Filmmaker | Photographer

I photographed a story for Marie Claire US of two Emirati 20-somethings shopping for an abaya. The idea behind the story was to get to know Emirati culture better through the eyes of 2 local women. They wanted to find out about their sense of fashion, taking into consideration the obvious visual differences.

I found two fabulous girls for them, one whom worked in events, the other in PR. The shoot was fun and we walked through Mall of the Emirates shopping for abayas.

The magazine did not send a journalist and so in their absence, I sat down with the girls after the shoot to ask them the magazine’s questions. They both found the questions hilarious: “They think we are aliens!” The most memorable question and answer of the day was:

“How many abayas do you have?” to which the response was:
“How many pairs of shoes does Carrie Bradshaw have?”

The magazine’s photo editor was stunned by the responses and said it was her favorite story as she believed it would really shatter american womens’ perceptions of Emirati women.

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