> How TV Series Inspire Fashion & Street Style

In this vlog you'll discover that no matter in which time or era the series take place in, and no matter how scary or fictional, we are destined to dress like their characters...



More posts on the matter:

http://seenbymaya.blogspot.com/2012/08/thus-proving-my-point-fashion-goes.html

http://seenbymaya.blogspot.com/2012/08/downton-abbey-perfect-art-direction.html

http://seenbymaya.blogspot.com/2010/08/fashion-has-gone-mad-men.html

> My Favorite 2018 Series

If you check my archive you'll know that my favorite series last year were The Young Pope, Sherlock and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. 
I have a whole new batch for you to binge-watch this summer. Check the video for more...

> The Young Pope & other delicacies

Forgive me Father for I have sinned, I lust after Jude Law in fabulous new series The Young Pope !

An excellent venture between Canal, HBO & Sky, The Young Pope, directed by my favorite "regista", Paolo Sorrentino of infamous "La Grande Bellezza" and "Youth", gathers an impressive cast of creme de la creme actors from France and Belgium (Cecile de France, Ludivine Sagnier) Italy (Silvio Orlando) the US (Diane Keaton, James Cromwell)...

 ...and Her Majesty's very own Jude Law, although he plays the  first American and youngest pope! He is so much into his role that you almost forget he ever was British! (Remember my guest post about Brits invading Hollywood?)

Now what would you expect this series to be? A mix of Moretti's Habemus Papam and House of cards? Well yes and no, or rather just a teeny weeny bit. The truth is that it is the most refreshing work I've seen in a movie or TV series in the past 5 years or more!

The amazing contradictory devilish-yet-pristine half-god-half-human played by Jude Law is so intense and palpable in just a silence, a look, or an unpredictable riposte; the various complex characters are divinely played as well and the writing of Sorrentino is simply top notch. Eye/Ear candy I tell you...

And did I mention the music is to die for?

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Let's make this post a "café gourmand" now shall we?
I'll share two other must-see series, and I've really chosen for you ones that have only a few episodes ;-)

Now I do not have an accent fetish, don't worry, i am actually more of a sapiosexual, hence.. Season 4 of the amazing Sherlock, starring 
my other favorite Brit, Benedict Cumberbatch. Oh we did not define sapiosexual? Why, aroused by wit of course! Or should i say elementary? BBC One's finest :

Last but not least, the most ironic one of all: 
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: a hilarious series about a hot shot lawyer from NYC who goes back to nowhere, i.e. West Covina CA, chasing after her long lost teenage boyfriend... With parody songs that put every insane situation into notes and lyrics, curvy Rachel Bloom will make you cry of laughter ;-)

So there you go! Now you know what to do if you don't want to stroll on the corniche or hit those white slopes...

Addiction risk, beware...

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> Downton Abbey Fashion 2015

Last time we talked about this it was 2012 as you can see right here, but since we reached the #LastDaysofDownton, I thought we should have a recap of the fashion outfits of Season 6.

Will you look at that smart mix of burgundy, grey tweed, and browns?

Night Blue bag and gloves with soft greige, Bravo Lady Mary!

The art direction was very interesting a few years back, but now, each scene, each sequence is a delight, and the quotes funnier time after time...

As all good things must come to an end, I wanted to immortalize these few snapshots.

BIFEX 2015 Conference & Pop Culture GALA dinner

I can't believe it's been three weeks we finished BIFEX, the yearly conference of LFA, Lebanese Franchise Association!
As usual, my job was to create this year's conference branding, all the animations that passed on the screen, as well as all the prints.

Concerning the closing Gala, the theme was the "Lebanese Pop & TV Culture" of the seventies.
Tonight I will be on #BalaToulSire - Future TV to talk about it, as Zaven is also very interested by this theme and is actually publishing a book about the subject!

Here are a few pictures; first the preparations of the giant TV screen:

The hundreds of TVs in the Deco...

The old soda bottles with carnations, the "in" flower at the time:

Having a laugh on the vintage TV set:

The Diffa Ladies, totally in the theme ;-)

Pierette Katrib, the perfect MC

Souad el Achi " As3ada allahou masakom..."


