Beirut For You

As mentioned before, May and June are the months when everyone is organizing fairs, events and happenings in town. It’s not too hot yet, people are still in town (Beirut is sometimes a bit like Paris in August; all the locals are gone), chances of rain are small (although that did not quite pack out like that this weekend with a thunder storm over town), people haven’t quite taken to the beach either, so now’s your chance to gather a maximum amount of visitors. We’ve just had the outdoor fairs of the big universities (LAU and AUB), the schools celebrated their Spring fests as well, Makdissi Street and Sadat Street held their street fairs. The Hamra festival is today, and there is the Beirut Design Week (with a Dutch design studio!), the Garden Show, and the Designer’s Week,  among many (check for more here).

That last event (Designer’s Week )is not related at all to the Beirut Design Week, although the name implies it does. A smart gimmick, and I fell for it. I thought I was going to visit a design exposition in Zaytouni Bay, but instead it was more like those summer markets they stage all over Europe, with summer stuff and faux bijoux and some industrious people trying to sell the fruits of their hobby.   

But the mood was good, the crowd happy, the weather fantastic at sunset and the scenery quite glamorous, so it was all good.  I could post all kinds of lovely pictures, but what really caught my attention was this lady.

 An absolutely stunning looking bride. There was something about her, as she strutted over the boardwalk with her one bridesmaid, and I assume her mother. On her way (I asked) to her engagement party. So she was not even a bride yet; this was just the engagement dress. Can’t wait to see her wedding dress.

 I don’t know where she got this dress, but I am strangely mesmerized by it. Sometimes things are so absolutely out of place and odd that the combination becomes beautiful instead of ugly. The color, almost shocking pink, helped as well. I know that this must have been my dream dress when I was about 8 or so. I bet she has been thinking of this dress since she was that little as well. And she pulled it off. Well done, I’d say. Whoever said you can't be glamorous with a veil? Quite the contrary, it seems.

We tried to locate the groom, wondering whether he had been coaxed into wearing something pink as well. But she was walking the other way, so we never got to see him. I just had to share this lady with you. This is Beirut for you.