Laila Al-Bassam: The Name Behind Saudi Fashion Preservation

Some people wear heritage. Dr. Laila Al-Bassam protects it. Her curiosity started young, while watching her mother open a storage box of her grandmother’s clothes. The colors, the tailoring, the details felt like a secret language. That moment became a lifelong question: how do you protect beauty when time moves on?

In Saudi fashion, the smallest details carry the biggest meaning. How a sleeve falls, where embroidery sits, what a fabric says about place. But meaning can fade when heritage travels. Dr. Laila Al-Bassam's life’s work is keeping Saudi dress legible, so the next generation can wear it, reinterpret it, and still honor what it truly is.

A Fashion Historian with Real-World Impact

Dr. Laila Al-Bassam is widely regarded as a leading authority on traditional fashion and textile history in Saudi Arabia, one of the first women to systematically document the country’s dress traditions. Today, she teaches at Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, treating heritage as research.

That might sound academic, but its impact on fashion is concrete. Designers looking to heritage need more than inspiration. They need accurate silhouettes, precise placement, and an understanding of regional context. Dr. Al-Bassam’s research provides exactly that. In essence, she builds the fashion dictionary behind today’s trends, making sure what looks modern is deeply rooted in tradition.

Preserving the Design “Code” of Heritage

Heritage is often treated as decoration. Dr. Al-Bassam treats it as design intelligence. She focuses on the parts fashion professionals care about most:

• How a garment is shaped and worn
• How fabric behaves and why it was chosen
• How embroidery is built, named, and placed
• What accessories mean, and when they are used

When these elements are recorded properly, Saudi fashion becomes easier to develop.

Author of "Traditional Saudi Fashion in the Central Region"

One of Dr. Laila Al-Bassam’s most notable achievements is her book Traditional Saudi Fashion in the Central Region, released through Darah (King Abdulaziz Foundation for Research and Archives). The book serves as a serious record of Saudi traditional dress, meticulously documenting garments, adornments, and regional details, offering a structured glimpse into the Kingdom’s material culture.

What makes this work fashion-forward is its practicality. It transforms heritage into a living archive that designers and stylists can actively use not just a distant reference, but a resource a fashion house would safeguard, revisit, and build upon. Dr. Al-Bassam has also published other key works documenting Saudi fashion history, including:

• A History of Women’s Fashion Through the Ages
• The Traditional Heritage of Women’s Clothing in Najd

The Visionary Behind the Saudi Cup Dress Code

Dr. Al-Bassam’s influence doesn’t stop at books. It shows up in real styling moments, most notably in the Saudi Cup, the world’s richest horse race, attracting global attention and high-profile attendees. For this event, the Fashion Commission developed a dress code that invited guests to draw inspiration from Saudi heritage attire, shaped in collaboration with Dr. Laila Al-Bassam and illustrator Norah Sahman. The most important principle behind it was this: the looks were meant to be adapted and interpreted by modern wearers.

That single principle is fashion strategy. It draws a clear line between costume and contemporary style. It argues for heritage worn with intention, and positions tradition not as something to be preserved behind glass, but as something that can move, evolve, and be lived in.

Heritage at the Leadership Level

Fashion becomes a true industry only when it has infrastructure. Archives, standards, cultural programs, and leadership that understands the value of heritage. Dr. Laila Al-Bassam occupies that leadership space.

In 2020, she was named to the board of the Saudi Heritage Commission, placing her work at the heart of national heritage decision-making. Beyond this, she has served over a decade on the advisory board of the National Museum in Riyadh, spent three years on the board of the Saudi Heritage Preservation Society, three years as president of the Saudi Association of Design and Art, and led the Saudi chapter of the International Organization of Folk Art, affiliated with UNESCO.

Her roles ensure that traditional dress and material culture are not treated as side notes, but as essential elements in defining, preserving, and sharing Saudi heritage.

National Recognition for Preservation as Fashion Leadership

Long before the recent fashion spotlight, her work was already nationally recognized. She received the King Khalid Medal (Third Class) in 2019, and the Distinguished Scholars Award for Studies and Research in the History of the Arabian Peninsula in 2012.

In 2024, Dr. Laila Al-Bassam was recognized with the Fashion Award as part of the National Cultural Awards, an important signal for the industry: preservation is now being celebrated as a form of fashion leadership. This kind of recognition changes how fashion value is defined. It tells the next generation that the people who document heritage, the ones who protect meaning, craft, and identity, are not “behind the scenes.” They are building the future.

The Future She is Protecting

Saudi fashion is moving fast. New runways, new brands, new global attention. That growth is exciting. But long-term impact needs more than visibility. It needs credibility. Dr. Laila Al-Bassam offers that credibility. She keeps Saudi fashion specific, regional, and true. So it can modernize without becoming generic. She shows that heritage isn’t the past. Heritage is the foundation.

And for fashion lovers, that’s the most beautiful idea of all. As fusion fashion grows in Saudi Arabia, her work gives it roots, so modern designs carry meaning, not anonymity, and Saudi style travels globally.

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