Dress up at the Personal Shopper Suite at Topshop, Mall of the Emirates, Dubai

Even though I love spending hours going through rails of clothing at stores, I much prefer to have it cut out for me and have someone give me outfits that would suit me. That's exactly what this Personal Shopper experience did. I had earlier booked my birthday appointment for today the 24th of May at Topshop, Mall of the Emirates and the lovely Personal Shopper, Ms.Monique Martch called me back and asked for what in particular I was looking for and I told her that I was shopping for my birthday and she said she would pick out some dresses, skirts etc

I headed out and first impressions were that the suite was private, stunning interiors and definitely welcoming as I then met Monique who by the way is the sweetest person I have ever come across and definitely knows what style is. You can bring along your friends to help take pictures of you while you dress up and even dress up themselves as I brought along 3 of my friends. There's a cute little table with goodies to eat like candy and red velvet cupcakes as well as magazines and some gorgeous accessories.

 Monique quickly introduced herself and showed us around and she showed me the dresses she had picked out for me and I started trying on outfits.

Monique

I initially did try on this beautiful cream dress with silver embellishment in a sheer fabric but I felt like I wanted to pick out a couple of other things and just mix and match instead of just buying one dress but now I think I'm going to go back and get the dress as well

Excuse my hair and face. unfortunately my they failed to cooperate with me today

My friends tried on a couple of dresses as well

I liked the color of this one but I own a similar dress so I didn't get it

This reminds me of a very Alexander Wang inspired sheer dress as well as a Cristopher Esber sheer dress like the ones below

This one skirt really stood out to me. I LOVE the print. very vintage and american. perfect for a road trip

I ended up going for a very casual,simple and sophisticated look for my birthday as I plan on going for dinner so I picked out a blue long sleeved shirt which looks very denim but it is super comfortable! I also picked a quilted leather skirt which I adore since it reminds me of the Josh Goot quilted skirt. I paired it with a gold horse necklace ( statement piece for sure) and a leather jacket but I didn't get the leather jacket because I already have a couple at home.

Overall it was a great experience and the prices were suitable and I will be visiting the Personal Shopper suite more often in the months to come as it is a great idea and service! 

Published!

This is literally my feelings right now courtsey of Leslie Knope

 my article which I was working on for the publication I recently started working in has been published and this has honestly been the best news I've received in a very long time. I'm working on another one about fashion forward, the event that took place last month and that should be finished soon. Do check out my article here: http://www.aslanmedia.com/arts-culture/mideast-culture/21288-making-fashion-saucy-uae-s-s-uce-boutique-helps-local-talent-shine

Leave a comment if you would like to and do check out S*uce Boutique! They offer international shipping for free I think and they have some great local designers and international so you might find something you like.

Fashion Forward Dubai, Edition 1, 2013

Due to the lack of fashion week in Dubai, a new fashion platform was opened up for the very first time this year between 26-29 April at Madinat Jumeirah. It includes fashion shows by local designers, panel talks such as from tutor Toby Meadows from LCF whom I had as a teacher when I attended my LCF short course in Dubai last year and pop up shops. I am extremely excited and cannot wait to attend this 4 day convention and I will be covering the event for the publication I was recently hired for as well. You can still register at http://fashionforward.ae/?page_id=32 but hurry up because spaces are limited!

Hired!

I really am sorry for not updating this blog. Studying at an IB school isn't exactly the easiest curriculum to do and I get hoarded with lots of assignments but I should probably manage my time more better. Either ways I recently sat down and applied for a writing position for a local online publication and I had to create my first resume! I have no idea whether it was the right format and what not but it got me the job along with some other pieces of work I sent in so I must have done something right. I would view this as my biggest achievement until this point as I will be regularly writing articles for their style section. I have the sweetest boss ever and my first article will be published in a few days so keep your eye on my blog because I'll post the link to it here.

Brand Identity and Brand Image

Sorry for not updating my blog regularly, school's just been giving me endless amounts of work but I'm now dedicating more time towards this blog as I think blogging about the industry not only helps me learn more about it but gives me something to show to people especially those in the fashion industry. I've always felt that a fashion blog is not only about showing your viewers what you're wearing as almost every blog does that but rather expressing opinions about shows, reviewing collections and in general more writing on different aspects of the industry such as marketing, business etc. So here is my first fashion article on brand identity and brand image.

We all are aware of "brands" and we have our own preferred brands such as Chanel, Comme Des Garcons, H&M, Zara and whatever it may be. There are two things about a brand. Its Brand Identity and Brand Image. 

Brand Identity is how a brand wishes to identify itself. It represents how a brands wants to be seen and known in the market. A brand communicates its identity to its consumers through  branding and marketing strategies and this is why every brand is unique because of its identity.Brand identity includes  elements   such as logo, design,colors etc. 

Logos of various fashion brands that most people are aware of

Brand Image on the other hand is the impression that a consumer has of the Brand's whole personality. Brand image is developed through advertising campaigns, product's appeal, functionality and overall value. Brand image is the mental feedback that a consumer has when they purchase from a certain brand. Now brand image can be further improved by options such as better customer service, durability of product, shipping charges, social networking with consumers, frequent sales, discounts and customer rewards. 

One thing I learnt from my London College of Fashion short course " Fashion for Teenagers" which I took last year with Tutor Toby Meadows was that if you can make a consumer feel special, the more likely they are to  shop from your brand. Its all about building a trustworthy relationship with your customer whether its allowing them to sign up for some sort of loyalty and rewards program which in turn rewards them with points every time they shop which results in them receiving some sort of gift or special invitations to VIP shows if they reach x amount of points. This in turn gives off a positive brand image. 

I think one of the best examples of this personally is the Frequent Flyer program( Skywards Member) offered by Emirates Airlines which I am part of. There are 4 types of Skywards Members; Blue, Silver, Gold and Platinum with Blue being the first tier of member you are when you first sign up for the program and Platinum being the highest tier of member you can become in which you earn the highest number of TierMiles each time you fly. Emirates basically tells you that if you reach Platinum Tier, you are guaranteed a Business Class seat, higher amounts of baggage allowance and etc. This encourages consumers to sign up for programs like this and fly Emirates more often and have the chance of being treated like a VIP and earning free business class seats because this makes the consumer feel special and worthy of being them. Personally I think this is a great marketing strategy and keeps the brand in tip top condition n relation their brand image. 

Another example of a great marketing strategy to develop brand image is the Fashion Night out by publishers Conde Nast and their own publication Vogue. First introduced in 2009, it quickly spread to over 30 cites globally such as Delhi and Shanghai. FNO allows designers, models and consumers to shop and support the fashion industry and always receives massive turnouts. On the contrary, sometimes a brand identity does not give off the right brand image to its consumers. For example, there is a worldwide store which a lot of people do like to shop at but I do know a number of people who have said that the quality and durability of the product is only limited to usually a year which is a very short shelf life for any clothing piece as no one likes a rip off. This results in a tainted image for the store.

In conclusion, brand identity and brand image go hand in hand. With a brand establishing its products to consumers, a brand image is created. It can either be good or bad and that all depends on the brand's ability to market successfully. After all, the world does judge based on first appearance. Visual is everything in the industry.

Here is a video giving you more info about FNO spoken by the one and only queen of fashion, Anna Wintour