This summer, The Corner Shop brings a new generation of Saudi designers to Oxford Street, placing Riyadh’s emerging fashion scene inside one of London’s most visible shop windows.
Oxford Street in August has its own ecosystem: half-empty offices, crowded pavements and a steady migration towards Selfridges’ yellow bags. This year, visitors entering through the department store’s Duke Street doors will also find a concentrated view of contemporary Saudi Arabia.
Running until 5 September, Saudi: Sky’s the Limit has taken over The Corner Shop with more than 25 Saudi brands spanning fashion, jewellery, fragrance, beauty and food. For many of the designers involved, it marks their first encounter with the London customer. For Selfridges, it is an unusually expansive introduction to a fashion market still largely absent from European department stores.
Mona Alshebil brings barrel-leg denim, drop-waist dresses and sculptural tailoring; ArAm, founded by designer Arwa Alammari, approaches the dress with the eye of an artist; and Reem Alkanhal’s silk shirts and taffeta shorts carry subtle references to Saudi dress without turning heritage into costume. Rebirth adds handmade pieces rich in fringe and woven detail, while Yasmina Q works with fluid shapes and deadstock fabrics.
Menswear comes through the sharper language of Saudi streetwear. Founded in Riyadh in 2016, 1886 takes its name from the London dorm rooms of its founders, Fahad Al-Jomiah and Khalid Al-Jammaz, its hoodies, joggers and T-shirts draw on Saudi youth culture with the confidence of a label that has spent a decade helping to define it. Not Boring takes a more mischievous route, translating Riyadh’s private jokes and familiar references into outerwear and graphic sweatshirts. Some pieces may pass unnoticed by an international shopper; those who understand the reference get the punchline.
This insider quality is one of the project’s more interesting features. Saudi fashion is frequently introduced abroad through the language of transformation, with designers expected to explain an entire country before anyone discusses the cut of a jacket. At Selfridges, the best work is allowed to operate on a smaller and more persuasive scale. A pleated skirt, a silk top or an architectural earring can reveal how a new fashion culture is forming without carrying the burden of a national thesis.
The jewellery and accessories are equally assured. Jeddah-based Yataghan produces bold chains and architectural earrings, while OFA works in 18-carat gold on pieces conceived as future heirlooms. Bovenue uses leather offcuts for polished handbags, and Artfeena turns Saudi visual references into homeware and decorative objects.
Beauty offers another route into the country’s growing creative economy. Moonglaze, founded by Yara Alnamlah, has brought its bronzers, blush sticks and highlighters to the space after launching at Selfridges in 2025. The fragrance selection feels particularly rooted in place, Batlah works with Taif rose, an ingredient cultivated in the mountains of western Saudi Arabia, while Badr Harqan draws from landscape, ritual and memory.
Food becomes a central element, Lâm Bakery, the Paris bakery founded by Saudi entrepreneur Dr Abdullatef Alrashoudi, has arrived in London with pastries that combine French technique and Middle Eastern flavours. Jazean Coffee represents the Arabica-growing communities of Saudi Arabia’s southern mountains, joined by Ganache chocolates and dates from Nua.
The takeover was created with Milaf Global, a company owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. That relationship carries added significance because the PIF acquired a 40 per cent stake in Selfridges Group in 2024. The project therefore sits within a much larger story about Saudi Arabia’s expanding presence across international luxury, retail and culture.
The Corner Shop has always been built around temporary worlds. This one offers London a glimpse of Saudi fashion beyond couture commissions and red-carpet dressing: younger, funnier, commercially ambitious and increasingly comfortable speaking in its own voice.
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