I remember going into a fit session at ASOS last month and one of the team was buzzing about this young French lady called Sakina who writes a fashion blog called Saks in the City and does shopping videos for Italian Vogue. First of all I was embarrassed to find, when I got home to research her that I must have been living under a rock not to know who she was.

For those who are new to Sakina and her fantastic sense of fun and style here’s a quick recap.

Sakina began her blog, quite innocently last year where she wrote about her fashion finds and posted pictures. Sakina is plus sized but what made her popular was her honest and non fussy approach to her fashion reviews. In short – she picked up things she liked, posted lovely pictures and made friends with other bloggers. Skip twelve months on and Sakina is now a regular blogger for Italian Vogue and now seems to be one of the key spokes people during the surge of interest in plus-size fashion.

Finding out her story and viewing her blog made me terribly excited, because here was a young lady just using her blog to showcase her love for fashion and BOOM she becomes quite the guru in her field. So much so that Italian Vogue knew they were onto a winner by asking her to post her thoughts and videos on the plus-size section of their website.

But I wanted to know more about Sakina – because quite frankly I am tres nosey. Good job she speaks fluent English because my French is very bad!

Thankfully she sat down to give me some time and I think you’ll all agree she’s a sweetheart!

J’adore Sakina of Saks in the City – Interview

V: Sakina it’s lovely to connect with you. Thanks for taking the time for me!

Sakina: Hey you’re more than welcome, thank YOU!

V: I barely know where to start but I guess I should ask how your love for fashion came about? Is it because you’re French or something else?

Sakina: Probably… hum well no actually I became a fashion lover when I started learning English! Yes! After my very first English class I was like : I must speak as well as a native speaker (don’t freak, I’m very passionate !) Long story short I started reading a lot of fashion magazines in English and that’s what introduced me to fashion, clothing aesthetics and sense of style.

V: You represent the fuller figured woman in your blog, but also I get a sense that any women, regardless of size, could get style ideas from you – is this intentional?

Sakina: Absolutely, when I released the blog it was mostly speaking to fuller figured women because I my fashion tips were for plus sizes : it’s so hard to believe you can be fashionable when you are a plus size that I wanted to show some confidence and optimism but I never meant to only target plus size women. I intentionally dress like an average size woman, I don’t stop myself from wearing miniskirts or skinny jeans or carrot pants (which are all supposedly not flattering on a curvy woman!) and that’s why my blog speaks to a lot more people. My outfits are very close to any stylish lady ! And that’s why I never wanted to mention the word fat or plus size or curvy on my blog’s name, I wanted it to sound more like the fashion diary of a fashion lover !

V: When did you start your blog officially?

Sakina: I think it was on May 1rst 2009, almost a year now! Unbelievable! Time really flies…

V: Did you promote your blog with other curvy fashionistas or did simply post and gain a following?

Sakina: Well it was Les Modeuses Rondes a French plus size fashion community that first mentioned my blog on their platform and I think a month after I released my blog, Gabi from Young, Fat & Fabulous wanted to feature me on her YFF Girl of the moment section and that’s when people started to know about my blog and my followers grew very fast after that ! Lately I’ve been featured in a lot of press! I have very good relationships with other fatshionistas like Gabi (YFF) Christina from The Musings of a Fatshionista, Mimmi & Peppi from More To Love, Charlotte from Kylanita… and a lot more!

V: Your pictures are always natural and well shot! Do you have a definite plan when taking the pictures for your blog or do you just roll with it?

Sakina: If only you could be there when I take pictures! You would see how improvised it is! Well, except from 2 or 3 photo shoots, it’s not planned. I picture myself in the area I am and I try to find the cutest backgrounds to shoot. I don’t have a high quality camera so there are some few things I do to get have a nice picture: I try to have a simple background (like a beautiful wall or door, something without a lot of elements) and a bright light. These are the few things I’m doing to have a nice picture! When it’s planned I have my friend’s reflex camera and the only thing I have to do is find a place that will match with my outfit!

V: You are a natural model; one of the best – if not the best examples of what a true Curvaceous Model should be, in my opinion. If you were asked to be on the cover of one magazine as a Cover Girl what would it be?

Sakina: OMG you’re so sweet! Thank you! Let me think… Probably Vogue, yes Vogue because it’s THE fashion forward magazine. And it would make a statement I think to have a curvy model on a Vogue cover!

V: I totally agree with you there! Ok, so who would you like to be the face of if you could pick any fashion label?

Sakina: Any? Well ASOS & H&M of course! I love these brands, their clothes and their spirit, ! In terms of luxury brand, I would love to be the face for Chloé or Stella McCartney, I love these two brands fashion approach, I’m never disappointed by the new collections, and it’s feminine, classy, as well as trendy.

V: You have a huge love for H&M clothes – but tell me about some of the other stores you love!

Sakina: Oh you have noticed? I’m probably one of their biggest lovers!!! But I have other brands I LOVE for my bank’s despair: Asos, Dorothy Perkins, Vero Moda, Carmakoma, Manoush, Faith 21 & Forever 21, Zara…

V: You have a lot of clothes! Is your wardrobe/closet organized in any colours or seasons or is it just organized chaos?

