Sizing up opportunity: Arab women propel haute couture

Sizing up opportunity: Arab women propel haute couture

They’re rarely spotted on front rows of fashion shows and favour discretion when placing orders, yet women from the Middle East have become the world's biggest buyers of high fashion.

October 6, 2011 12:15 by Reuters

…scratch that it is aiming to unveil next spring.

The secretive group, financially supported by the Qatar Foundation the Sheikha created, made its first acquisition this year when it snapped up Paris-listed leather goods maker Le Tanneur for 26 million euros, and is on the lookout for more European brands.

The group is headed by Gregory Couillard, a former executive at the world’s biggest luxury group LVMH , which owns Dior and Louis Vuitton. Couillard declined several requests for an interview. ($1 = 0.753 Euros) (By Astrid Wendlandt and Martina Fuchs; Additional reporting by Regan Doherty in Doha and Asma Alsharif in Jeddah; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)

Pages: 1 2 3

Tags: Arab consumers, arab fashion, Arab shoppers, Arab women, Arab women fashion, China, Christian Dior, Elie Saab and Zuhair Murad, Europe, fashion, GCC fashion, Haute Couture, Kuwait, Louis Vuitton, luxury middle east, Middle East, paris fashion week, Qatar Luxury Group, UAE, women