5 Saudi Designers Behind Joy Awards 2026’s Biggest Looks
Who wore what at Joy Awards 2026? Discover the Saudi designers, celebrity looks, and style codes that owned the Lavender Carpet.
The Joy Awards 2026, held in Riyadh on January 17, once again proved to be one of the most influential fashion moments in the Middle East. As celebrities from film, music, sports, and digital media walked the iconic lavender carpet, fashion took on a narrative role: one that reflected Saudi Arabia’s evolving creative confidence.
While international couture houses were present, Saudi designers emerged as a defining force of the night, dressing regional stars, influencers, and cultural figures in looks that balanced heritage, modernity, and red-carpet drama. This is a closer look at which Saudi designers were worn at the Joy Awards 2026, who wore them, and what their presence signals for the future of Saudi fashion.
The Lavender Carpet as a Saudi Fashion Platform
The Joy Awards’ lavender carpet has become Saudi Arabia’s answer to Cannes and the Oscars, a stage where fashion is curated with intention. In 2026, the styling narrative leaned heavily toward local craftsmanship, architectural silhouettes, and couture-level finishing.
Closely tied to Riyadh Season and the Kingdom’s major cultural moments, lavender has evolved into a visual signature, projecting optimism, openness, and creative evolution with a calm, assured elegance that feels distinctly Saudi.
The Labels We Kept Seeing All Night
If Joy Awards is the region’s most-watched night, then designer credits become cultural signals. This year, those signals were clear: Saudi labels dressed the moment. Here are the Saudi designers worn by major celebrities at Joy Awards 2026, and the stars who wore them.
Katy Perry in Waad Aloqaili Couture
In one of the night’s most amplified moments, Katy Perry arrived at Joy Awards 2026 wearing a custom design by Saudi designer Waad Aloqaili. On camera, Perry explained her decision clearly: she wanted to celebrate local culture by wearing a Saudi designer.
Champagne-toned and goddess-coded, the look paired a strapless, softly sculpted bodice with a floor-length skirt of vertical, light-catching beading. Refined, luminous, and engineered to shimmer under the flashbulbs.
Lama Abdullwahab in Waad Aloqaili Couture
Lama Abdullwahab leaned into Waad Aloqaili Couture’s most cinematic language: deep-burgundy glamour, sculpted structure, and draping that reads like choreography. This was Saudi couture confidence in one silhouette: controlled, architectural, and deliberately cinematic.
Deep burgundy and high-drama, the strapless gown featured a corset-structured bodice with clustered crystal embellishment across the neckline, paired with matching opera gloves for a polished, old-Hollywood finish. A glossy, sculptural drape swept from the hip into an exaggerated overskirt effect, creating movement and volume while keeping the base silhouette sleek and elongated.
Huda El Mufti in Waad Aloqaili Couture
Egyptian actress and style magnet Huda El Mufti delivered one of the night’s most light-catching Saudi designer moments in Waad Aloqaili Couture. In a room full of sculpted drama, this was a masterclass in sleek impact. On Huda, the house’s language translated into pure luminosity: confident, clean, and unmistakably Saudi in its new-era glamour.
Silver and flashbulb-ready, the strapless column gown was drenched in all-over sequins with a clean neckline and a sleek, elongated finish. Styled with diamond jewelry and minimal accessories, letting the texture carry the entire moment.
Rateel Alshehri in Adnan Akbar
Saudi influencer and Joy Awards 2026 winner Rateel Alshehri stepped onto the Lavender Carpet in a sky-blue gown by legendary Saudi designer Adnan Akbar. The look paired youthful presence with couture heritage.
Sky-blue and cloud-light, the gown paired a draped cowl neckline with a cape-like sleeve in airy tiers, finished with icy floral embellishment at the shoulder. Adnan Akbar elegance made for the Lavender Carpet glow.
Ghada Abdel Razek in Eman Alajlan Couture
Egyptian actress Ghada Abdel Razek stepped onto the Lavender Carpet in Eman Alajlan Couture, delivering a Saudi fashion moment rooted in pure silhouette power. Where the night leaned into shimmer and spectacle, this look chose something sharper: confidence expressed through structure, restraint, and impeccable couture control.
Black and sculptural, the strapless gown paired a clean, velvet-finish bodice with a dramatic satin mermaid skirt, shaped through structured paneling and held volume. Finished with diamond jewelry and a crystal-brooch clutch. Minimal embellishment, maximum impact.
