As we enter summer with a renewed spirit; Editor in Chief Olivia Phillips introduces Bazaar’s June 2021 issue

A fellow Editor told me the other day that their ability to write a good Ed’s letter was directly proportional to how many interesting conversations they’d had recently. ‘No pressure,’ I thought to myself, shifting uncomfortably in my seat whilst being covertly mined for inspiration.

“Well… everything is copy,” I responded, quoting journalist and filmmaker Nora Ephron’s famed maxim on the ‘translation of personal experience into creative expression.’ We’re all just sponges, really, taking in and breathing out whatever is in our universe – which is precisely why the books (and magazines) you choose to read, the music you listen to and the conversations you either seek out or stumble into (or through, in my case most of the time), are quite so essential. And not just for creativity’s sake, as important as that is, but also as fundamental, formative cornerstones of your entire existence. Again: no pressure.

To speak to some pretty epic characters when putting a magazine together, then, is an incredibly privileged position to find yourself in; and for Bazaar, this month is no exception. Our cover star, the inimitable Nadine Nassib Njeim granted us one of the best conversations in the issue, revealing with characteristic no-nonsense intensity her thoughts on Beirut, break-ups and bouncing back.

Elsewhere, we spoke to historian Raphael Cormack, author of new book, Midnight In Cairo. Regaling us with stories of the Arab world’s first-ever feminists, he plunged us into the grit and glamour of Egypt’s buzzing 1920s dancehalls – another chat we won’t be forgetting in a hurry. Meanwhile, in Rocking The Casbah, we meet the collective of Middle Eastern artists showing the rest of the world how it’s done as the leading exhibitors at this month’s London Design Biennale.

From art, fashion, history and even a sprinkling of philosophy, here’s hoping our conversations this month will act as a springboard for you to have a few great ones of your own. There’s really nothing better, is there?

From Harper’s Bazaar Arabia’s June 2021 issue.

Photography: Mohamad Seif. Styling: Anna Castan. Model: Nadine Nassib Njeim.