In the wake of Paris Fashion Week, New York designer Willy Chavarria signalled a major shift in its global ambitions. After two attention-grabbing seasons in Paris, where it held its own among French luxury houses with far deeper pockets, the brand revealed a series of steps positioning it for international scale: quiet backing from FAE Fashion Ventures in 2024, followed by a recent minority investment from Middle Eastern retail giant Chalhoub Group.
The largest retail operator in the Middle East, this was the latest in a line of investments by Chalhoub Group in luxury fashion brands. In 2022, it acquired a stake in UK luxury e-commerce personal shopping business, Threads and followed up with investment in OTB Group – the parent of fashion brands including Jil Sander and Maison Margiela – in 2024. And Chalhoub Group hasn’t been the only Gulf-based firm to turn its attention towards the luxury retail space in recent years. One of the most notable developments came last year, when the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) signed a deal to acquire a 40% stake in Selfridges, one of the UK’s most recognisable luxury department stores. The deal placed PIF alongside Thailand’s Central Group and brought a major international retail institution under partial Gulf ownership.
“Fashion brands carry global visibility, attracting media, celebrities, investors and international attention, whilst also shaping cultural narratives through creative direction.”
This increase in activity isn’t happening in a vacuum. Thanks to a realisation that long-term economic stability depends on reduced reliance on hydrocarbons, there has been a general shift in government investment strategy in the Gulf region, as sovereign wealth funds and conglomerates steer capital away from oil and towards high-value culture assets. That move, which was once focused on prized real estate and global sports, is now increasingly targeting the creative economy.
But what is it about the creative space that is so attractive to investors in the Middle East? Simply, fashion brands carry global visibility, attracting media, celebrities, investors and international attention, whilst also shaping cultural narratives through creative direction. In this context, rather than just being an indulgence, luxury fashion becomes a strategic asset, allowing its owners to position themselves on the global stage and harness its soft power of influence and identity. And unlike industries tied to commodity cycles, heritage fashion houses often hold, and grow, equity value over time.
“International houses are now taking pole position on the runway.”
The flow of capital is also mirrored by a growing influx of creativity into the region. In the last few years, Riyadh and Dubai Fashion Weeks have expanded their calendars, offering increasingly ambitious programmes that have attracted global names, including Vivienne Westwood, whose Middle Eastern debut was to open Riyadh Fashion Week this year, and Stella McCartney, who closed the event. The participation of these big players in Riyadh Fashion Week signals a shift in perspective towards the Gulf. Rather than an emerging destination, it is now being seen as an active participant in the global fashion schedule. However, this wasn’t always the case, with earlier iterations of fashion weeks being dominated by local talent and spotlighting domestic creativity. Although this does still exist, international houses are now taking pole position on the runway.
Alongside this international spotlight, homegrown designers from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar have gained significant momentum, using these expanded platforms to refine a regional aesthetic and secure visibility beyond their borders. As Gulf investors increasingly back brands in Europe and the US, this parallel rise of local talent is elevating the region’s profile on its own terms by broadening the industry’s creative map and introducing perspectives that sit outside the long-established Western canon.
This shift indicates a remoulding of the relationship between the Gulf and the global fashion industry, as for decades, the region served as the consumer end of the luxury pipeline – it was the place where brands arrived, set up flagship stores, and catered to a wealthy customer base. Although this is still true to some extent, these investments in luxury brands internationally are stepping stones towards solidifying a rebrand as more than a destination for consumers.
“Rather than just being an indulgence, luxury fashion becomes a strategic asset, allowing its owners to position themselves on the global stage and harness its soft power of influence and identity.”
The Qatar-based investment firm Mayhoola, for example, has been quietly setting the blueprint for years. Its acquisition of Valentino in 2012 and then Balmain in 2016, signalled early ambition, but its recent appointment of Riccardo Bellini as Managing Director – a new role created to both oversee and shape the existing portfolio – suggests a deliberate intent to push themselves into the centre of the luxury conversation. Both formalising the firm’s long-term commitment to the creative industries, and consequently strengthen Qatar’s position as a global tastemaker and owner, this appointment marks a step towards more active involvement in how major fashion houses develop.
And in some ways, the timing aligns perfectly. Particularly post-covid, many independent fashion brands have faced increased financial pressure, with recent Vogue Business analysis finding that production and material costs among indie labels have “started spiking”. Added to this, the luxury fashion market remains increasingly concentrated, with the three major conglomerates of LVMH, Kering and Richemont controlling more than a third of the sector. Gulf-based investors offer a form of support tailored to these conditions: they possess established retail networks in their domestic markets and hold deep pockets for investment, making them credible partners for fashion brands aiming to expand.
What stands out in these investments is what they represent for the position of the Middle East in the fashion landscape. Luxury fashion, in particular, has always been shaped by a number of small centres which then influences globally. However, by taking positions in brands and designers, Gulf-based organisations are moving closer to those centres, by finding a place for themselves in the already existing structures.
For designers, this creates an additional route to scale at a time when traditional funding pathways have narrowed. Chalhoub Group’s investment in Willy Chavarria has arrived at a moment of recalibration, and reflects the wider change in how investment decisions are being made on both sides of the deal. How widely this model will spread remains to be seen, but the pattern is growing, and the impact is sure to follow suit.
