Mind Soup

“There is no room for mistakes, the competition is severe. The right image has to go with the right text.” Deema Saidi studied Marketing at the Lebanese American University (LAU). With a committed passion for the arts and everything glamorous, she had the chance to work for prestigious, well-established companies such as Elie Saab, Oscar De La Renta, Missoni, Diane von Furstenberg, Y3, and Furla. Armed with experience in social media for fashion and hospitality, she now resides in the UAE where she works as a luxury and PR marketer. In this interview, I discuss with Deema the state of online fashion marketing in the Middle East. What is the biggest challenge, in your opinion, when managing fashion social media accounts? Fashion social media accounts have a lot of challenges, just like any other product or service you have to make sure that you are consistent with the voice, the brand image and the quality. As you may know, fashion is a form of aesthetics and maintaining the ima...

The two most discussed topics on social media have to be food and fashion. In October, Cloud961 dedicated a whole issue to food on social media platforms, and it was about time that we discussed fashion. In Lebanon’s blogging scene, fashion and lifestyle blogs are the most evolved, most active and most numerous in comparison to other types. Fashion bloggers have different styles as well, some covering professional fashion shows and designers, others creating their own styles with weekly photo-shoots and styling tutorials. A few have even created their own YouTube channels, which constitute the earliest form of consistent v-logging in the country. To keep up with this thriving fashion community, fashion brands and designers had to go online to benefit from the social spotlight. When we were brainstorming for a cover idea, I asked my team about ideas for the first cover shoot. While some suggested local and upcoming fashion designers, the vast majority agreed on Roula Nahas as...

MIND SOUP : Everyone knows that blogging has exploded recently in Lebanon. There's even a Blogging Convention in a mere couple of weeks where our very own Moudz will be in attendance! With that said, as blogging in general is becoming more and more popular in Lebanon, so are Lebanese LGBT blogs. The blogs are very new, less than a year old and two new ones popped up just this month. The themes of the blog are as diverse as the Lebanese LGBT community itself. Posts include favorite music, coming out stories, bad dates, and complaining about Lebanon (the hallmark of a Lebanese blog). Most of the blogs are anonymous (due to privacy concerns and the rampant homophobia still present in Lebanon). Beirut Boy : The author is a young, Lebanese businessman in his 20s. He posts about dating, music, fashion, and is an activist for gay rights in Lebanon. He (as well as many other bloggers) has joined the Save Aya campaign. Gay in Beirut : This blog mainly has humorous and light-hearted pos...

Zara - Now on Sale So the world cup is over, what happens to the car? "Use of the elevator is prohibited for going up/down one floor" "Get Married for LL39000" = $26 Lebanese Flag during one of the World Cup 2010 games in South Africa