>JAUNE fall winter behind the scenes

You've been wondering what happened since the last time I was here? Well... Fall happened! And with it the busy schedules, winter campaigns, shop windows... But it gives me nice things to share, like what we shot for JAUNE. 
Aviation and jet travel was the theme and we were lucky to shoot in two great locations: MEA training center & conference center, as well as Cedar Jet.
Watch the full video for more:

> 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

> Lebanese Men are Boooooring!

Why? Because they dress all the same! And they think their manhood is in danger if they try out some colors... Whereas on the contrary, what we search for in a guy is: individuality!!
Watch the video for more:

> My favorite AQUA spots around the world

A quick round up of the world's best places to dip your toes.. or not, 
as some of them are quite cold! But all are definitely BREATHTAKING!

> 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...

> Creativity on budget: Monoprix!

It's not the first time I talk about it, but this concept is still successful years on: Havas have created for Monoprix a systematic packaging that is everything but boring! Watch the video for more and don't forget to read the labels next time you shop there ;-D

> Scarf styles!

I wanted to name this post "Scarf Face" 
but Lea & Joe were going to kill me ;-DDDD

So why do my friends call me Madame Foulard? Because it's an essential in my wardrobe... Scarves can be tied in 101 ways and change your outfit from top to bottom. Watch the video to discover scarves... seen by maya ;-D

> Have you tried these Lebanese wines?

It's no secret I am a wine lover and have been so for many years, ever since I met Salim. There are more than 250 wine labels in Lebanon, more than 60 wineries, young passionate winemakers who are changing the scene, terroirs as varied as our people, 10 million bottles produced and 5 million exported and many gold medals, every year! 
Watch this video to discover a few of them, and different ways to drink them, like for example the "Rosé en Piscine":

 

Wines mentioned in this vlog:
http://atibaiawine.com
http://www.domainedestourelles.com
http://www.domainedebaal.com
http://chateauqanafar.com

> Marseille est une chanson!

With similar vibes to Beirut and a few other mediterranean metropoles, Marseille has nonetheless its own particular lifestyle... No wonder a lot of Lebanese feel at home there! Passing through for a couple of days before our journey to the Luberon, we've witnessed quite a dose of adventures ;-)
Watch for more...

> Archi-Walk in Badaro

One of the sexiest aspects of Beirut is how it varies so much from one neighborhood to the other, and despite our barbaric destruction of old heritage, you might still fall in love on a hidden street corner...
Follow me with Naji Assi, Architect & Professor, to discover Badaro's little gems:


If you liked the video, you can use this map, prepared by the Arab Center for Architecture, to go on your own little walk ;-)

> Aperitivo tips: how to mix your perfect summer drink!

When June hits, Aperitivo becomes the highlight of the day: finding the perfect spot to meet with friends around the best spritz & cocktails!
To get the best mixology tips for my go-to drinks, I met with Souhad, Campari/Aperol Ambassador at The Malt Gallery. Watch the video for more: 

> Al Musiqa at the Paris Philharmonie

Music has always been at the heart of my life since the very beginning: as a toddler dancing with my dad to the sound of his vinyls, as a teenager fascinated by indie rock & new wave, and then as an inspiration for photo shoots, slogans, captions... I truly believe Music has saved the planet from going totally mad...till now ;-)
Let's celebrate it together with my review of the wonderful exhibition currently held at the Philharmonie de Paris.
Watch for more!

> Unusual Gifts from Beirut with Love!

Here it comes! Tourism season! But what should you take back from Beirut other than the usual trio artisan-arak-nuts...? Follow me through the streets of Mar Mkhayel to discover the addresses mentioned in this vlog: Maria Halios MHD: https://www.mariahalios.com Mellow: https://www.facebook.com/MellowHomeCo... Plan Bey: https://www.facebook.com/PlanBEY/

Painting the Roofs of Paris in JAUNE !

Thrilled to share with you our latest work for JAUNE, the Lebanese Men's Style brand!

"Les Toits de Paris" campaign was done as a guerilla-shooting in Paris and would not have been possible without the flexibility of the small (but GREAT) team: Jonathan Caillat as main model & producer, Imad El Khoury as photographer & videographer, myself as art director & film director, backed up of course by the JAUNE style & production team represented by their manager Joe Daher who was so cool he did not even mind ironing the outfits ;-)
Hats off also to Daniel Baradie as well who always does wonders with our rushes...

I leave you with my favorite images from the lookbook:

If you like the clothes, they are available in all JAUNE shops!

> 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!


