Monthly Archives: April 2010

Aiisha and Evian – Live Young and Give Back..

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Like I mentioned before, Evian initiated a Live Younger campaign in Dubai following their most watched Ad video (Over 22 million viewers till this post date)  on You Tube (Evian Roller Babies)

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQcVllWpwGs

Evian asked Dubai’s top designers to recreate the Evian Live Younger T-Shirt, and it was showcased at the Dubai Fashion Week that recently took place and auctioned the T-Shirts for the benefit of Dubai Cares, whose project for 2010 is to secure clean drinking water for children in schools globally.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to make it to the show where my T-shirt was the show’s opener but I heard that mine was the favorite of many as it incorporated the Aiisha’s favorite elements, sexy romance, ruffles and powder tones. Other designers did some really cool job as well.

Evian Live Young

Evian Live Young Campaign

Auction was held at the trendy Carbon 12 Gallery in Al-Quoz

Aiisha's Evian Live Young T-Shirt on DFW 2010 Catwalk

Aiisha Evian T-Shirt @ the auction

Aiisha in Desert Fish Magazine

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It was interesting to be at the Galeries Lafayette fashion show and have my hand on Desert Fish which had the below full page:

Aiisha Ramadan in Desert Fish

In terms of content, again, I speak my mind about fashion in Dubai and how it should and can get better.

Aiisha Ramadan

I won’t talk much about fashion
week, exhibitions and buyers because
the problem in all of them are related
to a single core and to one another. The
entire concept of fashion weeks and
exhibitions in the UAE is new (4 -
5 years in not old enough) and has
been based on wrong foundations
in some ways and has had plenty of
great potential in a handful of ways.

I believe that the core is all down to
when we form a fashion designers
organization that would regulate, set
standards and look after its members,
only then the UAE fashion will take a
very different path. With that comes
an education to the society to
appreciate and being proud of their
designers. It’s a mentality change
that we have to build and lead in order for us to
break from the routine of the domination of
the international brands from Chanel to H&M.
Eventually, the UAE will develop an identity
of which it will be known for.
When the identity is strong enough,
clear and unique in its own way,
only then the UAE fashion can invade the world.

Viva Beauty Awards 2010 coverage

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These are some of the Viva Beauty Awards coverage in Dubai. The winner of the biggest award, the VIVA Reader’s Ultimate Beauty product was of course for Olay Regenerist, which was collected by Monica Shina – wearing Aiisha Ramadan :)

Bottom Left: Simone Heng - Monica Shina - Aiisha Ramadan

Monica Shina from P&G rocking the awards and Aiisha's dress

My start with Valerie Campbell

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In 2006, Valerie Campbell was the first lady residing outside the UAE to ever wear one of our dresses. The dress was auctioned for the benefit of a breast cancer hostpital in Cologne, Germany, via Christies.

Valerie Campbell, best known for her elegance and motherhood of Naomi Campbell, is like her daughter and son Pierre, a model, a balle dancer and a designer who worked in Italy for a while. She herself is a survivale of breast cancer and it amazes me how beautiful and strong she remains.

When Ms. Valerie wore the dress, she said and I quote “I will never forget the name Aiisha”. Her son Pierre assured her that “this is the most beautiful color she’d ever worn”.

Valerie Campbell & Suhaila Sinn wearing Aiisha Ramadan

To be able to give back to the society and to raise awareness is one of the most challenging things one could ever do as cliche as this may sound. I post this because this year is a lot about giving back. Its about time..

Viva Beauty Awards

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The other day I was at the Viva Beauty Awards and even though non of the awards directly relates to me, but I felt the heart beats of the competitors so loud that they could explode from excitement or disappointment. Luckily for my team P&G, they ended up with the below awards:

  • Best Straightener 2010: Braun Satin Hair
  • Best Electric Hair Remover 2010: Braun Silk-Épil
  • Best Daytime Fragrance 2010: Gucci Flora
  • Ultimate Beauty Product 2010: Olay Regenerist

The last award, as per the host, was voted for by thousands of readers. It is the award of the year.. and my favorite part was seeing Monica Shina walking back and forth to collect her awards wearing an Aiisha dress from the Love Affair collection. Strangers and friends kept approaching her telling her how great she looked. That I think, is the best part of my job.

Monica Shina from P&G wearing Aiisha Ramadan

Braun Silk-épil Xpressive Wet & Dry keeps you smooth as a dolphin!

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I’m a busy woman. Very busy that I don’t have all day to groom myself, not even everyday. So I chose laser for the most obvious areas in my body and finally after few years, it started to work out. However, for the less exposed parts of my body, that was a nightmare as waxing for me is as painful as it looks in the 40 year-old virgin movie played by Steve Carell!

