Riva boutique; Ezdan Mall, 7pm and the venue is packed with people for Ascia’s unveiling of the Ramadan collection: Ascia loves Riva!
A long queue, young women mostly, a few of them sporting the ‘signature’ turban of the Kuwaiti based blogger. She exudes warmth and simplicity, hugging and having a nice word for every single one person during this meet and greet.
She comes to me and asks if I can wait a few minutes while she snaps selfies like a pro with her younger fans. How could I say no to that, really?
Meanwhile I take a tour in the Riva boutique to discover this Ramadan Collection. And it’s a good one actually. Two collections though: one more casual for ramadan with light fabrics and hues of blues an white mainly. Stripes, dots and mesh are dominant. Our personal favorite is the striped culotte. On point for this summer trend. The signature turban is also available in navy blue and white.
The other collection is more elegant, designed with Eid celebration in mind. Noble materials like satin, printed silk and glitters have been used.
She takes a break from all the hugging and chatting with her fans to sit down with us and answer a few questions…
Hi Ascia, could you introduce yourself to our readers?
Absolutely, my name is Ascia, I am 25, I come from Kuwait and I have been blogging for about 4 years now. We have a blog called the Hybrids. It is me and my husband and now we have a little baby so sometimes we include some lifestyle tricks. We are very privileged in the GCC, most of our followers are here, but we do have them also everywhere in the world. Now I have done a collection called Ascia loves Riva, and that’s why we are here for in Qatar today!
How do you choose your collaborations?
I am very careful about what brands I like to work with. I didn’t used to be. When you first start out, you kind of take everything, you are so excited but not anymore. Now I am very selective now and we have a good team that works with us so that helps a lot. I am also trying to do different things, from bags to sneakers.
How do you handle your massive fan following in the GCC?
It is a very interesting question. I am very lucky to have it, it’s really great and it’s a lot of work to make sure that I can keep a good conversation flowing with everybody, which is very difficult sometimes. It’s good but I still get nervous, I have been doing this for such a long time now but like right before this event I was feeling nauseous and stressed. I was like oh my god there’s going to be so many people, butterflies in my stomach. Which is good, I think the longer you have the butterflies, the better you work as well. I truly believe the nerve helps.
What differences do you see between Kuwait and Qatar in fashion style?
Here in Qatar, a lot of nationals wear abayas, so difference would be they express there fashionable side through their abaya as well as their handbags and shoes. They are a big thing here, which is amazing, they probably have this amazing collection of handbags and shoes here.
In Kuwait we express ourselves through the entire outfit, we have room to go crazy with that, so it’s nice. Abayas are not that big of the thing in Kuwait compared to UAE, Saudi or Qatar. A less portion of the nationals wear abayas in Kuwait.
What are your fashion inspiration
I really appreciate models off-duty, like street style. The one that are coming right out of the catwalks from fashion shows, I want to see what they are wearing. It’s casual but at the same time, they are very into the industry, the fashions they keep pieces with the trends sometimes even before we do. Those are really the people that I look up to the most, models off duty street style.
What are your next projects?
Right now, I am working on a line of slings for babies, which i am very passionate about because I really feel that we use strollers so much nowadays. We used to carry our baby so much in old days, I feel we have this things in society now, all this stuff to make sure we don’t touch our baby, rockers, strollers, car-seats all these things that you are putting your bay down. I am hoping that this is something that I can introduce to the Middle-East, so that’s my focus right now.
Finally, could you give our readers some TIP about how to get your casual-yet-stylish look right?
I like casual choices more so than anything else, because I feel that whenever I want to spend money on something, I want to use it a lot. I don’t wanna spend a fortune on something very elegant or crystals something that I cannot wear on an daily basis, that’s why I prefer the everyday stuff.
Also I always like to start with my shoes. I know that a weird place to start but I like to start with my shoes because they are all about your mood. Right now I am in sneakers so I want to be kinda casual so I keep everything down you know. On days where I want to wear heels, which is not that often, then my outfit kinda goes with the heel. I feel like I draw inspiration from shoes, so maybe that would be a good tip, try your shoes first !
Thank you Ascia for this interview exclusively on TheInsiderPost.com!
TIP: Ascia will be coming to France this upcoming September for Pret à Porter fashion week with multiple brands so if you are in the capital at this time, keep an eye open, you might get to see her wandering around in Paris!