Sakina: Perfectly organized, I hate chaos; everything’s clean and organized according to colours… No I swear I’m not a freak!!

V: Ha. No don’t feel bad. Mine is set into colours as well. I see you also love shoes, jewellery and bags. I can relate to the love of jewellery and bags as I’m a big fan of co-coordinating those with clothes I wear. Where do you buy the majority of your accessories?

Sakina: It really depends, I don’t go to a specific place to shop accessories and jewellery, most of the brands I shop in have their jewellery and accessories range so if I have a crush on something I bring it home. I’m more a clothes hunter than an accessories hunter! I don’t follow any trends in terms of bags, jewels, shoes… I mostly look for the timeless pieces.

V: Let’s talk Vogue! I am thrilled you are now a spoke person for (Italian) Vogue Curvy. Tell me about your involvement with them and how you plan your videos for them.

Sakina: Well, I’m very involved since its VOGUE ;D I go taping twice a month and I pick out the stores I want. I choose the stores according to their stylistic spirit and according to whether I’ll find oversized pieces or not. I have no one telling me yes or no, and in that way it’s great! Besides, they’ve chose me because of my sense of style so they have an absolute faith in my outfits combinations. I’m free and it’s fun!

V: Do you think that mainstream fashion is truly embracing fuller figures or do you just think it’s a fad?

Sakina: No I think the fashion industry is finally taking fuller figures in real consideration. They don’t have choice anymore, the fashion plus size industry is growing very fast, and its representatives are getting more and more publicity (Beth Ditto, Crystal Renn… who doesn’t know about them?) it would be stupid to continue to ignore us! The only thing for a brand now who wants to enlarge its target is to step out from what has already been done in terms of plus size fashion… and not care about the supposedly plus size fashion. Dare to take risks!!!

V: I totally agree on the risk thing. I’m finding out being in the industry that there is still hesitation to step out of some boxes when it comes to marketing plus sizes fashion, but we can talk about that when we next meet. Speaking of which – if I hopped over to Paris for the day and went shopping with you describe what our perfect day out would be? Where would we go and what would we do?

Sakina: What a lovely idea! I would take you with me to have a breakfast at Angélina’s near the Concorde, it’s an authentic lovely tea shop that has incredibly delicious pastry and real hot chocolate. We would then cross the Tuileries gardens to go to the Louvre because if there’s a place to visit in Paris is the Louvre Museum, it’s Magic ! We would then have lunch at the Café Marly which is a very classy restaurant near the Louvre. We would of course go shopping after that and I would take you over the Opéra district for its beauty and because there are a lot of shops and Le Marais to continue the shopping/visiting session ! By night I would take you to Montmartre to eat an absolutely delicious Nutella crepe and we would walk around this crazy place while chatting about everything the world is made of ! How does that sound to you ?

V: Oh yes sounds fabulous! OK, totally not fashion related but I’m going to ask since I’m a make-up artist and beauty writer, amongst other things. Your skin and make-up always looks flawless, what is your beauty regime and what skincare and what make-up products can you not live without?

Sakina: That’s funny because I have NO makeup skills! I mean really, I’ve been wearing the same make up style for ages! First of I clean my skin with a lotion with rose in the morning before my moisturizer, it’ known as a good cheek redness softener. I always have red cheeks, and I hate it! Then I put on my skin moisturizer (which is the ‘Crème Etincelante’ by NUXE). After that I put on some beige powder everywhere on my face. Then I work on the eyes: black eyeliner and underline and mascara. I also brush my eyebrows and put a tiny little bit of hair wax on them, I like when they don’t move during the day! And at last I put some pink blush on my cheeks (I know I said I hated to have red cheeks but it’s sweet when it’s the blush and not the skin trust me!) In spring/summer I add some sun powder on the forehead, nose + chin to look like I’m tanned! And when I go to a party I wear red on my lips, I love it, it’s so sexy!

V: What would be your ultimate job?

Sakina: FASHION DESIGNER!!!! Wish me luck!

V: Good luck!!! I have a feeling you’re going to be a celebrity in mainstream as well as the fashion world. Are you ready?

Sakina: Really? What makes you think I would be a celebrity? I would love to have the money of a celebrity, but I’d HATE to be spied upon.

V: I think sometimes fame can reach out to those that don’t necessarily expect it. You have done your own thing and got mass attention. I think that’s amazing even if you didn’t expect it. You’ve become an inspiration to me so for that reason I am adding you to my ‘Inspirational Women’ section to the right of my blog. Congratulations!

Sakina: YAY! Thank you! I’m honoured!

V: Sakina you’ve been a sweetheart – thanks for giving me this interview and who knows we may collaborate in some way, some day! I hope!

Sakina: It was my pleasure I hope you had fun! I too hope we’ll collaborate, we never know, it might be sooner than we’d think; D

V: I think you may be right!

***

Pictures copyright of Sakina – Saks in The City 2010

For more information on the clothes worn in the pictures above go to http://saksinthecity.blogspot.com/ and you can also view Sakina’s videos at Italian Vogue Online

Follow Sakina on Facebook and Twitter

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