Dubai Style, Power Dressing & The Future of Modest Fashion | SheerLuxe Middle East Podcast

0:00We are joined by the wonderful Soha Taha. Dubai has been like the hub of fashion in the Middle East. Not just the regional brands, but even the international designers are really catering to the modest market. Hebah, she was wearing a leather jacket in July. My girl, my girl and my people.

0:30Hello and welcome to the Sheerlux Manalese podcast. Today we are doing a special edition podcast in partnership with Lyme and we are joined by the wonderful Soha Taha who is our special guest for today. Welcome Soha. Thank you guys so much for having me first of all. It's a pleasure. I'm a huge fan of Sheerlux. Oh we love Lyme. And Lyme. And Lyme. Definitely. We are fans of Lyme. We're all dressed in Lyme and we look so good. And so different as well. We all have different takes on how we put our pieces. Beautiful. We're gonna get to what we're wearing in a second but I want to do a quick intro to our team members as well obviously.

1:08We have Hibba Bakker who is our fashion editor and Talar Bilamjian who is our features editor. Soha for the for the people that don't know can you give us a bit of an introduction to who you are? You're obviously a stunning content creator but we would love to know from you a bit about yourself. So my name is Soha Taha. I am a mom of two I started blogging about fashion and talking about fashion ten years ago. I used to love fashion, creating fashion and share it with my people or just on social media. And then I started my own brand just recently. So now I'm an entrepreneur, content creator, also a mom.

1:48How do you juggle it all? I mean, that's a lot to juggle. I know we definitely need tips. That's amazing. Yeah. And you've been in Dubai for a very long time as well. Yeah, I was born and raised here in Dubai. Architecture and fashion, I've seen it all, you know? And I love being part of it. I agree. I also was raised here. You were also raised in Abu Dhabi. Tal, you've spent... 15 years. 15 years. Wow. So for us, I feel like we've really seen the involvement of the country. What the country has developed into. And in such a short time as well. Exactly. It's like great to be a part of the initial part of the UAE, but then also seeing where it's going.

2:28Pretty exciting. And especially in fashion. I feel like that's something that at least we all have in common. We've noticed a visible change in how the fashion landscape has completely shifted in here in the UAE. Yeah, 100%. And Dubai has been like the hub of fashion in the Middle East. I love that, honestly, because it was so rabid, so out of nowhere, you know, and they just like boom dubai is it you know it's amazing it's amazing to see obviously we are all dressed in lime i want to talk about our pieces because we all look so different in our outfits hima we'll start with you talk us through your look i i mean i saw this on the rail and i'm like that stuff that was the first thing i saw it was in the corner and i was like that's it i mean i love color and i love that it's leather but it's quite light and i'd like to pair it back with either like a shirt or a card the shirt color with the skirt what about you soha this is a beautiful piece yeah yeah so this one is like so pretty because i feel like it it's like you know the shape to the body it's open from here the pants is showing i love that it has a print and the print is like it's not really obvious but like subtle color and also my shoes guys i'm The shoes are amazing.

3:44I am obsessed. We saw them too, huh? They're so cool. What about you, Tal? I guess you can say it's a suit combo that I pulled together. It's a beautiful peplum white jacket. I loved the lace trim. I thought it was super feminine. Kind of balance out the pants. I love the lace too. Yeah, it's gorgeous. And the pants are pleated trouser, high-waisted, of course. And I love that you paired it with your silver earrings. I did. I saw these in the store and I just love silver and I love studs. And I just thought these would give a nice pop of color to the my outfits. Kind of, I guess you could say.

4:18Very subtle. I love it. Yeah. Thank you. And I love the shape of the blazer, honestly. Yeah, it's very, very like form fitted, but at the same time, it's feminine. Yeah. Yeah. And what are you wearing? I'm wearing this kimono style top. I am obsessed with anything that has like a bit of a shape. So like shoulders and then outs. and I paired it with these plain black pants which are honestly my go-to for anything. High-waisted? Yes and they're just really easy and comfortable and what I love is the fabric. I can't even tell you guys, every time I wear a piece I just feel like the fabric sits really nicely on the skin.

