> Behind the scenes of #Samoa40andFAB

This campaign has been so overwhelming, and with so many highlights that I don't know where to start!!

Samoa Cosmetics has been on the Lebanese market for 40 years! 

I discovered it when i was a kid in my mom's vanity, and was always amused by the image of the samoa woman, confident and cheeky at the same time... Then the years passed and somehow it was always part of the scenery, but in a more demure way.

Therefore i was more than excited when Samoa reached out to me for the #Samoa40andFAB campaign!

So i unleashed my glitter and sparkles and had fun all the way!!

Creating the image of the campaign and the whole set of packaging...

Collaborating with Joe for the online strategy, we sent 40 countdown gifts with a daily personalized message to beauty and fashion bloggers across the country, and i loved playing Mr Darcy !

We also added a Style page to the Samoa Website, where you can check the latest trends and how to match them with your makeup:

And the official campaign launch happened at Memory Lane, where we had even more fun than our guests:

The next surprise is a blogger collab for the holiday season, but I will not reveal it now: keep following Samoa's insta and fb for more. Also, make sure to share your favorite product with the #Samoa40andFAB hashtag for a chance to win the fabulous collector box or even the FAB PARIS TRIP!!

> JAUNE Pop Memories FW 2016-17 campaign

Here it is!!! Our latest work for the JAUNE campaign!

With huge thanks to Chasper Sarott, who welcomed us in his unique flat. It was a pleasure to shoot between those exclusive artworks...

And a round of applause also for Tarek Chemaly who collaborated with us on many levels this season; his pop collages were the perfect setting for the fall winter collection:

You can check the full catalogue here, or simply let yourself immerse in our mood with this short clip:



Cheers to the dream team: Imad, Joe, Tania, Ghina, Bechara, Carole, Gheith, Daniel... and myself, creative director ;-)


SaveSaveSaveSave

> BERGERAC: a book, restaurant, a lifestyle...

As an art director, I rarely take book projects unless they really are different, and require more communication & art direction skills than actual editing and publishing expertise.
For example, a few years back I worked on a room service menu that looked like a ride through Beirut's street food spots.

And this year, I also took on an exciting project for Bergerac.

Now if you're a foodie, you probably know this little Sud-Ouest restaurant located in the heart of Achrafieh.
Serving mainly duck specialties and cuisine from the South West of France, Bergerac is more than a restaurant. It's a convivial place that you can enjoy with a laid back bunch of friends, and discover what they call the french paradox (yes french people don't get fat eating foie gras with wine! :)

And since we Beirutis need a lot of convincing to get out of our food patterns, I answered Marc's call and worked on the design of this cute menu-booklet, that is actually much more than that:

It is a full-fledge book that talks about the South-West region and traditions and why these appealed to Marc, how he met the Chef. The Chef's recipes and tips, along with a nutritionist explanation around the benefits of duck fat (yes!), a user-friendly wine guide, fun illustrations by Andrea Turvey whom I discovered from Jamie Oliver's magazine...

The project went beyond our initial ideas, and so, Antoine found it interesting and you can now get it from there as well!

But what i truly advise you to do, is go try Bergerac if you haven't already and don't miss their flamed canelé with rhum...

...Their hilarious karaoke mondays, and their friendly family who will make you feel home in no time!

/ˈblōbak/ by Ayman Baalbaki caught me by the throat

 
Despite the political and economical status quo, every night you can attend at least 10 happenings in Lebanon that can actually blow your mind, and it is this energy that I try to convey, the energy that keeps us going...

I was left breathless yesterday by Ayman Baalbaki's /ˈblōbak/ at Saleh Barakat Gallery and I cannot not keep it to myself.
Only two artists of our generation made me feel this way: Marwan Sahmarani, and Ayman.
Why? Personal impression that involves no one but me: they are the most sincere and the most genuine on canvas.
We do have lots of talent, but to me it either falls in brainy conceptualizations or into the decorative category. Again my own opinion, and that's why I don't share it a lot. But Sahmarani and Baalbaki put their guts in their work and that, is indeed priceless.

When you arrive to Ayman's "Beirut Concrete" wall in the oh-so-perfect space of Barakat's gallery, your jaw drops. Our own collective memory, our history and chronic turmoil are on that one wall, depicted simply with painted concrete blocks!