Allo hayété... Pierette and Mr Majzoub:

 8eme Art performing Allo Hayété:

George Khabbaz paying a tribute to all the late stars...

Zaven & Rima Karaki with the 7up bottles ;-)

Chou batariytak? Vintage ads played by 8eme Art..

Yanasseeb dour w seeb... The real Lebanese Lottery Wheels!


After that, the awards started, and then we fired up the dance floor, in good LFA tradition...

Huge thanks to Mr Makdessi for the TL archives, IAA for the advertising archives, Rita Moussalem & her team who found solutions to produce all my ideas. Sultan Touma, Omar Youssef and all the Screen-Lighting-Audio-Video-Photo team, 8e Art for a wonderful performance, Bassam Abou Zeid, Rita & Jean Aoun, Joe Alam who made BIFEX a trending hashtag on social media this year...

We were about 50 people striving to make this event a success and it was even more. Thank you all!

Little update! Here's the sequence with Zaven!

Downton Abbey: Perfect Art Direction

I do talk about series inspiring fashion on a regular basis, like when madmen hit the catwalk 2-3 years ago, but this time, even if tweed is everywhere the coming winter, I want to talk about more than just fashion.
Indeed Julian Fellowes did a great job. he wrote an impeccable plot, with fascinating characters, historical expertise... And the acting is simply marvelous, the art direction is what I dream to achieve, the lighting, the filming... I tell you this will be _is already!_ a Classic!
I am totally hooked and desperately waiting for season 3 to start.

What could one ask for more? Maybe Hugh Laurie can regain his British accent and join in...

I leave you with a few photos as always:

Read more about the influence of Downton Abbey in fashion here !

>So what did you think of Jay Jay?

Jay Jay? You know, Jermanos Jermanos, the new character by Fadi Raidy, star of the Cornelli ads?? Well, personally........ I liiiiike it !!! (i mean him;-)

Seriously, not often we come across a well-thought of campaign in Lebanon:

>The billboards (will post a pict of those soon) look fresh and nice, good composition, the photos of JayJay are nicely taken and well-lit. In a jungle of ugly billboards and bad pictures this is definitely refreshing!!!

>The character and the TV ads : What can say about Fady? Well as Jessica Rabbit says: He makes me laugh!.. He depicts so well the Lebanese cliché! All his previous characters were a hit but this one is definitely my favorite. C'mon we all have an "ameurkaynayyyyyy" cousin, don't we?

So to sum it up, this is an ad to which every Lebanese relates, regardless which side of town they live in ;-) The production is well done, and the visual identity is neat too...

Bravo JayJay & Cornelli! Who's with me?

#update: look at the buzz on facebook in 30 minutes only:

#update 2: AND.. here's a pict of one of the billboards courtesy of Beirut Drive-By:

>Encore elle??

Well yes, I'm all over the media this week! Rest assured though: this doesn't happen often, I'm more of a low key "public" person ;-)
But if you'd like to know more about my work I'll be in PechaKucha Beirut Souks tonight 8pm, to talk about "my zelig path"... (?!)
And on MTV lebanon's Tahkik, Friday 10pm, to talk about the role of visual communication in Lebanese Franchise RECTANGLE JAUNE.

>Gaga de GLEE? je le suis moi aussi...

What can I say? I love this series!! Great music, stunning performances, fantastic art direction, funny scripts, interesting characters... The Musicals lover that i am is completely thrilled. I wanted to post you about it for quite some time now, but this freshly published article in ELLE France urged me to do it now.. For more info click here.

>fashion has gone MAD Men!

I'm a big fan of the MAD Men TV series, all about the AD men of MADison avenue in the fifties and what's funny is that it has been invading fashion lately!
A little example: above the new Vuitton Campaign and below one pict of the MadMen cast...

>it girls, it bags.. and gossip!

I don't know about you but Blake Lively from the booming hit show "Gossip Girl" on the cover of Vogue is just my cup of it! euh ..tea! I don't see where the controversia is since the show has everything to wipe your fatigue away: great art direction, tons of fashion and accessories, and.......gossip gossip gossip!