How we can use social media for purpose.
Emirati fashion designer and the co-founder & creative director of RTW label in Dubai YNM, Yasmin Al Mulla, expresses below in an exclusive Op-Ed piece how we can use social media to better embrace diversity and instead inspire each other with genuine content moving forward.
About Yasmin Al Mulla
An Emirati fashion designer and the co-founder and Creative Director of YNM — Yasmin Al Mulla cofounded YNM in 2014; a Dubai-based RTW label specialized in contemporary garments.
Her early life and upbringing in the fast-evolving, cosmopolitan city of Dubai led her to pursue a degree in International Relations in 2012. As a fashion designer, she is certified by the London College of Fashion in Fashion and Shoe Design, and is nationally recognized by the Dubai Design & Fashion Council (DDFC) as an official member.
She has to her credit collaborations with brands including Tiffany & Co, Jimmy Choo, Christian Louboutin, Matches Fashion, Level Shoes, By FAR, Ex Nihilo, Baccarat and other global powerhouse brands. She’s also a fitness enthusiast and is committed to a holistic lifestyle.
As a long-term advocate of health and fitness, she believe that optimal eating is a sustainable, beautiful lifestyle. Yasmin has maintained a gluten, dairy, and refined-sugar-free diet for many years now, and that’s in addition to her workouts and strength training, yoga, and meditation. She is focusing on nourishing, nutritious and wholesome food and believe that consuming everything in moderation is key — This has led to her curating exclusive menus for top-tier brands and their events.
Whether we like it or not, there has been an evident love-hate relationship between social media and the fashion industry. We can’t help but notice the enormous impact that social media has on the current fashion scene worldwide.
Social media can be highly beneficial if used correctly; it can increase phenomenal awareness, drive outstanding engagements, improve brand involvements and position the brand accurately amidst its global competition. On the other hand, social media has been encouraging a twisted perspective of reality and a new page of transparency—a potent tool that has normalized beauty to include perfect and plastic models for example.
It’s time to instead use social media to highlight the powerful sentiment towards Female Empowerment despite color, shape, culture, age, state and other general external factors. We – as in designers, brands, and people in general – need to embrace individuals of all forms, avoid categorizing, labeling and classifying; which has been quite noticeable in recent magazine covers, editorial campaigns and advertisement pieces. With this being said, I do however admire the more inspirational movements toward the recent attempts at promoting diversity in the industry; featuring real, authentic, and powerful women who all come from different shapes, sizes and ethnicities.
Moving forward, social media can act as a vessel to arm us with insightful, informative content, or instead as a vessel to portray an unrealistic second of ‘perfection.’ At the end of the day, the responsibilities go to influential entities such as influencers, brands and celebrities to endorse natural, imperfect beauty and deliver genuine and sentimental messages on social media re: celebrating our unique imperfections; a concept so valuable to teach the next generations.
Finally, it is up to us as individuals to use social media to help promote diversity. Let us support those unique brands that showcase our standards by wearing their select colors, silhouettes and even materials that overall play a role in expressing who we are, what we stand for and how we feel. Expressing ourselves through our final demeanor is the truest form of self-confidence. Self-comparison and digesting false content on social media, is not.
"It is up to us as individuals to use social media to help promote diversity."