4:55Also the color. It's such a beautiful color. Oh my god. Yeah I got the other colors. The darker one? It suits you nice. Oh my god. It's like a greenish, like a cocky color. It's like a charse like this. yeah it's kind of very similar to yours it's beautiful with this style we were actually shopping together and I was saying how I need to I love getting pieces that are quite statement because then you can it kind of makes the outfit yeah there's less effort it's I feel like everything we're wearing now we can actually wear it in like five years yes from now also from five yes yeah it's five years it's timeless it's really timeless

5:38Something I've noticed and something we've all I think have been noticing is how not just the regional brands but even the international designers are really catering to the modest markets and people that prefer modest dressing. I think modest dressing has been very much in these days. Yeah. And I feel like that's a great thing for our market which is like yes finally we're getting big designers who want to create more modest dressing and that it translates into the high streets which is so exciting for us. Yeah. I think it's definitely getting more and more noticeable how even around the world, women are just dressing a little bit more modestly.

6:14And I want to say, in my opinion, like elegantly, even as you said, we're seeing it on the runway. It's getting less like mini skirts, more longer skirts, power suits. Yeah, more layering, which I think is exciting for our markets. And also it's because like we have the trends like old money, just a trend, but old money is also like modest, you know, like it's all like shirts and like layering and stuff. And this was one of the trends that actually catered to modesty more than others. And I feel like the trends right now, like the oversized, the long maxi skirts, all the trends are coming modest and the brands have to like adapt to it.

7:01Yeah. They have to adapt to what people like. And then speaking of trends, what are some of your favorite trends that you guys have been seeing recently? There's so many. I would say my favorite at the moment, which I'm sure you guys will know because you see me all the time, is I love shoulder pads. Yeah, you can rock a shoulder pad with anything just gives you such a nice like structure. The way it shapes your body as well. It gives you really nice proportions. We were at the Lime store the other day and we found this beautiful silky green top with the most maximalist shoulder pad. It's the high neck and high neck.

7:36With the scarf detail and like... Covered all the way. It looks like it was just like on the runway. you can see it it's high fashion it's just not not just a retail it's high fashion it's amazing exactly and the quality was so so good both him and i bought it we were like on the spot we're like we need to get this we need to coordinate not to wear it and it looked great on both of you and you both were really different yeah yeah it's nice so i love that i love that so yes definitely with the shoulder pads it's a great trend do you have any trends that you're loving right yeah the balloon pants i am crazy about them i got them in all colors i got them in so I love how you wear it with trench coats.

8:16It kind of gives you... I love how you always play around with volume as well like you do. Maybe that's why I like the balloon pants because it gives volume. And then if you wear something structured from the top and then the pants, I don't know. The balancing act, right? It's so good, honestly. That's my favorite. I'm recently loving how we're seeing red and maroon everywhere. I'm usually a black and white person but I do love the pops of color like a red shoe or a red bag when we were at the store the other day there was the red little kitten heel that had the oh I know it oh yeah and I was just thinking you can wear a full white or black outfit and just rock a red accessory and you're good absolutely I think there's a lot of color I'm seeing a lot of color again I love, I mean, I'm not dressed in color, but I do love color.

9:13And there's a lot of options to choose from. But so, Soha, as a modest dresser, how do you feel this landscape has shifted for you? Because obviously shopping, you've been in the region for the longest time. Yeah. You grew up here. So you know what it was like to shop back then and shop now. So what for you has been the biggest difference and change? Remember when I told you I used to make my own clothes? because it was so difficult for me to find something that is modest, that is not just modest. Like I want it to be a little loose. I want it to be long. I don't want it to be, yeah, something like that.

