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SISTER ACT
DINA: Rima and I have an older sister/ younger sister relationship – she’s very caring and spoils me and I have a lot of respect for her. When I was little, she always took care of me, but she hated it when I started to want to be like her! Though as soon as we moved past that phase, she was back to being over-protective! Fashion was the big thing we shared, with Rima experimenting on me for hours with different hairstyles and make-up. We grew up by the beach in Marbella, Spain, surrounded by sun, sand, good food and ice cream. Anything goes in Spain, so we never had any concerns about being judged or worrying about what people thought. Even now, my year isn’t complete without a Marbella summer! When we moved to Dubai, Rima was 14 and I was nine, so we had completely different lives and interests. I was still a kid, while Rima was rebelling and driving my parents completely nuts! Looking at her now, you’d never think she was a rebellious party animal, but she was! When you’re young a four-and-a-half-year age gap feels huge and it’s difficult to relate to one another, but the gap has slowly become less noticeable and we’re now much closer. Our major strength is our mutual respect for each
other, though a weakness may be that we’re very different individuals with separate personalities and a completely different way of doing things. Rima’s taught me to give without expecting anything in return and also how to deal with social situations better – I used to be terrible at that, while she was always a social butterfly! She’s kind, caring, punctual, supportive, a workaholic and beautiful inside and out. I have lots of fond memories of my sister, but my most recent is of us working, acting silly and laughing together; busy creating a success of our clothing line, Dinz. It was a huge moment in our relationship, but these memories are priceless and brought us even closer together; she’s one of my best friends. There’s still an element of older sister/ younger sister to our relationship, but there’s more balance now. Don’t tell her this, but I’m also a bit scared of her – she has zero patience, she’s always right and when she’s angry, it isn’t pretty! However, we both go out of our way to help each other. And, at the end of the day, material items perish and family is what truly matters – as long as you have good health and relationships, that’s all you can ask for, and so, for my relationship with my big sister, I’m truly thankful.
RIMA: Although Dina is a little diva, she’s one of those people who’s always been smart without trying! Our relationship dynamic has changed over the last few years and now I have to admit I ask my little sister for advice all the time. She was a real goodie-two-shoes growing up – always reading and doing puzzles. I used to play dress up with her but when I hit my teens and became too ‘cool’, I kicked her out of my room. I feel awful about that now. Our relationship developed when we discovered similar interests such as fashion, art, and sarcasm! Now, we have an amazing relationship and we rarely fight. Dina’s very chilled out, unlike me! And we’ve definitely got closer since moving to Dubai. Partly as you
stick to family here, because it’s hard to find genuine friends. I remember when my husband was seriously ill a few years ago and I was stuck in hospital in London with him for months. Dina left everything in Dubai to fly over and support me – she stayed with me throughout. Dina’s taught me to be more accepting and relax more. She’s always telling me to watch the news more so I can see what’s going on in the real world and appreciate what I have; she’s a wise little sister! That said, she does infuriate me; she treats her bags, shoes and clothes like people and puts them all in boxes, going crazy if something happens to them. It’s funny as it’s the total opposite of me – I have no value for things as they are just things at the end of the day.
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EMIRATES WOMAN
MAY 2011
IMAGE NAVEED NAVEEDAHMED AHMED IMAGE
RIMA ZAHRAN, 27, AND DINA ZAHRAN, 23, CO-FOUNDERS AND DESIGNERS FOR DINZ