Full of enthusiasm, Dina does everything with great gusto. And she does it “her way”. She has never followed fashion trends:

“I like to be different. That, I think, summarizes it all. I like to wear what pleases me and what I think looks cool and not what is fashionable. Fashion, for me, is like painting, a way of expressing myself” she says.

Her style can be defined as relaxed glamour, the art of dressing with style effortlessly. Choosing “Dina Ayesh” is not only finding a dress that fits but it is also about the personality and the attitude of the woman wearing it. Dina believes there are no unspoken rules: One can never be too dressed down nor too dressed up for any event as long as one feels happy, relaxed and confident. Wearing stylish clothes makes you look good and feel good.

Dina sees herself as a very simple person; she spends the day in sweat pants and T-shirts but when she goes out in the evening, she enjoys dressing up “to the nines” with diamonds, pearls, sparkles and an endless mix of materials.

“I work with everything from chiffon, to lace to silk, to beaded and sequined but I prefer silk; it just feels great on the body and I find it very flattering material too if used properly” she says, adding that her favorite color is fuchsia, “I love pink in general with all its shades, from rose bonbon to electric pink, to fuchsia but fuchsia is my absolute favorite!”

The Egyptian movie star, Hind Sabry, the new face for l’Oreal in the Middle East, and the popular singer, Samira Said, are already on her growing list of customers.

Seeing her evening dresses in magazines and on Facebook, it is difficult to imagine that she only began working on her first collection in March 2009 and finished it in July 2009. She not only designs, but also supervises all the different stages of production. Dina also takes care of the marketing and sales which require a lot of computer work. “I hate computer work,” she admits with her usual frankness “and I have problems with delegating so I need to get used to it.”

Self-taught, Dina who graduated from the American University in Cairo with a degree in Journalism and Mass Communication, believes that fashion design is an innate sense: Either you have it or you don’t. Dina has always designed all her evening dresses. The amazing compliments she received at a friend’s wedding and the encouragements to use her talents, gave her the break she was looking for. She finally decided to start a career in fashion in Egypt.

She describes the fashion scene in Egypt as “definitely not so distinct. The percentage of people interested in fashion is quite small compared to our large population.” In Egypt, however, as in the rest of the Middle East, Asia and Russia, the number of couture houses is growing as they cater to clients who are no longer willing to pay the surreal prices of French and Italian haute couture. As a result, the Paris couture week, the most famous, is shrinking; it lasts now three days during which only seven major houses present.

Haute couture in Europe is no longer the creative laboratory it used to be and the designer’s ideas no longer filter down to the ready-to-wear and from there, to the high street. Nowadays, it’s the other way around: What we see in the streets and in the work place determines what we will be wearing. Dina Ayesh acknowledges that she gets her ideas mostly from reading and traveling. More than ever fashion is a reflection of the moment, and Dina Ayesh’s evening wear captures the cultural mood of Cairo, a city marked by a surge of creativity.