This week, Emirates Woman spoke to Anna Cernohorska, founder of SAKURANNA , a luxury swimwear and resort wear line, based in Bali. The brand is now making its way to Dubai, with its growing demand.
Welcome to the Emirates Woman weekly series ‘How I got my job as…’ where we speak to some incredible entrepreneurs and businesswomen both based in the UAE and globally to find out about their career paths that led them to where they are now; what their daily routines look like; the advice they’d give to those starting out; and the hurdles they’ve had to overcome.
Run by a female-only team, our products are ethically manufactured in our studio in Bali. The label believes in slow fashion. Each garment is designed in house and produced in small production runs, minimising their environmental impact and wastage. The pieces are all made from high-quality materials like Italian Lycra and natural viscose.
To delve into her story further, Emirates Woman spoke to Cernohorska to see how it all began.
What was your favourite subject at school?
My favourite subject at school was Art History, as I loved learning about various artists and art movements. It helped me understand creativity and expression and made me think about visual storytelling. I find it fascinating how fashion and art are linked and inspire each other, both showing beauty and craftsmanship, reflecting a personality and making a statement.
What was your first job?
My first fashion related job was working as an assistant in a fashion showroom in Milan. It was an exciting and fast-paced experience, as I really got myself fully immersed into the international fashion industry. Spending the summer in Milan, being able to connect with various fashion designers, stylists and buyers, was incredibly inspiring and made me dream about starting my own fashion brand one day in the future.
What brought you to Dubai?
Dubai offers a dynamic, multicultural environment with strong presence in fashion. I have always loved the modern architecture, lifestyle and year – round sunshine. It is such an international community with an incredible and powerful energy. One of my biggest joys in life is to network and connect with other entrepreneurs, who are also passionately pursuing their dreams. Additionally, in a short period of time, we were able to secure partnerships with some established UAE based retailers, helping to grow the customer base for Sakuranna.
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What inspired you to enter the space and your brand?
My inspiration for Sakuranna is driven by the pure bliss of the tropical life. I want to design for unconventional, strong women who celebrate life every day! The Sakuranna girl can be it all – she is elegant and confident, yet wild at heart with a never-ending spirit of adventure and deep soul. I want to offer stylish pieces that make you feel confident, and beach ready. Most importantly, I want my pieces to tick off all the right boxes: fashionable, flattering, sustainable, well-fitted, and functional. I love to create collections that transcendent seasons and pieces that capture the feeling of summer, with elegant and statement day –to-night options.
Talk us through the concept?
Sakuranna goes beyond just being an online brand, the goal is to create a community of like-minded woman and really connect with our customers. We have a WhatsApp group with our customers where we engage with them, so we can understand their needs and design with and for them! I am proud to offer thoughtfully designed swimwear and resort wear in a range of sizes to empower and enhance the female silhouette. I wear each of our design samples for months to extensively test the quality and fit before approving the production process. This allows us to offer stylish pieces with the best fit and support.
What are the key elements of your role?
As a startup brand founder, my role really involves a little bit of everything! From creative vision to business and marketing strategy to day-to-day operations. It is incredibly challenging to go from design meetings where I am in my creative space to focusing on our budget planning and inventory management in the next hour. Running Sakuranna really made me realize the importance of surrounding yourself with a great team. I think hiring the right people who can complement your skills and support you along the way is the key to successful growth.
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Talk us through your daily routine.
I like to start my mornings in Dubai with an early tennis session or a gym class to clear my mind and get the dopamine kick! Mornings I usually spend on calls with my partners and suppliers in Asia, focusing on approving designs, choosing fabrics and components and overlooking the production process. I travel to Asia twice a year to make sure we partner with suppliers whose vision and ethical practices align with ours and to really get to know everyone who is part of the Sakuranna family. Afternoons are more focused on marketing, answering emails, staying up to date with our social media and one my favourite activities – planning our creative campaigns, which are a core part of our brand.
What advice do you have for anyone looking to follow in the same footsteps?
I think the key for me is to be able to balance creativity and business skills. It is so important before starting to define your unique brand identity and find your niche. Begin small with key pieces that represents your vision, always better to focus on quality over quantity and use storytelling to connect with your audience. My vision really came together in our best-selling Scarlett one shoulder dress, which went viral and has sold out several times during the summer season and really connected us to the Sakuranna community.
Tell us more about the products?
Our collections are created in our design studio in Chelsea, London and produced by our partner’s factory in Bali. We are using materials that are both luxurious and high quality, focusing on sustainability and using recycled fabrics such as Repreve. In order to minimize fabric waste, we are trying to listen to our customers’ needs and base our production runs around that. I am so excited about our recent partnership with climate impact partner Ecologi. We have committed to planting a tree with every purchase of an item from Sakuranna, to ensure we support responsible tree planting.
What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?
The best fashion related piece of advice I have ever received must be to “build a strong brand, not just a product”. I think about that a lot when running the business.
And what is the worst?
“You must do everything yourself to save money” – I have found that surrounding myself with trustworthy and caring team members not only improves the business performance, but also creates much more fulfilling and exciting work environment.
What’s the biggest challenge you have had to overcome?
Probably the biggest challenge I had to overcome at the beginning was to try and predict which designs would sell more quickly. As I experienced early on with one of our products, ordering the wrong quantity and selling out fast is a stressful experience. Now we use sales data and customers’ engagement to more accurately estimate the demand for our various designs.
What’s lies ahead for the brand?
After a very successful recent brand event in Dubai, we are very focused on growing and building our community in 2025 with more events scheduled in London, Bali and Monaco. There are so many beautiful designs coming up in next few months. As always, we are going to shoot our collections with a carefully selected team of top fashion professionals, in locations such as Cape Town, Dubai and Bali. We pay close attention to every little detail in the shoot, as we are not just creating a product, but a story and experience: from a Sakuranna Valentines Hotel Suite in Raffles at the Palm to shooting a bridal collection in a flower garden in Bali, I am so excited about the upcoming launches.
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