The exhibition explores the irony of the blowback theme in general, "denoting the unintended, harmful consequences—to friendly populations and military forces—when a given weapon is used beyond its purpose as intended by the party supplying it". And so every piece depicts one particular event in History, the 1983 explosion of the American Embassy in Beirut, the flag burning incident in Quetta, Mea's bombing in 1968, the 1559 resolution... Those events that were a boomerang to those who provoked them, and still causing ripples today. 

But really I'd rather say no more, because I want you to get off your seat today and go see for yourselves.

/ˈblōbak/

Saleh Barakat Gallery
Clemenceau, Justinian Street, where the old Masrah el Madina was.
Monday-Friday 12pm-7pm | Saturdays 12pm-7pm

> Why Titanium SIA sang only 1 hour in BYBLOS

SIA is a millennial artist: being an introvert, she still managed to reach massive stardom at 40, hidden behind her wigs! And contrary to most of you might think, yesterday's show was not a concert or a simple live gig! SIA's show was a LIVE ART PERFORMANCE with sensational actors and dancers on stage moving their EVERY MUSCLE, FACIAL EXPRESSION and EMOTION!

SIA was telling us, throughout this #NostalgicForThePresent one hour show, the universal story of our anxious generation, paranoid about our puppet masters, with our fear of rejection and our fear of commitment.. And when we finally find the one, how our relationships morph into monstrous connections.

 

Now the answer to your question: Because SIA knows how much we the viewers value our live streaming, our addiction to video and everything visual, instead of simply putting live cams to transmit what was happening on stage to the LED screens left and right, SHE ACTUALLY FILMED THE WHOLE SHOW PRIOR to the real one. This way, you can have many cameras, traveling smoothly, showing you every bit of Ryan Heffington's choreography, every move, every tear, so you DO NOT MISS anything. 
Now can you imagine how difficult it is to synchronize a one hour video art with everything happening on stage, right up to the nano second?
It is practically almost impossible for more than a few minutes. Artists do it in 3-4 minute chunks like Pet Shop Boys or Stromae at Byblos before, but what SIA, the amazing 14 years old Maddie Ziegler and their fellow artists have done here is PURE ART my friends, the kind that should be in Museums...


Last but not least, I think that SIA might have had prepared an "encore", but because we the Lebanese audience are so lazy, she did not understand that we really appreciate her... For God's sake, what happened to APPLAUDING? This is how you show your respect in a concert! Is it too much physical trouble? The nanny is not here to do it for you? Ok shouting is cool too, but applause is contagious and it should be, like SIA, UNSTOPPABLE!


 

> New ZARA F/W 2016 campaign directly inspired by painter J W Waterhouse

Browsing through my fav blogs, I started discovering images of the new ZARA lookbook for the coming fall:

Photographer Mario Sorrenti & Stylist Francesca Burns named it the "Disco Forest", but it seems to me this is much more a Victorian Forest coming right out of the paintings of John William Waterhouse (1849-1917), from the Pre-Raphaelite movement:

Here, look again:

Same palette, same poses, same mood...

Don't get me wrong, I love being inspired by paintings or literature for my work, just like Hockney, Warhol or Wilde,
in fact sometimes I am afraid the art direction is stronger than the collections I am displaying. But what puzzled me in this particular story is that they did not mention their inspiration anywhere, not in press releases, not in articles.. unless i did not find them?

I am aware that sometimes I go far in my settings, but I do love real inspiration and story telling that invites my viewers to go the extra mile, whether they actually do it or not.

My two favorite JW Waterhouse paintings: Boreas, Lamia & the Soldier

What about you? Were you ever confronted by the importance of package v/s content? Art direction v/s fashion collection? 

> Adios Lookbooks... Hello Fashion Videos!

If like me you are a lover of all things pretty, even if you don't work in fashion, design or online marketing, you must have noticed the shift in mediums lately.
Of course "Print is NOT dead", in fact the book industry is doing quite well, and even if everyone is on kindle, many still love the touch and feel of paper.. Personally i even love the smell! However since I try to be eco-friendly I try to keep my books and magazines virtual, & I treat myself to an actual hard copy from time to time as a guilty pleasure...

