What’s better than a brand-new concept store popping up in the heart of Dubai? A brand-new concept store stocking all your favourite Arab designers, obvs. Zeina Ladki is the founder of Gigi, a bricks-and-mortar shop in Galleria Mall in Al Barsha stocking Mrs Keepa, Zayan the Label, Twisted Roots, Bil Arabi and many more.
We’ve already paid it a visit, and it’s safe to say – we’re in love.Â
@cosmopolitanme We’re officially obsessed with the brand new Gigi Concept Store the entire space is just a work of art ##Gigi ##galleriamall ##arabbrands ##fyp
How did you get in to fashion…
“I come from a fashion retail background. My last position was merchandising manager of Harvey Nichols and Bloomingdales, and now I have my own consulting company. I help emerging and existing brands develop their collections in order for them to be able to reach out to international markets. And I also have Gigi, a concept store that focuses on talents from our region.”
Morning rituals for a productive day…
“Every morning I wake up and pray. I have my little books, which I read to start off my day. Then, regardless of what my day is going to look like, I give myself half an hour on emails before I start running around to meetings. All they need is 30 minutes of attention and then I roll.”
A career milestone…
“I worked with Zara when I was in Spain. It still wasn’t open in the Middle East, and I wanted and I thought a Zara franchise would do so well in Beirut. My brother definitely thought I was crazy, but a friend of mine, Wassim, decided to go ahead with it and I joined him for three months – now look! Zaras everwhere.”
Skills for building your own fashion empire…
“You need to be passionate; you need to always have the will to learn (I used to tell my team members ‘whenever you think that you know everything, it’s the beginning of the failure’); you need to be a team player; and you need to be positive. It’s not high heels, fashion shows, and fashion weeks – it takes a lot.”
How to overcome professional hurdles…
“In the fashion industry you are going to face a lot of politics. There’s a lot of politics and insecurities. Everybody wants something from you, so you really need to be able to step back, absorb and understand what’s happening before you come back to do your thing.”
With thanks to The London Project.
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