractors, developers and architects — not a showcase, but a space where collaboration and content meet, and ideas become places.”

According to a released statement, the focus is business-first — with an emphasis placed on facilitating meetings between firms and professionals in the Saudi market and sharing expertise and best practices in the delivery of interiors in large development programs.

A cultural program will also unfold in the form of masterclasses and round tables, organized with the Architecture and Design Commission and led by design figures from ������Ƶ and Italy.

Salone del Mobile.Milano was launched in 1961. In 2024, the 62nd edition of Salone del Mobile.Milano welcomed almost 2,000 exhibitors from 37 countries and recorded more than 302,000 attendees in total.

DUBAI: Saudi influencer Nojoud Al-Rumaihi, who is also a fashion consultant, has been spotted at a number of runway shows during Paris Fashion Week.

Al-Rumaihi attended Lebanese couturier Elie Saab’s Spring/Summer 2026 showcase, as well as shows staged by Hermes, Valentino, and Lebanese designer Georges Hobeika.

She has been sharing behind-the-scenes glimpses of her time at fashion week on social media, with insights on her favorite runway looks as well as her own outfits.

Al-Rumaihi shared a series on Instagram Stories about Hermes designer Nadege Vanhee’s latest show in Paris, in which Vanhee sent out a collection of brassiere tops, quilted silk coats and racer-back dresses.

Models marched around the space in tall riding boots, their silky ponytails swishing. They wore sandy-colored shirts, skirts and brassiere ensembles, cinched snugly with leather straps and lacework. Racer backs revealed shoulder blades, while leather bra tops held silk fabric in place, covering the chest, Reuters reported.

The color palette was dominated by muted beige and khaki tones, with a few touches of bright red — a leather trouser set, a handbag and motifs on scarves.

Al-Rumaihi also attended Italian label Valentino’s showcase in Paris, during which creative head Alessandro Michele’s latest collection Fireflies was put on show.

Prim retro silhouettes — bows, ruching, velvet skirts — set a mood at Paris Fashion Week of controlled nostalgia, Associated Press noted.

The high point was a draped gold gown with a feathered white collar, evoking myth and Valentino’s Roman past. A polka-dot shirt, satin skirts split with bright yellow panels, and occasional colorblocking kept the eclectic spirit alive, though without the exuberant force Michele had deployed before.

That was the story of the show: less spectacle, more editing. Where Michele’s early collections for the house, and his Gucci tenure before that, thrived on sheer overload — tassels, turbans, ruffles, references piled high — here he cut cleaner lines and pared styling back. The result felt more wearable, but also less astonishing.

Valentino’s identity is rooted in beauty and polish. Under founder Valentino Garavani, the house meant jet-set elegance and “Valentino red.” Under designer Pierpaolo Piccioli, it leaned into couture-like refinement. Michele entered with a different tool kit: maximalist nostalgia, gender-fluid styling, and deep archive mining. He has said the job is to “manipulate the past to make it now,” balancing modern maximalism with relevance so the brand does not freeze in time.

For her part, Al-Rumaihi billed it as “a magnificent experiential show” on Instagram, where she shared a video of models traversing a spotlit runway.