Family Ties: A Letter From Our Editor | Harper’s Bazaar Arabia October 2022

What is the true meaning of family? Bazaar Arabia’s Editor in Chief Olivia Phillips discusses the important role loved ones have on a life well lived

I grew up surrounded by family. Loads of it. Nosy, noisy, all-encompassing and ever-hungry, these comrades I had foisted upon me were the bedrock of my entire existence. There were no secrets in our clan; my mum didn’t believe in locked doors, or not opening my mail (or my diary for that matter), or even taking a phone call from a room that wasn’t in listening distance from her go-go gadget ears.

By some way of explanation, we are Greek, and many of my Arab friends tell me that this came with the territory for them as well. But as with so many things from teenagehood, what I hated at the time I have now begun to sorely miss. And as someone who lives alone, I often yearn for the rabble around the dinner table, or the endless stream of opinionated but well-meaning aunties popping in. Ironically, without them all around me, I have come to think of family as more important than ever. And in a land made up of predominantly ex-pats, I would wager that many of us feel exactly the same.

But family can come in many guises. In Modern Family, we interview five people on their unique take on the classic 2.4 paradigm, from single and adoptive parents, to those who have chosen their friends as their family. Each is as meaningful as the last.

And to our cover stars – an unorthodox family par excellence. Headed up by indomitable nonagenarian matriarch Iran Khanoom, we feature three generations of these fashion-loving, taboo-breaking Iranians in Paris, whose formidable, feminist outlook on life is a chorus on freedom. It comes at a time when the word ‘freedom’ in their homeland of Iran is
at the very foreground of global attention. In the wake of Mahsa Amini’s death in custody, arrested for the alleged improper wearing of her headscarf, the world has rallied to stand with Iranian women.

Countless voices, regardless of borders, have come together to remind us that the importance of choice – be it to wear a hijab or not – is something that can never be overstated. That voice is the love and support of a global family. One that we are all a part of.

From Olivia’s Desk…

We are exceptionally proud this month to pledge a donation of the sales of every single copy of Harper’s Bazaar Arabia’s October issue to UAE breast cancer organisation, Brest Friends.

Editor’s Picks

Lead image credits: Iran wears Jumpsuit; Sunglasses; adidas x Gucci Sneakers, POA, all Gucci

Photography: Raffaele Marone. Styling: Anna Castan. Hair: Anastasiia Tymoti. Make-Up: Walter Denéchère. Senior Producer: Steff Hawker. Executive Producer: Jean-Marc Mondelet. Stylist’s Assistant: Samia Kanaan. Set Assistant: Noémie Defever

From Harper’s Bazaar Arabia’s October 2022 issue.