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Don’t Go to Basateen At Night

Photography: Mohammed Sherif

Director: Jad Rahme

Talent: Emil Wakim, Bashir, Sarah Lysander, Romy Nassar, Noor Elkhadi, Mohammed Nouh

Stylist: Ahmed Sorour

Creative: BYNK Media

Introducing FW25: “إِيَّاك تروح البساتين بليل” (Don’t Go to Basateen At Night).

The campaign takes its name from a warning that echoed across generations: matenzelsh el basateen beleil — don’t go to Basateen at night. For those who came before, the phrase carried a sense of protection, rooted in fear and perception. Basateen, like many neighborhoods, was seen as dangerous—a place to avoid after dark.

The reality, however, was different. Basateen was where friends gathered, where nights stretched into laughter and togetherness. It was not a place of menace, but of warmth. A place that revealed how what seems intimidating from the outside often holds the deepest beauty within.

At night, Cairo itself transforms. Streetlights glow. Rooftops brim with laughter. Tea glasses steam on plastic tables. Music drifts through narrow alleys. This is the Cairo the world rarely sees—a city of romance, tenderness, and poetry.

The stories told about places—and about people—rarely match the truth. Growing up between East and West makes this especially clear. Within communities, warnings and assumptions often shape how people see one another. In the West, that same gaze extends outward—reducing the Middle East to a distant silhouette, misunderstood, its beauty and generosity overlooked. “Don’t go to Basateen at night” becomes an invitation. An invitation to step into the unknown. To linger where one was told not to. To discover the grace that hides in shadow. To close the distance between self and “the other”—whether across the street or across the world.

At the heart of this campaign is the FW25 collection: pieces designed for the intimacy of everyday life that slip easily between function and self-expression. From textured staples to directional silhouettes, each piece channels a distinct mood while remaining rooted in timeless wearability.