Hello and welcome to emirateswoman.com.

Its no secret that I am not a whizz when it comes to technology – especially to do with computer systems – so going through the motions of moving online has been strangely terrifying and exciting at the same time.

Once you have been in a job for a few years there is a certain ‘drill’, especially with magazines. You have 12 deadlines a year and you have to hit them; sounds quite simple as we all work 12-hour days to make these deadlines, but that’s ultimately what it comes down to. Crossing over to the www is not even in the same ballpark. Content is never ending and gets sucked up as soon as we imagine it and the pace is so fast that what was so completely amazing in the morning has been replaced with five more incredible things by lunchtime. After such long days (and nights) working across the mags and site, my desk ends up looking like this, which hurts, a lot.

Anyone that knows me well knows that I hate clutter of any kind. I am the opposite of a hoarder and have been known to throw so many things away that I have to go and secretly buy them again the next week (as my husband is asking for them…). We have been on a bit of a cleaning frenzy at EW HQ as we will soon be leaving the (still) unfinished road works of Garhoud, bound for the bright lights of Media City. The clear out has been so cathartic for me that I decided to clean out my accessory walk-in. Speaking of which (and I know I am not alone here) I do every weekend.

In a break from all the dusting, supermarket shopping and writing that always sucks up my Saturday, I took a quick break and bought myself some high-street pick-me-ups – my favourite is this amusing jumper from H&M. I wanted to wear it today but I’m afraid it’s too hot for an angora-mix, extra-long-sleeve jumper. Roll on October!

I can’t actually believe it’s nearly October but I mustn’t do away with September just yet. An event that I am really looking forward to is the Fashion Weekend at Traffic viatraffic.org which is headed by one of our Emirates Woman Of The Year nominees, Tamara Al Gabbini, and the ever-chic Associate Director of Traffic, Nina Trojanovic. The event invites all designers from September 13-15 to sell and showcase their designs – all you need to do is email Nina on nina@viatraffic.org to make a donation and you are in!
Another anticipated evening is the Vintage Reconstructed event (12th) at the only vintage boutique in town worth visiting, Bambah. The gorgeously talented Maha Abdul Rasheed’s visionary vintage line is something to be seen (and bought) bambah.com.

I am over-the-moon-excited about EW going online. The same team that produces all of the Emirates Woman Group of magazines, along with myself, bring you news from the front row of all things fashionable plus an inside scoop on what it is like to live and breathe working in the magazine industry in Dubai; the good, bad and the (very rarely) ugly. In addition to all of the style updates, we will be reporting on all of the events that this town is famous for. We will also upload news to our Facebook page and look forward to hearing from you on Twitter. I hope you enjoy the site as much as we have enjoyed bringing it to you and have a great week.

Speak soon,
Sophia

So among the office, events and general life maintenance, this week you will find me…

  • Reading: New York Apartments, Private Views by Jamee Gregory
  • Watching: RHNY (guilty pleasure)
  • Eating: My homemade banana bread
  • Buying: These Tod’s beauties to add to my collection