This is when I discovered that Braun Silk-épil Xpressive Wet & Dry is my time and pain savior as it works in water as well as above. Just like exercising, anything in water becomes less painful and more effortless. In this case, your bath time can be your epilation time with this rechargeable device.

To get the true feeling, a bunch of press ladies and myself were invited to the Atlantis Hotel Dolphin Bay were we experienced touching, dancing and swimming with the dolphins. Nothing could ever beat that experience.

Dolpin kissing Aiisha

Dolpin kissing Aiisha

I’ve been to great events, met with amazing people, been here and there but I promise you, nothing beats the incredible feeling of swimming with a dolphin that is smart, beautiful, extremely soft and incredibly loving.

Aiisha with Dolphin

Aiisha with Dolphin

Thank you Braun for such an amazing experience!

Golden Days of DFW: Aiisha and NOKIA (Retrospective)

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Yesterday was the last day at the DFW for the season. I haven’t been part of the DFW for a couple of years as it was time for change; however, my T-Shirt design was the opener at the Evian Fashion show where 15 designers participated in benefit for Dubai Cares Charity Foundation. I will post a separate thread for that with photos.

This year, the DFW happens to go under fire as the fashionistas have had enough. If you go back in my blog, you’ll find 2 posts (about a year old) addressing the issues that should be taken into consideration when trying to elevate the standards of the DFW: http://tiny.cc/pd3uj and http://tiny.cc/z4mb5

This is when I remembered the good times, the golden ones, when my first mega collaboration was with Nokia where the show was strong because of the theme and the designs, Nokia’s presence, PR and continuing efforts in taking the show around the Middle East (Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco and Pakistan).

Prism Geometric

Prism Geometric Mini Dress

My entire collection was inspired by the Nokia Prism 7900 handset. It was one of Nokia’s first fashion attempts in the region and it was carried out with me during the Dubai Fashion Week in 2007. As mentioned before, the collection then toured the Gulf and Middle East and it was a great success. Later the same year, I was invited to be the pioneer designer of the Super Nova collection at the La Destination Design de Nokia – Marrakech. That too was a beautiful experience.

In terms of the designs, they were inspired by the Prism’s geometric shapes, elegance, black basic colors and from the 42 built in colors that reflect on the phone’s keypad, I chose purple, blue, silver and rainbow.

Watch highlights from the fashion show below:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSXosdPkp_k

Going back to the DFW, I’ve said enough.. a year ago and much more to the press all along. Now, I sit and watch hoping for progress. Until then, my collaborations will keep going on and my private fashion shows will stay.. private.

Meeting with Chris Hassall

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Sunday, the 4th April, was the first live interaction on my blog and it happened to be with Chris Hassall, the Global External Relations Officer of Procter & Gamble. It was basically a comment/ question from his side and an answer from my side discussing blogs, its importance and its relevance to the Arab world.

On that night, I met with the team of P&G and of course with Chris. I enjoyed every minute of it and I specifically appreciated the ideas Chris and I exchanged. These ideas will soon be reflected on my blog. It’s always amazing to see things from a male’s perspective..

Chris Hassall, Aiisha Ramadan and Yassin Attas

P&G is actually a very active organization when it comes to charity and volunteering. One of their main products (PUR Water Filteration) is one that cleans any contaminated water and makes it drinkable. During the Haiti disaster for example, they gave away what was enough for much more than 300,000 people to drink for 90 days. To know more about PUR, visit http://tiny.cc/kg3s4, and Pur Water.

Having said that, from a fashion perspective, the brand “Aiisha” has few charity projects already in process and to be revealed very soon. Once of which is already in the very latest Emirates Women magazine under the topic of Fashion with a Heart.

Meeting Dominique Laporte (Evian)

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Evian hosted the first water tasting event in the region with Dominique Laporte, who is the best Sommelier in France. The weather was fantastic as the event took place on the ‘O’ De Squisito boat at the creek in Dubai.

EVIAN Team and Aiisha Ramadan

EVIAN Team and Aiisha Ramadan

When it comes to water, I’m a heavy drinker. Don’t know if its the heat of the UAE or maybe a biological thing, but water is my best friend. I’m like a fish!

I learned a lot about water that day, I never knew that still water prepares the palate to receive food and sparkling makes the taste brighter. We identified interesting characteristics of different brands when Monsieur Dominique let us taste unlabeled glasses of water, by tasting the water or after sampling some food. It was really an interesting experience!

I later figured out that Evian was my water of choice, as I chose it from an unlabeled glass.

Cheers