Jacquemus goes to Egypt. No surprises there.

Jacquemus has landed in Egypt for what was called "La Croisiere". The plus points? Mohamed Sherif is behind the lens. And model Mohamed Hassan is in front of it (there is also Brazilian-New Zealand model Angelina Kendall for the female counter-part because perhaps Imaan Hammam an incredibly famous model with Egyptian roots was too busy - here). Long story short - everyone is saying that the campaign is a real blend of fashion and Egyptian culture. From Cairo (pyramids? Groundbreaking!) to Aswan.

Look, you want real Egyptian scenery? Go back to Harper's Bazaar shoot I just linked above. Not only is it poetic and beautiful, it also shows what a "real" Egypt could look like (mini-vans interlocking with cars, abandoned cars in desertic landscapes, old dilapidated villas and yes, pyramids, but so far back in the scenery they're just a mainstay as birds cover the shoot).

Do note that Egypt has long fascinated most designers - the Dior men's show that now former designer Kim Jones did there was one such instance (here) - so it's not like Jacquemus went on untrodden grounds or anything. And believe it or not, Jacquemus had incredible campaigns prior which were mind-blowingly creative without "social integration" or "cultural blending" or whatever they wish to call it (an incredible campaign is here). 

Long story short, I looked at the Jacquemus photos and went a little "meh". Nice, yes? The brand's best campaign? Far, far from it.

Adel Imam and the debacle of his 83rd birthday

Artwork by Tarek Chemaly based on typography of movie posters where Adel Imam appeared

Egyptian actor Adel Imam just celebrated his 83rd birthday. And now twitter is ablaze with comments.

To begin with the images that were circulating from his said birthday by other stars were - to put it mildly - not flattering. One of them shows him without his dental fixtures, the other in sad, tired eyes. Oh and his age it is obvious he is still dying his hair jet black. I mean seriously people, I started having grey hair in my late 20s - so reaching 83 with such a hair is simply genetically impossible.

Now, there is no shadow of a doubt of the popularity of Imam. He reigned on the comedy circuit for a very long time - weather he is extremely expressive is to be honest quite debatable, because his charisma was there more than his acting chops (again, I could be biased towards such a giant star but let us be honest, he relied on slapstick more than anything else).

The other major issue with Adel Imam was his - many - movies attacking the "Ikhwan" or the Islamic uptight religious party in Egypt. Yes, whereas Egypt was portraying itself in its movies and its stars as very open, tolerant, permissive, the shadow of the Muslim Brotherhood was slowly creeping over the Egyptian society. And Imam was on the forefront of warnings about this - Touyour Al Zalam (birds of darkness) comes to mind - or his fight against labels such as Al Irhab wal Kabab (Kebab and terrorism).

Do note, I am not in any way an expert in Egyptian cinema and much less so in Adel Imam's archive. But I guess like everyone, I had caught glimpses of him when our neighbor was running a VCR of his iconic play "Madrasat al Mouchaghibin" (school of the dissenters) or when "Chahed ma chafch haga" (a witness who saw nothing) which is another of his iconic roles was running somewhere on TV.

Imam is known as "Al Za3im" (or The Boss) and his legacy is preserved. But his health seems to be declining and rumors about his Alzheimer or dementia have been swirling for ages (Imam did a telephone interference for his birthday in a popular TV program basically berating the TV host who said that Imam taught his girls Arabic to which Imam retorted "so you are saying you are "ibn nas" (high class) and your daughters do not speak Arabic?"). 

Actually Imam himself did a movie called "Zheimer" (the funny story is that "al" in Arabic means "the" so basically when "Alzheimer" was translated to Egyptian it became "zheimer" because they through the "al" was a prefix and ergo disposable), and at this point his family securely guards his mental/physical health - there are very recent images that circulated as of late of the actor in the condolences of the father of an Egyptian movie director where he looked incredibly old and frail (and yes with grey undyed hair) but somehow the latest images want his public to keep the public in the same remembrances of him as he was in heyday. 

I truly wonder why there are so many rumors surrounding Imam's health (both physical and mental) and why his family is preciously guarding him and always communicating the same "Al za3im is fine" news. And if his phone interference in the talk show (of which I spoke earlier) is correct then the man did not exactly lose his wits. But once more, all this shroud of mystery is doing nothing but adding fuel to the fire.

Between keeping his memory alive and intact for his public, and facing the fact that Imam is growing old, all I can say is: let the man be. He is 83. He already made the public laugh. Just cherish his memory and move on.

Memory Embodied: At the ASE - American University of Cairo

Memory Embodied is an exhibition at the intersection of the social and conceptual— the collective memory of ten artists from Cairo and beyond; (em)bodied. The exhibition opens on Friday, December 2nd, at 5 PM; then will run every day from 10 AM to 9 PM until December 15th at the Falaki Gallery, downtown Cairo.

This is a project by the ASE Association with the support of the Department of Sociology, Egyptology and Anthropology (SEA Department - AUC) at AUC The American University in Cairo. It was made possible through a School of Humanities and Social Sciences (HUSS) at AUC Interdisciplinary Grant.

Project Head: Walid Zarrad

Curators: Iman Afify and Azima Salama

Designer: Azima Salama

With the help of: Hanan Sabea, Ali Zaraay, and Ebrahim Bahaa-Eldin

Participating Artists: Nadine Ali, Walaa Yassien, Ruwan Hamdy, Azza Ezzat, Yasmine Abdrabbo, Walid Zarrad, Tarek Chemaly, Mariam Sabrah, Osman A. Young, and Maram Khenissi

Citroen and the illogical Amr Diab ad (UPDATE)

OK here's a scenario: A woman is crossing the street, a car is about to run her down but stops short of doing so, the girl angrily looks at the driver, the driver takes out his mobile and shoots a photo of the girl, the tagline says "snap every beautiful moment".

Is this an ad for:

1) Road Safety?

2) A mobile brand

Actually, this is an ad for:

3) Citroen.

So either this ad:

1) Makes no sense whatsoever

2) Actually makes sense in some parallel universe

3) Is too smart for me to understand.

Oh, and there's famous Egyptian singer Amr Diab behind the wheel. See the ad here.

Update: Citroen has pulled the ad from all its channels, as the ad raised fears of women being harrassed (which statistics have shown a large majority admit to have been in Egypt) and issued an apology. The idea that women can be photographed without their consent (never mind being run over!) apparently did not come to anyone's mind from the Citroen/Ad agency team!