Khayria Abu Laban in Eman Alajlan Couture
Saudi actress Khayria Abu Laban chose Eman Alajlan Couture for a black-on-black statement that felt like pure Lavender Carpet control. Sensual, sculpted, and quietly commanding. The look leaned into Eman Alajlan’s strength: couture restraint with a sharp edge, where texture, corsetry, and a disciplined silhouette do all the talking without needing excess.
Black and body-contoured, the look paired a long-sleeve, high-neck corsetry-inspired bodice in velvet-laced texture with a sleek skirt and a trailing tulle train. Subtle sparkle caught the light across the top, while the elongated finish and clean jewelry kept the mood polished, dramatic, and unmistakably couture.
Aisha Kay in Eman Alajlan Couture
Saudi singer Aisha Kay leaned into full jewel-toned glamour in Eman Alajlan Couture, delivering a look that felt made for low light, flashbulbs, and the slow turn of a carpet entrance. It was maximalism with discipline. Sparkle that stayed structured, and drama that never lost its elegance.
Blue and purple, the strapless gown featured draped, necklace-like embellishment across the bodice in shimmering violet patterns, cascading into a sleek, elongated skirt with scattered light-catching sequins. Finished with a voluminous tulle wrap for cape-like movement, styled with diamond earrings and a layered diamond necklace for high-wattage polish.
Zainab Alblushi in Khadija Al Sunaydi (IKH)
Zainab Alblushi brought a softer, more romantic Saudi designer note to the Lavender Carpet in Khadija Al Sunaydi (IKH), a look that felt quietly luminous against the night’s bolder dramas. It was elegance in its most effortless form: a silhouette that framed her like a classic screen heroine, with craftsmanship doing the whisper-work up close.
Ivory and light-catching, the off-shoulder gown featured a clean, fitted bodice and a long, streamlined skirt finished in subtle beaded patterning that shimmered under flash. Styled with minimal diamonds and soft hair glamour, keeping the mood refined, feminine, and camera-ready.
Abdulrahman Nafea in Ahmad Abdullah Al Qattan Bisht
Saudi talent Abdulrahman Nafea brought heritage into sharp focus on the Lavender Carpet, wearing a bisht by Ahmad Abdullah Al Qattan. In a night dominated by couture gowns, his look was a reminder of Saudi formalwear at its most cinematic. Quietly powerful, impeccably tailored, and designed to read as status the moment it enters the frame.
Sand-and-caramel toned, the bisht featured clean, structured drape with tonal striping and polished edging, layered over a black thobe for contrast and modern sharpness. Finished with a white ghutra and black agal, plus elevated details: Bvlgari on the wrist and classic dress shoes, to keep the look formal, grounded, and unmistakably Saudi.
Style Codes That Defined Joy Awards 2026
There was a clear pattern on the Lavender Carpet: tones that flatter lavender and silhouettes built to hold their shape under flash. Champagne through deep burgundy led the palette, paired with column gowns, sculpted bodices, and draping that felt deliberate.
The Defining Style Codes
- Sculpted bodices, clean necklines: Strapless structure and corsetry-inspired shaping that photographed as confidence, not costume.
- Sleek columns and mermaid drama: Long, streamlined silhouettes with disciplined flare. Built to look “expensive” from every angle.
- Cape energy and train movement: Tulle wraps, trailing panels, stoles, and trains designed for entrance impact.
- Light that behaves like jewelry: Sequins, crystal trims, micro-beading, and satin sheen. High shine, controlled placement.
- Heritage tailoring in the menswear lane: Tonal thobes, formal ghutra styling, and bisht layering that brought tradition onto the carpet with authority.
Together, these elements created a carpet language that felt refined, intentional, and unmistakably in tune with the Joy Awards’ evolving glamour.
Homegrown Fashion, in Command
Joy Awards 2026 made one thing clear: Riyadh is evolving into a fashion capital in its own right. A city that can host global stars, spotlight local couture, and create a red-carpet language with the same cultural gravity we associate with Paris, Milan, and London. With designers like Waad Aloqaili, Adnan Akbar, and HONAYDA dressing regional and global stars, the Lavender Carpet became a statement of ownership. Saudi fashion didn’t attend the night. It defined it.
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