a larger version of my icon. lebanon: under construction.

but its not just Palestine that is / was affected by Israel’s murderous acts….

The Lebanon War

Destruction in the wake of Israeli bombs that targeted Beirut. Since June 6, the Israeli army launched a major offensive in South Lebanon, aimed at destroying Palestinian camps.

IMAGE:
© Patrick Chauvel/Sygma/Corbis

DATE PHOTOGRAPHED
June 24-25, 1982

Too excited for Lebanon, it’s getting ridiculous. Summer really starts when I’m there, then I finish it back home. Ahhhh too much happiness.

Electricity of Lebanon building shot from down under; #beirut #Lebanon (Taken with Instagram at EDL)

Driving to the Cedars a few months ago. 

A few months ago, driving near The Cedars.

a larger version of my icon. lebanon: under construction.

Destruction after the 2006 war on Lebanon

The wonderful thing about global street style is the number of impromptu run ins one comes across with people who are somehow connected to you. Traversing through Gemmayze, an eclectic Beirut district of alternative art, fashion, cafes, restaurants and bars, I approached a woman waiting by an old cobbler. I thought her style was defiantly unique for what I normally see amongst Lebanese women. Masculine lines with bouts of bold and chunky. Danielle’s look is entirely her own, that is to say she designed the clothes she wore that day, minus the Raybans of course. The real story between Danielle and I is that she had been following Geeky Chic for a while and once made a comment of praise on my Facebook page. I was totally unaware of the fact when we met. In fact when I met Danielle in person I did not know who she was and vice versa. We made the connection after I told her I was a street style journalist based in Canada. Moments like these make me feel that the notion of our world being small is widely understated.

Two doors down from the cobbler is Deviations, the boutique where Danielle is the head designer. Before I entered the store, I could not help but notice a giant mirror adjacent to the door. Store owner, Amer, cleverly placed this mirror next to the store entrance to satisfy the narcissist in every Lebanese woman. The idea is that you look at yourself in the mirror, and then naturally at the store’s display of flattering evening dresses, all in an effort to inspire you to check out that sexy yellow number you can now so easily envision wearing (thanks to the mirror). 

The story of Amer and Deviations is an interesting one. It’s a 25 year old brand, born in Los Angeles. The original concept behind Deviations included fetish wear, slits, studs and the like. The inspiration behind the aesthetic of a deviated look so to speak was a marriage between ’80s goth from NYC and Rock ‘n Roll L.A. The line was dominated by lycra to emphasize the woman’s body at all times. Some of Amer’s clients included Cher, Courtney Love and Annie Lennox. Deviants for sure. The advent of 9/11 brought Amer and Deviations back to Lebanon. A small part of the Lebanese culture at the time responded to Amer’s look. It wasn’t until Danielle came in and started designing for Deviations with more volume, colours and details, that more and more Lebanese women started warming up to the brand. These days a good amount of Lebanese women buy clothes from Deviations to wear abroad. 

Deviations today, with Danielle at the helm, is inspired by fairy tales. Such is evident via trims, notions, details and playful colours. Many of Danielle’s dresses are embedded by wires that enable the look of the dress to change according to the woman wearing it. How fun! The brand and Danielle’s fairytales that come with it ensues with a bridal line of hers named Doochi. Doochi has not deviated from it’s mother ship entirely. The line caters to women who are non conformists, unconventional and unique. 

Destruction after the 2006 war on Lebanon

i went to a lebanese wedding this weekend

lal 3ayleh killa

2006 Israeli war on Lebanon, Beirut suburbs

That man she is smiling at is Shimon Peres. The 9th President of Israel.

He is responsible for the killings of civilians in Lebanon. The most distinguished war crime of the Peres was his direct responsibility as a Prime Minister for the shelling of the UN forces headquarters in the village of Qana in southern Lebanon in 1996. More than 800 Lebanese civilians sought refuge in the building to escape Israeli fire, yet the UN flag was not enough to stop the Israeli thirst for blood. 106 people were killed in the massacre and at least 110 were seriously injured.

Oh, did I mention Shakira is part Lebanese?
Doesn’t she look stupid….

Tripoli

Beirut ready to implement Iran-Lebanon agreements (Iran Focus):

“Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati has declared his new government is ready to implement agreements which had previously been discussed with Tehran, Iranian state-media reported on Tuesday.

The state-run news agency Fars reported that the issue was discussed on Monday night between Mikati and Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon Qazanfar Roknabadi in Beirut.”

i kinda just wanna become an architect so i can go knock down all the ugly ass buildings in lebanon and replace them with presentable structures.

thats the only thing i hate about lebanon, all the nasty looking buildings

and it’s part of the tradition for the groom’s family and guests to drive like they’re having a parade to the bride’s house before the church ceremony. when they arrive, pictures are taken and the guests are greeted and then everyone leaves with the bride to the church where the groom is.

on saturday, the guests arrived at my dad’s aunt’s house (his cousin was getting married). while taking pictures, i overheard the groom’s sister saying “i don’t have one of these” in arabic, holding up a ceramic venezuelan dancer my dad’s aunt brings home from her travels there. next thing i knew, she quickly shoved it under her dress and made her way out of the house. i followed her slowly, trying to make sure if it had just been a gift or if what i was seeing was real, until she got to the groom’s family’s car. she opened the trunk. when she became visible again, the lump was gone from her dress and the dancer was not there.

i was pretty angered that the sister of the groom would steal something from the house like that. i mentioned it to my dad and he looked at me like i was crazy, saying no one would ever do that, especially not someone related to the groom. but i definitely saw it happen. i wished i had used my camera to record it, because it really put me in a bad mood.

on the way to the church, my dad told my jedo (grandpa) that i was mad, and that it was because a member of the groom’s family had taken something from the house.

my jedo, in his deep and sometimes incomprehensible voice, shrugged it off, and waving his hand in the air like he was swatting away a fly he said, “it’s tradition.”