9:45So I used to make clothes. Right now, I love seeing brands like Lime. They are not from here, but I love how they think about all the designs. Like everything is thoughtfully designed for the region, for the GCC. they actually took everything in consideration like the culture what people wear what people like even if we are in dubai we're like so many people and dubai is very diverse uae is very diverse but still you can still find like a modest version of everything you know and they came up all this collection yeah they came up with a crazy and it's so beautiful it's stunning and it's most of the brats come up with the with the modest collection for the middle east yeah i've been loving that honestly and even even as when i used to work as a buyer they keep wanting to create capsules now because they're seeing the potential in our markets like we love to dress up we love to be creative we can wear anything anywhere it's such a great market and i think even they're modest i love what you're wearing and how you sell the tell arts right i tried it on But yeah, it just didn't work.

10:56I mean, it worked on me, but you were way better. What I loved about the modest collection is that it wasn't just sequins and sparkles. Oh, not at all. It wasn't just that. I mean, this is part of the collection. And I loved even that they had like the skirt with it. Exactly. You could wear it with separate. I got it with the skirt. How great is it? I love it. I love it because you wear it with a base layer underneath. You can wear it with a hijab. Yeah. Like how I'm wearing it. And it's still very flattering. Like anyone can wear this. Just because it's modest, it's not only for like hijabs or people who wear, like you all guys are wearing what I actually tried, you know, and I loved it.

11:31And you guys are wearing it and pulling it off like great. It's not just for hijabs. It's just inclusive. Yeah. And I think that's a stigma as well with modest wear because there are a lot of people who just, it's not even about showing skin or not. I think it's just about how you carry yourself when you wear certain pieces. I remember going to my house once to see my parents and my dad was like, wow, this is the most modest I've ever seen you. What were you wearing? My mom laughed. I wore like a shirt, but I buttoned it all up and I was wearing these balloon pants as well. And he was like, that's the most covered I've seen you.

12:04But I'm like, I like this style. It's very on trend. I like experimenting as well, like you with textures, with layers, with the difference. even now with the shoulder pads and then the balloon pants everything kind of gives you like nice proportions so i think there's so much to do with modest wear and that's true so obviously we are all on social media i'd love to talk about your favorite follows who on instagram on tiktok is inspiring you guys right now i get inspired by a lot of people honestly a lot of people but maybe the one celebrity that i always like i find myself uh pinteresting what what she wears or what are her latest outfits are is um tracy ross oh yeah diana ross's daughter yes diane ross she's an icon incredible yeah i love her and also like it's very oversized it's very it's everything i like yes she does she does pull a very good oversized look off your yeah she is beautiful yeah that's great yeah love that for you do you have any favorites at the moment i don't have a favorites i think i'm just inspired i think the most thing i was inspired by was fashion week just seeing the street style in general like i think that's my favorite time of year because you always see how people show up on the streets how they wear certain things and then i i find street style the most inspiring things yeah it is i mean you were in paris fashion week as well the as you said the street style yeah everywhere you turn there's just someone that's just looks better than the necks and the outfit and you're just like if i could just screenshot every single outfit which i do i always screen i save everything and i'm like okay this is interesting i like their take on how to wear different things yeah i was actually wearing one of the lime suits in paris fashion week it was so good and everyone asked me about it and it was it's a gray structure yeah i know and i wore like a jacket it's such a power suit yeah and i wore a jacket and a jacket on top it was one of the best outfits.

14:05Tal what about you who are your favorite followers? Um currently I discovered a beautiful um influencer slash she's also a designer in Brazil and she's originally Armenian. Her handle is Andrea Bogosian. Nice. And just power suits to the max but like very beautifully worn doesn't look like she's wearing her dad's suit because sometimes I feel like there's a limit. It could get a little over a little bit more. But I will say I think the shoulder pads can be exact as exaggerated as possible. Yeah I take inspo from Mrs. Kipa. Soon as I saw her like a couple years ago at Dubai Fashion Week and she had like insane shoulder pads just like you I was like I'm ordering like a hundred on Amazon.

