in bazaar, on bazaar

eve up to her antics again } this month eve photobombs the cover of bazaar magazine. the photo was taken by my sister-in-law jana alnaqeeb. the model is dawnn karen and the typewriter is my son’s. oh and i made the dress. the idea to include eve in the design was bazaar’s. lastly, a big thank you to padmini chandrasebaran for bringing it all together

A few weeks ago I asked the editor-in-chief/resident guru of Bazaar, Ahmed El Adly, if he could please, pretty please let me design the October cover of his magazine. After begging (and bribing him with cookies), he accepted. 

The idea behind the image was one that I had always been keen on doing, and that’s recreating a scene from one of my sketchbooks. Because my exhibition is an ode to secretaries (executive assistants, or whatever you please to call these amazing people, without whom our worlds would crumble), I wanted to derive the scene from a sketch I did of one of my eves with her pet typewriter. I had to find the right person to pose as Eve. I had someone in mind who would have been perfect but she was too camera shy. After brainstorming with my sister-in-law Jana and sister Yasmine about finding that perfect Eve, J suggested Dawwn Karen. The total opposite of Eve but somehow just as stoic and strong. Dawnn Karen was my other perfect Eve. I called her on a Wednesday morning and she was all for it. Except she was leaving Friday. To New York. For good. And I had no dress.

That afternoon I went on a frantic search for the perfect dress. Or at least a dress that would look good on camera. Or maybe a white top and a skirt. Or a plain base I could work with. I ended up buying a white polyester mini dress from some high street store, a shower curtain from IKEA and a sewing kit. That night I got to work making the dress. Thursday morning I was done and later on that evening we took the photos. It was crazy but the job got done and I think everyone involved was happy with the results. And of course the icing on the cake was including the original Eve on the cover. It made me kind of fuzzy inside and brought the whole thing full circle.

Click here to browse through a digital copy of Bazaar Magazine. While you’re there, take a look at their past issues too.

i started by creating the patterns on the bodice using a sharpie marker

after an exhaustive night of trial and error, i was still struggling with it thursday morning. another failed effort at creating the puffy effect i desperately needed for this dress

i finally got it right thanks to the cardboard tubes i got from my toilet paper and paper towel rolls

it was only half a dress. but it didn’t matter

later on my son’s typewriter in the trunk of my mom’s beamer. very classy indeed

my brother mo took some really good shots but they weren’t very ‘bazaar’. i did love them though

this is one of mo’s photos. i love it but i had something flatter in mind for the cover and i think i made the right choice