Meet Rawan Kattoa, a fashion entrepreneur, consultant, and stylist that lives between Saudi Arabia and Switzerland. Being the founder of her own styling platform, she is now one of the esteemed names in fashion and luxury.
The Saudi fashion entrepreneur credits her mother to being her fashion muse, and considers her classic style from the 1970s and 1980s to one of her inspirations. Ever since her childhood, this Saudi creative has had her eyes set on fashion and art, and now she styles the biggest names in the region. Her unique vision and exceptional skills have made her a sought-after expert in the scene, and her work has captured the attention of many. However, her path was not always centered in the glitz and glamor of la mode.
Previously, Kattoa had earned a degree in Project Management in Riyadh. Throughout her professional experience, she has worked in Human Resources in private sector, specifically in the business management and talent development fields. She has spent some time supporting and working in several youth initiatives, while encouraging young Saudi Arabian to go into the workforce.
Even though she has spent 10 years in a more business centric, rather than creative, journey, she was always on the hunt for the next wardrobe staple, or next unique piece for her looks. Kattoa was even coordinating looks with her friends and family, and that was when she knew she had to move the career move.
With that shift, comes impactful change and that is what Kattoa wanted to push for. She established her first fashion brand centered around Ramadan looks, along with her sisters in 2016. That year was the peak era of fashion blogging, with many online accounts starting to saturate the market. She hopped on that train and started creating content on social media. She then moved to London to enroll in fashion courses at the University of Arts.
Towards the end of 2019, equipped with both business savvy and a flair for style, she began working in the field of styling and consulting, heavily relying on creative editorial fashion coordination, collaborating with local artists to create content for international and local brands, in addition to fashion consulting for emerging brands and even personal styling.
In an interview online, Rawan talks about where her source of inspiration comes from, and she credits her continuous research of the history of fashion, the various fashion weeks happening in the different cities, and the different cultures she gets to see every now and then. Her take on styling goes beyond just the aesthetic, as she states, “Coordination fashion is an art that expresses a lot about the identity of people, their characters and the way of life.”
Some of her clients are well-known names around the region including Lebanese influencer Nathalie Fanj, Saudi TV Presenter Nada Baeshen, Saudi personality Ajwa Al Joudi, Saudi actresses Mila Al Zahrani and Fatima Al Banawi. Her looks have graced many renowned red carpets and couture weeks all over the world such as Venice Film Festival.
Her take on the concept of elegance is quite interesting, as it forms a more human-centric approach – one that requires the understanding of personalities and their lifestyles. As for creative styling, it’s all about “inspire and be inspired” for the Saudi fashion expert. Right now, Rawan travels the world with new opportunities for her popping up between Dubai, Saudi Arabia, and Europe all in search of a new inspiration to derive from.
Her specialty is focused in Fashion Consultancy, where she partners up with local startups and brands to understand their ethos, and develop new concepts for their image relying on cultural and societal motifs. Another field she specializes in is Creative Direction and Editorial Styling, where she goes more into storytelling through creating ideas for campaigns, and finally Content creation, which is wholly centered on social media.
Source: Cosmo Politian
