Siblings Parisa and Lydia Birgani share their common love for fashion which led them to starting up one of the UAE’s most unique style portals, The Fashion Hub. Back in 2012, with the lack of street style websites that focus on the non-linear side of fashion, art and lifestyle, sisters Parisa and Lydia Birgani set up The Fashion Hub (TFH); it started off as a local blog, but last year turned into a style portal, which continuesly features fashion news and editroials both regionally and worldwide. It is now, as the name suggests, a hub of where one can get their daily fashion fix newsfeed.

We’ve sat with Parisa to chat about her, her sister, and TFH.

What was the turning point in your life that made you decide to venture into fashion blogging?

There wasn’t anyone that influenced us specifically that made us want to enter this path, but people like Leandra Medine and Pelayo Diaz definitely played a role in us starting up a blog. In this region there’s a very specific “look” to how people dress, to which we’ve never fit; that’s when we decided, ‘Okay we need to document this and promote more of the local niche market.’

How has the reception been of your blog? What challenges have you encountered and how did you overcome them?

The most challenging part of running TFH is the up keep; many have a perception of blogs/websites being something that you simply write a sentence or two for and put a few pretty pictures. What they don’t realise is the angle of the post and the images. We’re both perfectionists so our work has to be on point when it goes live. As for reception, we’ve had the best response from The Fashion Hub readers; we are both really lucky to have the market that understands and positively responds to our work.

Aside from The Fashion Hub, what else keeps you busy?

Well, I’m a freelance writer for a few publications, both locally and globally, so I always have something to do, which I love. Lydia is in her gap year and is getting work experience in fashion PR and management.

Any tips you can give to those starting out now?

Don’t set yourself a goal based on someone else’s success.

What projects do you have at the present and in the pipeline? Which are you most proud of?

Our proudest moment has got to be working with Selfridges at the start of 2014. We were the fashion contributors for their magazine, consulting the Arabic market in London on specific looks that could be found in store. As their avid customers, it was amazing to have the chance to be part of it and lend our knowledge and experience to their clientele. Projects for the future are exciting and completely different from what anyone has seen here as of yet.

What fashion trends in 2015 that you are most excited about?

Not florals.

How long do you see yourselves doing this?

Until people get sick of seeing us.