14:55I need to find yeah did that work for you so squeeze this this this has shoulder but they're not super I I've attached so this is what I love is like you can just oh yeah I get this attached order on Amazon I need an on this it's honestly it elevates your look a lot of a lot of the pieces obviously have shoulder pads in them but I mean extra yeah yeah yeah yeah someone I love is Grace Ghanem have you guys heard of Yes, iconic. Amazing. So she's a more mature creator, I'd say, but the way that she styles her look... It's true. It's really iconic. I love it. Next level. I mean, I think that she's effortless.

15:36It shows that style can be worn at any age. You don't have to be, you know, you can use color in different ways. I think she is so, so beautiful.

15:49so our next topic is global trends and how we localize them um something i've been noticing a lot how we've been noticing a lot is tailoring for me really good tailoring and a really good suit makes me feel really confident so i want to know from you guys that what makes you feel really confident what sort of pieces make you feel like i'm stepping out of the house and i'm Like, I got this. Yeah. I think for me, it would be like, I love a good suit. I love a good suit. But I had my fair share of suits. I feel like I wore them so much, you know. But right now, honestly, anything that makes me feel myself, makes me feel good.

16:26I love mixing and matching. I love layering. so maybe like a suit but like on a coat with a coat on top of it with a jacket on top with like a tie a tie or something so maybe layering makes me feel the best obviously we live in a climate where layering is not always the easiest but how so how do you balance that do you go ahead anyway i mean i know hiba she was wearing a leather jacket in july um and my girl my girl and my people for me it's like i always get people like so are you not hot in that i'm like i'm indoors i'm sitting indoors okay because right now i feel like style is more like um it's not about seasons anymore it's honestly about like individuality expression expressions identity so i feel like i wear whatever i want right now i just like layer whatever whenever i think in the region because we don't have seasons like the rest of the yes yes it's our chance to do so yeah and for me it's like okay i always throw on boots with things i think in general but it's not like you're melting inside because you're wearing boots like it's just a little layer yeah you're wearing pants whatever it is i think like you said i love layering i love wearing jackets sometimes okay i know that i'm not going to be out the majority of the time i'm going from my car to inside you can still go ahead with it here's the thing yeah yeah we technically we don't really walk that much right we're we're walking and we walk anything um so it does give us give us the chance and it's not just it's the whole region in general even in kuwait i mean kuwaitis wear so much outerwear in the house so instead of wearing abayas they actually wear jackets a lot of the time yes speaking of which at the avenues mall um when i went to visit kuwait in the wind not even the winter it wasn't even that winter they were wearing fur coats at the avenues mall but it's freezing there it's freezing there minus five you can express yourself in fashion yeah that way and not feel a bit you know weird about it yeah there would be people commenting but again as long as you're comfortable as long as you like what you're wearing i think fashion is about expression and wearing what feels comfortable with you and I think that's what people need to like fixate on in general.

18:48It's just wear what you feel great in.

18:55So moving on to fashion as culture. Obviously we are in the GCC and the GCC is made up of several different countries and I think sometimes people don't know that each country is so different from the other. I would like to touch on how different cities or different countries are different in terms of their fashion. Like we were talking earlier about Kuwait. Kuwait I find is very eccentric in their fashion. Very, they're so fashion forward. Honestly I was very impressed. They take risks, they play with color, textures. Makeup, makeup, like they go all out. I love that. Yeah, they do. And I love that especially each country that you go to they have a different take on abaya, which is their outerwear.

