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Women behind the lens: ‘My grandma dressed like a celebrity, even matching the colour of her cigarettes to her outfits’

Egyptian photographer and curator Farida Mahdy was inspired to document her grandmother’s style after finding a collection of her photos This image is a portrait of me and my grandmother, Ehsan Ouf, in her flat in Cairo. It is part of a project Grandma and the Fur Coat that I started in 2024. I lived with her for four years, while I was studying photography, and we spent a lot of time chatting and watching TV on that couch. The dress I’m wearing is her engagement dress from 1971 – one of the very few items she wore as a young woman that she still has – and the fur coat she’s wearing was a gift from my late grandfather. I persuaded her not to sell it – and that is partly why I decided to start this project: to document how stylish she was. In the 70s and 80s she dressed like a celebrity, wearing brands such as Chanel and Dior. She had a collection of wigs, and even matched the colour of h

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Egyptian photographer and curator Farida Mahdy was inspired to document her grandmother’s style after finding a collection of her photos This image is a portrait of me and my grandmother, Ehsan Ouf, in her flat in Cairo. It is part of a project Grandma and the Fur Coat that I started in 2024. I lived with her for four years, while I was studying photography, and we spent a lot of time chatting and watching TV on that couch. The dress I’m wearing is her engagement dress from 1971 – one of the very few items she wore as a young woman that she still has – and the fur coat she’s wearing was a gift from my late grandfather. I persuaded her not to sell it – and that is partly why I decided to start this project: to document how stylish she was. In the 70s and 80s she dressed like a celebrity, wearing brands such as Chanel and Dior. She had a collection of wigs, and even matched the colour of h

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According to The Guardian, Women behind the lens: ‘My grandma dressed like a celebrity, even matching the colour of her cigarettes to her outfits’ reports that Egyptian photographer and curator Farida Mahdy was inspired to document her grandmother’s style after finding a collection of her photos This image is a portrait of me and my grandmother, Ehsan Ouf, in her flat in Cairo. It is part of a project Grandma and the Fur Coat that I started in 2024. I lived with her for four years, while I was studying photography, and we spent a lot of time chatting and watching TV on that couch. The dress I’m wearing is her engagement dress from 1971 – one of the very few items she wore as a young woman that she still has – and the fur coat she’s wearing was a gift from my late grandfather. I persuaded her not to sell it – and that is partly why I decided to start this project: to document how stylish she was. In the 70s and 80s she dressed like a celebrity, wearing brands such as Chanel and Dior. She had a collection of wigs, and even matched the colour of h

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The development is part of VINI’s Culture coverage for readers following arts, entertainment, fashion, film, music, celebrity, and the business of culture. The original report is linked so readers can check the publisher’s account, follow later updates, and compare new coverage against the first published record. The original report is dated 2026-07-01T05:00:27+00:00.

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Original report: Women behind the lens: ‘My grandma dressed like a celebrity, even matching the colour of her cigarettes to her outfits’ via The Guardian. VINI cites and links the report; it does not reproduce the publisher’s full article text without rights clearance.

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