Fashion
BY HAÓ Dresses the Social Season in Painterly Florals
There is a particular kind of dress made for a long lunch in the sun, elegant without effort and structured without stiffness. It is the territory BY HAÓ has claimed for itself. With Jardins de la Cour, its latest collection, the label founded in 2024 by Hessa Abdullah Al-Obaid trades hard glamour for something softer: painterly florals, sculpted waists and silk-linen that moves. Designed between Riyadh and Como, it is occasion dressing rewritten for daylight.
The Mood
Faded Palace Gardens
Jardins de la Cour takes its cue from the faded elegance of historic European palaces and overgrown courtyard gardens, all sun-washed tone, aged stone and quiet, old-world glamour.
The Designer
An Artist’s Approach
Hessa Abdullah Al-Obaid came to fashion the long way round, after almost a decade in technology, and it shows in her method. She builds each collection as a complete visual world rather than a response to a trend, drawing on art, oil painting and Italian craftsmanship. The result is a label that feels considered rather than seasonal, romantic without tipping into costume.
The Silhouette
Sculpted, Then Softened
Defined waists, sculpted bodices and voluminous sleeves run through the collection, feminine without feeling formal, and cut to move between a garden party and a summer evening.
The Fabric
Made in Como
The fabric is where the collection makes its case. Crafted predominantly from silk and linen blends developed with specialist Italian partners in Como, the pieces are built around silhouette, structure and fluidity. BY HAÓ works only in natural fibres, silk, linen and premium cotton, a choice the brand ties to craftsmanship and longevity rather than fashion for its own sake.
The Prints
Placed, Not Printed
Soft florals and considered placement prints reference antique interiors and palace gardens in bloom, worn here with a full skirt that catches the light as it turns.
The Pieces
Two Styles to Know
Two styles anchor the collection. The Lucine Bell Sleeves Dress, a silk-linen midi with a structured bodice and dramatic bell sleeves, is priced at £460, according to the brand. The Elina Midi Dress in Cornflower Blue, a one-shoulder silhouette with a sculpted puff sleeve and softly flared hem, comes in at £345. The collection is priced from £345 upwards.
The Detail
Sleeves With a Sense of Drama
Tiered volume, puffed shoulders and gathered silk give the quieter pieces their presence, proof that restraint and drama are not opposites here.
The Occasion
Dressed for the Season
The collection is built for the modern social season, the long lunches, garden parties and daytime events where the dress code sits somewhere between relaxed and refined. The brand pictures it at Royal Ascot, Wimbledon and the Chelsea Flower Show, though it travels just as easily to a Gulf garden gathering or a summer spent abroad.
Daytime
Occasion, Made Wearable
The shorter, brighter pieces carry the collection’s central idea, that occasion dressing can be soft, relaxed and suited to daytime without losing its polish.
Where to Find It
Close to Home
Jardins de la Cour is available globally at by-hao.com, and for Gulf readers it is close to home, carried at Harvey Nichols in Dubai and Doha and at Galeries Lafayette in Doha. It is a rare thing, a label designed in part from Riyadh that reads as fluent in the international language of luxury.
The Feeling
A Complete World
More than a set of dresses, Jardins de la Cour reads as a single mood, the kind of collection you step into rather than simply shop.
For Boujeez
The most convincing new labels are the ones with a point of view, not just a product. BY HAÓ arrives with both, a clear aesthetic world and the craftsmanship to hold it up. For a Gulf reader watching regional talent take its place on the global stage, Jardins de la Cour is a reminder that some of the most assured luxury now begins closer to home.
Imagery courtesy of BY HAÓ.