By Maliha Rehman
Over the years, I have seen stylist Nabila constantly dabble with change. Her hair has always fluctuated, switching between lengths, styles and color. “What’s life without color?” she often quips, explaining her penchant for suddenly latching on to a bright, brilliant streak through her mane. I have also known her to snip away at her hair with a scissor just because she was feeling bored. In Nabila’s life, change has always been a constant – that’s another favorite saying of hers.
The one thing that she does constantly wear are sunshades – but if you know Nabila, you know that she could never be expected to stick to a single favorite pair. Nabila’s ‘shady’ style statements are perpetually metamorphosing; colorful, wacky, winding about in unique geometries, quintessentially individualistic. It makes the stylist’s personal Instagram page a veritable candy shop where you can spot a million different styles.
Long ago, when I visited Nabila’s home, I remember roaming through her walk-in closet, with clothes, shoes and bags lined neatly, color-coded. Her collection, evidently, extends to sunshades! It’s just so varied and so funky that it just had to be catalogued, to some extent, in a pictorial archive – also because a lot of us would like to take inspiration from Nabila the next time we’re buying a pair of shades!
There’s the fixation for angular statements, for instance, but make them blue!
Sometimes, the shades match with the hair …
’70’s aviators to go with a cool mullet cut …
And cat eyes to go with the 20’s bob!
Rectangles and rhombuses …
… and lopsided ovals …
Out on safari…
This was, she tells me, a daytime winter Valima look …
Bottega with reflective orange powered glasses for high impact!
Very futuristic – and very Nabila. Designer shades by Mykita!
And then, a Sunday bazar find, glittering with pink diamantes!
Mirror selfie worthy!
Minding those SOP’s…
There’s more …
and some more …
The love for cool shades runs in the family. That’s Nabila with son Zakir Maqsood..
Classic Nabila … making a statement with the shades, the hair, the bright dash of red lipstick, the fringed top!
And that’s a wrap! Here’s one of the places where the magic sometimes begins – this is a shop in Barcelona specializing in statement eye-wear, one of the stylist’s favorite stops in pre-Covid times!
What do you think?