19:37With Kuwait they wear a lot of overshirts, so even flannels they wear flannels as like a thing to cover as long as it covers like a certain level of their body but then i also love that in saudi they play so much with colors like you see mint pale yellow yeah they like our buyers they like colored our buyers and they do before that's why it's amazing because as we all know saudi's saudi's landscape of fashion has been right yeah changing yeah and they couldn't wear colorful abayas in the past so now to be able to wear colorful that's why that's why everyone is wearing colored abayas and the way they wear it is so elegant i love them so sophisticated ethereal you would see them in the mall like when you say that i automatically think of yara namla yes how ethereal she is when she wears her abayas beautiful so beautiful yeah love that you know i love how diverse each country is and it's always intriguing to go to the market see them and also get inspired as well yeah i mean for me as well if we're going to talk about how you dress with an with abaya i find that even the layers underneath the abaya have so much style so you know it's not just you're wearing an outer layer an abaya and then underneath it's just like a plain outfit and also the under layer of the outfit the dress it mostly they go with like dresses with the same color but the dress underneath is like very creative as it is you know and they put that by on top it's beautiful and that's the best part about you know showcasing that you you don't just have to wear an abai you can shop the pieces that you want to shop and just layer on top yeah you were saying earlier that dubai is the fashion capital of the region right now and i'm noticing it as well and i'm also noticing a lot coming from saudi as well Saudi I feel is really pushing the boundaries we have Riyadh Fashion Week that started you know three seasons ago yeah and it's really booming in the industry do you find that the GCC is becoming its own little fashion capital and trends you know setting trends definitely yeah yeah yeah a hundred percent first of all Dubai when I said it's like the fashion hub right now not only locally I feel like designers from outside from all the from paris from milan they know that right now and they're investing so much in dubai because it's truly the fashion hub for the middle east but now seeing riad and seeing saudi is like their their their fashion is impeccable like the local designers are amazing their designs on the runway is like unmatched very very cool yeah i love that i love that it's very cool it's modest as well and it's like also i like one of them was an abaya like the runway was all abayas but i've never seen such cool abayas before yeah you know so i'm really loving that uae and saudi arabia are stepping in fashion and making their own take on the fashion industry because we know kuwait like they've been fashion forward they've been there yeah kato is really into the arts and they've got their yeah packed yeah yeah it's true but i'm loving that okay on to our last topic we're going to talk about looking ahead the pieces that we are excited to add to cart do you have anything on your mind right now any trends that you are so excited to adopt or really really want to shop for yes i recently well i hope that this sticks around and i think it will i really want to start getting into long pleated skirts like maxi skirts oh yeah kind of more i'm with you i love them yeah i think they're versatile they they go with every season and they're modest yeah they're everyone dress it up dress it for Everyone dress it down, dress it down.

23:37How would you style, for example, a maxi skirt? I can see her with loafers even. Yes, I was going to say probably a loafer and maybe more of a fitted top, like a t-shirt, long-sleeve part. Even like put a little scarf cardigan around her. Basically, Hibba would like to style you. I accept. So any sort of trends or pieces that you're excited to adopt? to trends or yeah um basically anything with french i like french i like moving i like you know i like man yeah it was all over the runway this season yeah yeah so much happening with yeah yeah yeah i think it's like very nice and bohemian what about you i need to know yours i am obsessed with the funnel neck i think that is something that we've been seeing a lot but i just think it's so elegant it's so cool it makes me feel confident when i have something high neck yeah which is a little bit loose I just I just feel like I can tuck my hair inside yeah but like a cool it's a power look strong earrings yeah have like really cool shoes it's so on trend and for me I would like it this is a trend that I would love for it to say I think it's something me too and even like for me I also put my scarf inside and I've done that a lot also in the fashion week it's it's so good i like it it's amazing yeah add shoulder pads and you're good forever forever the look yes and you know what's weird about fun like uh tops and jackets is that they're normally 99 of the time comfortable yeah yeah right comfortable yeah it depends who you ask because some people feel like it's it's well the 99 of the time so maybe yeah percent where it's uncomfortable but for me i'm obsessed with fun me too i agree what about you hiba i love i mean you guys always see what I pick out I love leather anything leather this skirt is leather but it's just so soft and I would still wear it in summer and the color is nice and it's quite light so it's not like a thick leather that warms you up too and it's the color is amazing you know I don't see a lot of like colored leather yeah so I'm really into the leather so like anything from a tan leather jacket brown even suede there's so much suede and I've seen this summer that suede has actually stayed in trend even though it's a winter fabric it still stays through summer and I think it's a material that's here to stay.