 

> 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

Less is More JAUNE rebranding campaign

I know I always shared sneak peeks of my work before they went public but this time, given the ultra confidentiality i could not. I waited for the shops to open and the look book to be sent!
But now we can share it with the world:-)

As you know, Rectangle Jaune has been on the market for 28 years, strong with their high end quality DNA, they shifted to a smaller name, JAUNE, in order to reach more and go global.
To embrace their new design motto "Less is more", we decided to remove the pocket label and use only the yellow threads on the second button as signature:

Fun, right?
Also we brainstormed for weeks for the best concept to explain this uplifting and came up with these films, created by myself, directed by Ghassan Koteit and produced by The Filmhouse :



And this one starring Maya from Playing With Fashion:



In a nutshell, we are saying that while we are proud of our heritage, "change is the only constant"! So we simplified our approach to be more minimalist and enhance our essential qualities, which is in the current Zeitgeist...

Above a picture from the TRENDS wardrobe: new structures and patterns, with closer cuts.

On the blue background, a picture from the ICONS classic wardrobe.

And this last one is from the ACTIVE palette, with bold colors and nautical themes.

To celebrate the new branding and to present the collections into their perfect setting, BLEU design renovated our flagship boutiques. The elegant mix of rough wood and dark steel with bright yellow convey an atmosphere of boldness & warmth, portraying perfectly the style codes of the modern gentleman.

As you see, rebranding a landmark is not an easy step and it involves every possible aspect; for instance the website Jaune.me developed by ActiveWeb follows the same "Less is More" spirit:

Which is also conveyed in the publication:

This barely sums up the works did in every field to boost this launch, but more reports and posts are coming very soon so stay tuned! ~M

Paradis retrouvé(e): the muse of Biolay

Don't get me wrong, I was one of many to be disappointed by Depp & Paradis' break up two years ago... However at that same period I had a kind of premonition when I first saw this beautiful clip by Benjamin Biolay "Aime mon amour"; Somehow I found in the sensual Karole Rocher (actor and director of this clip) a very "troublante"resemblance with Vanessa Paradis:

Biolay, who looks a lot like Benicio Del Toro but with an amazing sexy voice,  has aways been on my "cream of the crop"... (here with Julie Gayet (currently at l'Elysée, which is funny since the rumor says he also was with Bruni after Chiara Mastroianni) )



He also has an incredible and immense talent as a singer and writer and he did work previously with Paradis. But when she launched the "Love songs" album and tour, their collaboration was sky rocketing and it was obvious there was a lot more going on... that they did confirm recently.

Which bring us to what I wanted to say, Vanessa is now a 40 something woman, but in my eyes she is now hotter than ever, hotter that than she was with Depp, hotter than when she was with Lenny Kravitz , and somehow "la boucle est bouclée" since at the very beginning of her career Gainsbourg wrote for her, and now she is the muse of Biolay, the "digne" successor of Gainsbourg...

Just have a look and judge by yourselves:

I finish off with eye & ear candy; their sensuous latest single "Pas besoin de permis", enjoyyyy....

> Born & Raised in Lebanon!

I'm very happy to share with you those latest commercials I created and directed for RECTANGLE JAUNE as they really convey all the dynamism and passion of my funky city, Beirut.
They were filmed with the stop motion technique, each requiring 165 photos for the 15 seconds.
It was very delicate to keep the model at the same place while handing him the clothes to change, and keeping a link in the wardrobe.
The idea was to show the clothing items that RJ created chronologically: in 1988 the shirt and boxer, in 1990 the pants etc... till the swimwear created last season. We are aware that this does not really show, but it was our "fil directeur".
What we wanted to show on the other hand was all the dynamism of this 25 years old brand, and the attachment that the lebanese, locally and abroad, have for it. So we asked the talented Jean-Marie Riachi to compose for us a pop rock variation of our National Anthem, and at the same time, we did not want it to be very obvious. I think he did a great job, don't you?
Once again huge thanks to Imad El Khoury, my super photographer, Julien Abboud my inspiring stylist, and all the RJ & RJmag team: you guys really rock!!!

> Superb art direction: Suit & Tie, Justin Timberlake & Jay Z

Well I thought we start the week end in style!
Two weeks ago, Timberlake released this beautiful work...
Now I may not be a fan, but regardless of the music, this is what i call a perfect art direction job...
The subtle lighting, the choreography,  the little details, and of course the clothes.
And guess who's behind this, I've just been researching: well it is none other than Mr Tom Ford, whom else?

Well Bravo, very stylish Monsieur Timberlake, Monsieur Ford et Monsieur Jay Z!

Reminds me of our photoshoot from last year, check the images below & the full post: here.