But something is actually dying, hence our title today, and it is the Fashion Catalogue! 
It's a century old industry and even though we are still addicted to consumerism and fast fashion, we consume less and less catalogues. 
Why? Because Fashion Video is the new Music Clip! 
Even lookbooks are now tiny portions of moving images, as if from snapchat, just remember those Mango Cara + Kate Led screens at the beginning of the season...

Even when there is no particular story telling, the shift is here and it is beautiful eye candy! 

But when it actually tells a story, oh my, that's ART for me:



And will you look at that too:

Pure quintessence of all arts: fashion, graphics, composition, music, art direction, film direction...

The trend is also for fun, user friendly videos, where everyone can identify, like for example these videos for the brand I work for, Superga Italian sneakers:

This is the unique Man Repeller...

And here's one from our very own Lebanese bloggers, Elsa O & Bubblegum Fashion Face, for a workshop we organized together:


Fashion videos are even messing with other worlds, like cinema for example, and the great Kingsman X Mr Porter Collection
where the boutique from the film was actually a real pop up on Savile Row (I wrote about it here on Joesbox...)

Or Fashion meets Gastronomy by Mr Porter :


Of course, you have tutorials stars, like our youtuber & Leb Sweetheart Maya from Playing With Fashion,  or fashion event reports or many other styles..

In conclusion, you can do whatever you like, keep it around 1 minute, think of the details ( idea, composition, light, VO...) and the world is yours!

I leave you with an NSFW video by fashion guru Alvaro della Herran, for GQ men's fashion magazine, Spain:

Kinky isn't it? The theme is euuh, used and abused, if you permit me saying so ;-) but it is wonderfully interpreted and shows off suits quite well..

Hope u have good internet to enjoy all these,
love xx
M

> Old is the New Gold!

Some things simmer quietly here and there, with no particular connection, until one day they perfectly merge together into a blog post that says: write me now, write me now!! Have you ever had that feeling?
Allow me to tell you more:
A few days ago, Rana,  my designer friend, delighted me with beautiful collector gifts from the Iris Apfel x Le Bon Marché exhibition in Paris. 

Iris Apfel is a 94 years old fashionista, who refurbished the White House for 5 different presidents, and wandered around the planet for eclectic deco items and glorious personal accessories. She has a unique sense of style and a unique sense of humor. She calls herself the "Geriatric Starlet" and says that she'd rather be happy than well dressed...

Second simmering story: I am really eager for Season 2 of my favorite Netflix show to start: Grace and Frankie.
Jane Fonda & Lily Tomlin are in their sixties when they find out both their husbands are sleeping together, and have been doing so for years... They have to reinvent their life at 60! Show is hilarious, actors are amazing, and writing is exceptional: Highly recommended!

Third simmering story:
Yesterday, I was lounging and browsing, enjoying my last vacay day, and I stumbled upon a post by my stylish elder friend Rebi, showing these pictures:

 

After some digging, I discovered they were from a blog and book named "Advanced Style" by Ari Seth Cohen, an ode to the confidence and beauty of fashionable ladies and gents who are enjoying their later years with grace and panache...

And coincidence of coincidences, Ari just published (Saturday!) his new book: "Older & Wiser", and is currently on the launching tour.

Connecting these dots together, it seems that 70 is definitely the new 40! And according to this article in my fourth casserole, we are all gonna live more than a hundred years: so if you're going to flaunt it, do it with style, or many different styles.

I leave you with this thought from Iris again: "More is More and Less is a Bore" which is the direct antithesis of my last campaign ;-D but it only applies to the over 60 !!

> Subdued: Soon in Beirut!

If you know Subdued, you'll be thrilled to find out it's opening in very few days in Beirut!!!

And if you don't know it, here's the pitch : Subdued is a brand for teenage and 20 something girls but since we are all young at heart ;-D we're rushing to the boutiques (2 locations in Beirut) to get our hands on the accessories, backpacks, funky sweaters, lovely jewelry....

The Subdued girl has a playful and effortless style, she is a free spirit and is not afraid to speak her mind spontaneously...

With 30 to 50 new arrivals each month of bodysuits, bikinis, funny socks, ripped jeans, tons of shorts, flower dresses, (and i'm not even getting started!), AND mostly cool affordable prices, we now have a new reason to go shopping!!

Now i don't know who's most glad about this, my 2 teenage girls or me...

Oh and you should like their page now, cause there's a contest and a chance to win lots of outfits :-)