Selects: Yasmine Hany Makes the Clothes She Cannot Find

Where most stylists send an email, Yasmine Hany reaches for whatever's closest to her, starting with her own wardrobe, sometimes a bag of clay.

She rolled the beads on one of her necklaces herself. The feather skirt in another look is hers. So are the shoulder pads, big and squared off, worn with a long tie down the front. The flower earrings, the belt dress, several outfits, she puts together in full.

Hany is a Cairo-based stylist, creative director and model, and she directs the way she dresses, freely. She has done creative direction for Havva Dose and Mamzi, styling for Palma and Shoezed, and across all of it she keeps making the missing piece instead of waiting for it to turn up.

In many ways, this makes her a Cairo woman of now, never once expecting the right thing to be readily available, so she makes it herself.

In one piece she used 55 belts in different widths and buckle shapes, layered over a model for close to two hours until they held a body shape. "Although the entire look consists of black belts, they were strategically placed to look balanced in terms of belt thicknesses, patterns, buckle shapes," she says.

Colour she picks by feel, curating a palette for each shoot and currently pairing lilac with red at every opportunity. What she talks through when she explains a look is structure, shape, balance and silhouette. A Kojak dress gets credited for its architecture. A pair of ruffled shorts under a white top exists for friction alone. A black bodysuit from Sunday's Best gets two words, no more needed: sleek silhouette.

She developed that language from a decade of standing still as a model while other people worked on her. Hany started at 18 and shot for Fendi, Sony, Amazon, Okhtein and Azza Fahmy before moving behind the camera three years ago.

"Back then I didn't even know what a fashion stylist was, but slowly over time I started realising how important the role of a stylist is on set," she tells SceneStyled. "They can literally make or break a shoot."

So she watched. Hands pinning, folding and rescuing things on her body, while she asked why they were doing it.

"I quietly observed all the different styling tricks that were done on me, and occasionally asked questions to better understand their thinking process," she says. It went in. "Things felt smooth on set, and I was able to execute strong looks naturally without forcing it."

She credits her parents with giving her exactly the right amount of space. "They have always supported me in whatever I chose to explore growing up even if they didn't really understand my choices," she says. "Today I look back on this and realise it's the strongest kind of love."

The other thing you notice is how little of her work depends on labels. Her credit lines are full of thrift shops, a father's tie, beads bought from Bedouins in Sinai. The Space Maadi turns up more often than any designer does. When something expensive does appear, the piece she talks about is usually the modest one sitting next to it.

Take the look built from SHOP THE SOL accessories, Shoezed shoes and a thrifted skirt and shirt. What she wants you to see costs almost nothing. "The asymmetrical socks and tie."

Or the Farah Seif dress worn with her dad's tie and the Sinai necklace, where she gives the credit to a pair of sunglasses.

Her own wardrobe runs colder than her work. "My personal style and wardrobe have to consist of multifunctional pieces that I can easily play with, yet comfort is huge for me," she says. Linen, cotton, things that breathe.

The black Carina tube top is the piece she has squeezed hardest. "You can wear them under statement jackets, see-through pieces, wear them as a mini skirt and add chains, belts or scarves over it," she says. "I even wore one as a headband once. Unexpected, I know, but we keep it real and practical."

There is no method underneath any of this. "I don't think I generally stick to or have styling rules that I follow," she says. "I just trust my vision and intuition." Pushed to describe the most Yasmine Hany outfit possible, she gives three words: textures, structures and playfulness.

Regionally she buys Amina Galal, Farah Seif and Queens of Ra by Nadine Radia.

And when a trend arrives she has no use for, she lets it pass. "I would NEVER wear capri trousers, they make my eyes hurt."

Look 1

Farah Seif | Lumen Halter Midi Dress

Personal Archive | Dad's Tie

Sinai Bedouins | Necklace

The Space Maadi | Scrunchie and accessories

"The sunglasses really made the look pop."

Look 2

SHOP THE SOL | Accessories

Shoezed | Shoes

The Tie House | Tie

Thrifted | Skirt and shirt

"The asymmetrical socks and tie."

Look 3

Entire outfit made by Yasmine

"Big structured shoulder pads and long tie create a surrealist kind of mood."

Look 4

Sunday's Best Wardrobe | Bodysuit

Thrifted | Sunglasses

"Sleek silhouette."

Look 5

The Space Maadi | Accessories

Carina | Bodysuit

Designed by Yasmine | Feather Skirt

"The feather skirt adds richness to the outfit via its shape and texture. Without it, with another plain black skirt, the outfit would just look too ordinary."

Look 6

Made by Yasmine | Belt Piece

"Although the entire look consists of black belts, they were strategically placed to look balanced in terms of belt thicknesses, patterns, buckle shapes."