Saudi designer Arwa Al Banawi grew up in Jeddah and spent most of her upbringing in Switzerland. Arwa began her journey into fashion as a fashion and lifestyle blogger from her hometown of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. On moving to Dubai in 2012 Arwa took up a career in banking whilst taking up short courses in Fashion Design with London College of Fashion. On realizing her true passion lay in design she took a leap of faith and launched her debut collection of ready-to-wear suits and shirts in 2015. We believe she is a game-changer in honouring her Saudi culture in a fashion-forward manner, with her own even gender-less approach to fashion, and her recent ‘Bedwin’ collection is a testament to that. She has had to fight to get to succeed, and her warrior attitude comes through in her story-telling approach to all her designs.
What do you consider the main achievements in your life?
My main achievement has been following my true passion in life!
What drives you to be at the Top of your Game? What are your success strategies?
I always say if you fail to plan you plan to fail. So, one of the most important things in life to success is to plan ahead and follow your plan. Also, focus and remove yourself from getting distracted (keep your eyes on your goal and the prize) and finally stay away from negative settings and negative opinions as they will only drain you. Practice in getting your mind to disconnect and not react to negative opinions – just focus.
Have you dealt with failure? If so, how did you overcome it and resurge when all the chips were down?
Failure made me stronger, and I never imagined saying this now but it’s because I’ve been through it that I can really and honestly say it made me stronger! It made me fight harder and it pushed me closer to my goal; failure in my eyes is the universe telling you to look and fight for something that’s coming on its way. Failure also makes you develop the thick skin so that you become more confident because you know how it feels to fight for something important to you and at the end you find happiness. Without failure you will never know the true meaning of happiness in success, I believe that and I’ve been through it.
Finally, it is important for us to recognise the power of men in supporting women. Is there a man who has played an instrumental role in your personal growth and success? Who are they and how did they influence you?
Oh yes indeed my dear father who’s also the author of the Unknown Leader; everything in his book was taught and been told to me ever since I was younger. My father is the one who truly mentored me and made sure I never give up and taught me how to deal with failure and how to deal with ‘haters’; I owe my father a lot.