Mariam Nihal

Saudi Gazette

The young ones sure grow up fast. Or maybe Saudi Arabia is subconsciously producing a generation of fashion designers without a prototype.



Meet Hala Sabbagh, just 18 years of age, a high school graduate from Jeddah. Her brand despite her young age has rapidly developed in the last extraordinary year. She said: I created my first ever fashion collection as my graduation project, and that is how Lychee was founded. Thankfully I had four supportive sponsors; Cream Jeddah, Toni&Guy Hairdressing, Nusha's Pastry and Lillian Ismail's Jewelry.



A strong backbone, in this case sponsors, are seen to be vital to aspiring fashion designers these days. This also raises the question of how young is too young to be a successful fashion designer, Her brand named Lychee describes the way she sees women.



The fruit is very fascinating because it has so many different features; first you have the cover, which gives off a very sharp, dangerous impression then you peel it off to this divine, gooey and flavorful layer and then your enjoyment ends with this rock-hard center which, unlike other seeds, looks rather polished and perfectly shaped. And this is how I want the woman I dress to look like!



Her second collection is called The Rag Trade. In my first collection I had my first experience choosing and buying fabric, picking the right tailor, supervising the budgets, and liaising with my sponsor. However, I still have a lot to learn and will be doing so for my second collection.



Her upcoming Spring/Summer 2015 collection will consist of two colors a contrast of bright and subdued colors, that represent the mood of life for her right now. Since most high school graduates are in a state of confusion about their future plans, the bright colors represent the future they hope to acquire, where as the dimmed one represents how sometimes reality plays a role in darkening our vision towards our futures. Hala is inspired by powerful women and colors. “I know they both don't have anything to do with one another, but I think when I produce more and more collections, people will start pairing the two together, because every collection that I create will include weird combinations of colors that powerful women would want to be seen in.



She wants to collaborate with Razan Alazzouni and Sara Aldabbagh (Lace Events). Because, both ladies have brought something completely new and hadn't been done before and I admire them for that.



Next, Hala plans to design a Thobe collection for Ramadan 2015. I think it will pull me apart from other designers because the way I think thobes should look like is somewhat different than what we find nowadays. I am planning to include a kind of fabric to this collection that will enable it to have some kind of cohesion and relativity to this holy month.



Her dream is to eventually represent her brand at New York fashion week. In the meantime after creating my next collection, I want to host an event celebrating Lychee's anniversary at one of Jeddah's lovely fashion boutiques.



You can find her collection at Cream boutique and Retail Therapy in Jeddah.



IG: @lychee_byhalasabbagh

Twitter: @lycheebyhs

Pictures by: @noufita5