Deana Shaaban's Legends of the Fall

I love Deana Shaaban, I think I have told you this before. I believe she is an artist not just a designer. Together, Deana Shaaban and ABn'G, have joined forces to bring you a production like no other, filled with a world of magic and artistic delight. 12 different characters from 12 entirely different worlds have found their way into this collaboration and have been reinvented through the eyes of the collaborators to make this campaign of images, an artistic masterpiece.
This campaign brings together an army of collaborators, the finest in their own industries: Deana Shaaban with her innovative pattern cutting and draping techniques in design, ABn'G's edgy and unconventional style in art direction, Outside In providing the plethora of heavenly flowers, Nina Bakry's signature jewellery, Okhtein's flawlessly crafted hand bags, VNTG's rare sunglasses. With the genius hairstyling of Kriss himself, the ever so talented make-up artist Eman Arafa, the photographic brilliance of Salma Adel, this campaign promises to be nothing short of unparalleled design and artistic creation like Egypt has never seen before.

Art Direction: ABn'G World
Dresses: Deana Shaaban
Photography: Salma Adel
Hair Styling: Kriss Beauty Salon
Make-up: Eman Arafa - Makeup Artist
Flowers: Outside In

Red Riding hood

Alice in Wonderland

Khaleesi - Game of Thrones

Goddess Athens

black swan

White Witch of Narnia - The Chronicles of Narnia

Katniss Everdeen - The Hunger Games

Goddess Hera

Carousel

Queen of hearts

Arwen- Lord of the ring

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Exclusive Behind The Scenes From Nina Bakry

The hottest and newest addition to the Egyptian jewelery scene Nina Bakry, has decided to share with us exclusive sneak peek photos from the behind the scenes of her latest shoot by the young talented photographer Aisha AlShabrawy. Styled by Sundos AlAyoub, makeup by Soha Khoury and Hair by Rafi from Al Sagheer salons.
We can't wait to see the professional photos. Read my interview with Nina, and know what's inside her bag HERE

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What's in her bag and interview with Yasmine Yeya

I first saw Yasmine in LBC's famous show Mission Fashion around 9 years ago. I was a big fan of her work at that show, and she did really good job getting the first runner up place, and getting a great chance to intern at Elie Saab's fashion house in Beirut. After this Yasmine settled down in Cairo opening an elegant atelier where it became quickly the destination for Egyptian and Arabian fashionable brides. Yasmine is a very elegant and down to earth lady, a hybrid Egyptian French  fusing the best of the two worlds to create white dreams. Yaya travels the world for inspiration and to source unique fabrics which she is famous for. When I asked her to tell us what's in her bag, she laughed and to told me , well I am a very practical person I don't carry a Chanel bag, I have a big bag with all kind of things inside. I laughed myself and told her that exactly what we want to see.
  So almost a month and half ago I headed to her Heliopolis located atelier and as soon as I stepped into Maison Yeya, all my beautiful wedding memories came back to me, I had this feeling that I am a bride all over again, and waiting to receive my dreamy wedding dress.

As I entered the atelier ....

- Yasmine, most of us knew you from the reality TV show Mission Fashion, but we want to know the story before the show, how did it began? It started with my grandmother, I used to sit and watch her design dresses and saw them herself and that's when I first realized that I like that, I would love to make my own clothes and dresses. Then it evolved into designing and executing dresses in general.

- In a very short time, you succeeded to place your self as the best wedding couturier in town, how did you manage to do this? No person in any field can achieve a solo-success or work on something this big on his or her own. What I always tell my team is that our work is the sum of the excellence of each individual. If one fails to do his or her part, the whole project will fail. It’s like an orchestra where all of us have to perform to execute a beautiful symphony. The process starts with a bride. Women have always been my inspiration. So it starts with the client coming into the atelier. If I’m designing an haute couture gown, the bride is always my muse. Her beauty and her soul put me in an imagination trip. The ideas then go to paper and from paper to my workshop.

- Your dresses scream luxury, what materials do you love to work with ?I feel like if I asked you that question you would answer with 'Lace'. People started seeing a sort of pattern in my dresses and I like that. I like the idea that people can see a dress and know that this is a Yasmine Yeya dress, at the end of the day every designer has their own signature and I think lace is mine

- Tell us more about Yasmine at home not at the atelier.

I'm a very private and homey person. And I usually like to keep it that way. so you wont find in any of my marketing channels anything that specifies what happens behind the scenes, in my home for example.

-Other than Haute Couture, what are your interests?Right now, couture and fashion designing are taking all my time so I seriously have no time to pursue any hobbies or any of that. But if it wasn't for fashion designing I think I would have liked to become a doctor and find a cure for cancer, it's one of those things I think about often.

- What do you think of the Egyptian fashion scene?

