Etosha National Park, Namibia by safari-partners on Flickr.

Namibia by muriwai_girl on Flickr.

Etosha National Park, Namibia by safari-partners on Flickr.

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