FASHION SPOTLIGHT
BANA ABUJABER @SIDENOTEBANAA AMMAN, JORDAN
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n a world of incredible fashion freedom it can be difficult to find your own sense of style, and to stay true to it. But Bana Abujaber has got it just right. She’s cool, confident, style-savvy and knows exactly what she wants – to wear, that is. “My personal style is definitely mixing and matching high and low fashion,” she says. “It’s aimed at showing my followers just how easy it is to look good and feel good everyday, no
matter what you’re doing, where you’re going or what your budget is. What makes me appeal to my readers and followers is that I’m definitely relatable and the things I post about are easily accessible.” This we can easily see through Bana’s numerous collabos with local boutiques in Amman as well as her #OOTD combos of designer brands with high-street faves. Her three go-to accessories are chokers, below the waist belts and her Gucci Soho leather disco bag – yes, this young lady is slaying in the style stakes, but, surprisingly, Bana’s vision and popularity as a fashion blogger 18
fact magazine
took time and grassroots effort to grow. “I faced a lot of challenges as three years ago the social media scene wasn’t as powerful in Amman as it was abroad and a lot of people just didn’t understand the concept of a blogger,” Bana recalls. “So it was tough trying to break those barriers especially when it came down to persuading brands to partner up with me. It took a really long time to create a name and have that name be considered as one of the best fashion influencers in Jordan,” she adds. Now that Bana’s hard work has paid off and her street cred is intact, she’s enjoying
the growth and recognition of the Middle Eastern fashion industry: “Many new designers have emerged and are hungry for blogger collaborations and vice versa,” she says. “At the same time the industry is quite small, which makes it easy to connect with the right people.” Bana’s experience of interning at a fashion PR agency in New York followed by gaining a fashion marketing degree from Parsons New School for Design have, no doubt, given her the knowledge and skills to run her blog – www.sidenotebanaa.com – which has gained her the nomination for Blogger of the Year by Living Well magazine in Jordan. When asked what her favourite high-street brands are, Bana gets straight to it: “Zara, of course! No need to explain here,” she says. “& Other Stories has definitely become one of my favourite fast-fashion brands. Anything you wear from there, makes you look super polished. I also love that they have really cool jewellery, cosmetics and shoes.” She also can’t survive a single fashion season without Topshop denim - we don’t blame her! Well-versed in all things trendy, Bana is looking forward to the velvet, prints and coloured fur trends for the upcoming AW16 season, and just like her dedicated 10k+ followers, we’ll be keeping a watchful eye on her insta feed to see how she incorporates these looks into her everyday style. ✤
“Many new designers have emerged and are hungry for blogger collaborations and vice versa.”