I think people are becoming more aware of what suits them and they are starting to develop an identity away from what's internationally popular. People are becoming more true to their selves and their own style.

- Where do you like to shop? And who are your favourite local designers?

There are so many now and they are all very good. I personally look forward to seeing designers like Amina K. and Deana Shaaban have to offer in the future. And after my latest collaboration with Sabry Marouf, so excited to see what those guys have in store.

  

 - What was the most challenging dress you have ever designed ?

The most special to my heart is my sister’s wedding dress. It was the most emotional experience I went through.

- No plans for a fashion show soon, or a fashion week participation? 
All I can say is stay tuned and get ready.
   
- This is would be the most frequently asked question you always hear, but how can brides to be reach you? 
Well our social media platforms I think is the easiest way they can reach me, we reply to the inquiries we get as soon as we can. They can also send us an email on info@maisonyeya.com with their wedding date and we will reply with the appointments available. Also, we are launching our website, www.maisonyeya.com, so that will also facilitate the connection between us.

What's inside Yasmine' s bag

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My Favourite Perfume Commercials

Television commercials have become a virtually forgotten form of advertising. Really, who has time to sit through commercials, while they can YouTube their favourite shows, but to be honest I am so old school, and love watching T.V ads more than seeing them on a magazine or on a blog.
 I love perfume commercials, they are short,  funny and catchy. I agree that sometimes they can be ridiculous, but I appreciate the ones, which make me feel like virtually smelling the perfume whilst resting on my velvet couch.

My 1st favourite is Miss Dior, by Sophia Coppola. This one simplifies my life, or  to be more accurate how I want my life to be, cupcakes, gateaux, macarons, dresses, Bridgette Bardot songs,  pinks, vogue, balloons, bicycles and Paris.

My Second favourite commercial was also shot in Paris. Lancome by Kate Winslet, that's the most romantic thing I ever saw, I cry every time I see it. It should have won something like the Oscars of the TV commercials :)

Ironically enough, I don't like the smell of both perfumes, but will share with you my favourite scents later in another blog post. What's your favourite perfume ?

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Zaar for Kenzo

When I was young we used to visit my father's grandmother " she was a very old lady, who died at the age of 101 when I was 16 years old". Teta Sayeda "as I used to call her " lived by one of Cairo's oldest neighborhoods, that had a lot of history happening in, her spacious historic mansion was a piece of art,it originally belonged to my grandfather's grandfather or may be it had an old previous owner that no one knows of, its ceilings were so high and hand painted, the windows were one and half meter long with brass surrounding it, the tiles oh the tiles were the master piece at that ancient house that the 1992 earthquake had affected badly, but surprisingly this ancient collapsing house is still standing strong  and has some inhabitants till our day. At that house there was a room, a room that I feared the most, a room that I couldn't enter alone, a room that I shiver now when I remember, that room had a window, a window that overlooked another house, a house that had an apartment, an apartment where scary Zaar parties used to happened regularly. Every weekend some  of the top society women used to come disguised  to the house, so no one would know them. The police had eventually fed up from catching those Zaar people and closing down that house, but with some way someone managed to re-opened it again. Well that was so many years ago, I haven't been to that place since I was 10 and I don't have any reason to go now, because after that earthquake my grand grandmother left to stay with my grandfather's brother, and died there.

As some of you may not know what Zaar is, I will try to explain it here. The Zaar is an old aesthetic Egyptian tradition, that was usually performed by creepy women who are known by witch-crafting and the likes. It's like a spiritual ceremony aiming to pacify the demons inside the one and excoriating them by playing live loud music, Bukhur and there has to be a chicken slaughtering included, I really don't know why, actually my info regarding that Zaar thing is coming straight from the old Egyptian movies and an old story I once read. But I know that long time ago, some desperate and ignorant women used to attend such things, if they had some difficulty solving personal problems.

Anyway it was a long introduction to day's post. Two years ago one of my favorite Arab photographers Toufic Araman, shot an outstanding editorial for ELLE Arabia magazine, the editorial was titled Zaar for Kenzo. It was done to celebrate forty years of fashion for Kenzo. Usually I don't like the oriental fashion  editorials because most of them are just an imitation for the international ones, or when art directors want to do something with an Arabian twits they go to the desert, oh come on people the Arab world has a lot to offer to the fashion world than its hot deserts. I loved everything about that editorial, the amazing photography,  the model choice (Arwa Gouda and Tara Emad), the makeup, the location and I praise the outfits choice..just brilliant.

It's somehow an old editorial but definitely one of my all time favorites that will remain engraved in my memory.Don't forget to like our Facebook Fan Page Click Here

*All photos belong to Toufic Araman, check his site for other amazing photos http://www.aramanstudio.com/http://www.aramanstudio.com/