26:02Yes you can have accents of suede as well like on your boots or on your handbag. Your handbag, all accents of suede just elevates that that piece a little bit more. And by the way suede and leather go hand in hand together I love them together. I like mixing the texture even patterns with smooth with. Actually that's what I wanted to ask you so what are your favorite patterns to mix and match what are some pieces that you like to mix and match because obviously fashion is endless we can do you know a bunch of different things but what are some fabrics that you or prints that you like to mix and match right now i feel like i feel like i'm so into animal print i'm so into zebra i'm so into you're talking to the right person babe i want a full outfit in zebra you know but i like it and i said like suede and leather zebra and maybe stripes or something.

26:55Yeah, I like black and white prints that kind of clash. I think it still can look sophisticated even if you mix it. Yeah. But at the moment, because it's winter and everyone's dressing for fall, I really love playing around with different types of leather. And a lot of times you think, okay, I'm wearing suede, can I wear leather? But you actually, when you put it together, it looks great. Yeah. And now you can play around with different textures. you're okay that's it yeah you can also play a lot play around if you're wearing like a skirt with polka dots but you're wearing a stripe shirt or like a polo shirt that actually would work like really good i just have to try it sometimes it's a bit scary to be like okay i don't know if that's gonna go you gotta be a try it on and you're like okay this yes this is good for me um a colleague in the uk was saying she was really into block colors and you know that whole yeah you know mixing mixing the colors colors and she was pointing out a piece and I was like yeah that actually looks really good when you see it maybe on a rack you're like I'm not sure but then when you try it on there's so many pieces so many pieces as well I was like I'm not sure if that will look good on me and then you try it on you're like actually looks great so I feel like that's the key takeaway is like try things on yeah try it on what can happen yeah the advice I always give to like people who always ask me so how do I find my style try it on try different styles I mean that's really great advice and i think also would be great to know from you guys what is your best way to shop when you go into a store that can sometimes be really overwhelming what is your method do you go in with like a checklist in mind that if you know what you want to shop or when you're window shopping what is your shopping style online yeah i'm i'm a very i'm not i'm an online store yeah no i feel like online actually consumed me because but like sometimes like brands like lime because I know their their shop or their like physical shop has so much more variety so for that I would go yes you make that you make the track yes I like to take my time to like look at pieces because when you're in the store obviously I like add a lot of things to my bag yeah and I do get over how you see we saw what you did I get over well like the feeding room and And like even this amount of stuff I'd rather deliver to my house.

29:12I try them uncomfortably. I also style it with different pieces in my wardrobe when it ships to my house. What about you, Tal? Are you more of a retailer? Yeah. My favorite thing in the world is just to go into the store and shop. I like to feel the fabric. Also, I'm not, I don't like returning things. Like I never know how to return something if I don't like it and it comes to my house. You're like, I'd rather just walk to the store and physically give it back to them. um but i definitely um visual i need to yeah visualize her yeah yeah i need to try it on look in the mirrors and then i'll decide i feel like you're an in-store really well so my friends always make fun of me because i'm always at dubai mall yeah are you are you just always at dubai mall i'm like i just love it it's so nice because i like to i like to walk i'm quite active but yeah with a busy lifestyle like you said it's sometimes harder to to have time to shop yeah i do like a bit of both okay ladies this wraps up today's podcast thank you so much for joining today this was such a fun chat thank you for hours yeah if you like this podcast please like subscribe and we'll see you next time

30:34Thank you.