Art & Culture

Lana Lubany Shape-Shifts Into Iconic Arab Divas in Striking New Editorial

BYKhaoula Ghanem

May 19, 2026

“We wanted to do something more playful,” Palestinian photographer Sama Haddad tells MILLE of her latest shoot with Palestinian stylist Yara Aboud featuring Lana Lubany. What they ended up creating instead was one of the most visually striking Arab editorials to emerge online this year.

On paper, the idea sounds almost impossible to pull off in a single day. Transform Lubany into four of the most iconic women in Arab music history. Do it all with a small team operating out of Palestine on barely any budget and less than a week’s notice. Yet somehow, the Haifa-based photographer and her collaborators managed to make the final images feel cinematic, intimate, and strangely timeless all at once.

The idea itself began with a comment from makeup artist Boogie Ash, who told Haddad that Lubany had the kind of face that could embody “a million characters.” That single observation sparked the concept of transforming the singer into four legendary Arab divas. In the series, Lubany slips seamlessly between the flamboyant glamour of Sabah, complete with her signature honey-blonde curls, glittering headpieces, and unapologetically theatrical smile, the quiet mystique of Fairouz in stark monochrome tailoring and softly sculpted vintage hair, and the commanding elegance of Umm Kulthum, whose severe silhouettes, dramatic sleeves, dark sunglasses, and pearl earrings evoke the kind of authority that once silenced entire concert halls. Elsewhere, Lubany channels Asmahan through razor-sharp eyeliner, deep crimson lips, and sculptural 1940s-inspired hairstyles that mirror the late singer’s famously striking features and old Hollywood-adjacent glamour.

Each portrait feels meticulously researched without becoming costume-like. The references are instantly recognizable to anyone familiar with Arab music history, yet the images never feel trapped in nostalgia. Instead, Haddad reimagines these women through a softer, more contemporary lens, preserving the emotional essence of each icon while allowing Lubany’s own presence to remain visible beneath the transformation.

Lubany and Haddad have known each other since preschool. Their families remained close over the years, long before Lubany became one of the most recognizable young Palestinian musicians of her generation. They had spoken for years about eventually collaborating, but the opportunity finally materialized when the London-based singer and songwriter unexpectedly returned home to Palestine and found herself free for a single Saturday. Within days, Haddad assembled her now familiar creative circle and a rotating network of Palestinian creatives who regularly help bring her ideas to life.

The original plan was relatively modest. One look per icon, and four references pulled from archival photographs of legendary Arab singers. Then the project snowballed. The team eventually created eight looks instead, reimagining each figure through a more contemporary lens while preserving the visual language that made them instantly recognizable across generations.

Several of the garments were handmade specifically for the shoot by local Palestinian designer Rudy Khoury, including Umm Kulthum’s dramatic robe and a structured corset inspired by Sabah. Meanwhile, Aboud styled all eight looks, even designing several pieces herself, including Asmahan’s ensemble. Despite the polished final result, the production itself was remarkably scrappy. Haddad says the team operated on little more than passion, improvisation, and collective trust, pulling together an editorial that looks infinitely more expensive than it actually was. “We sat there from 9 a.m. until 2 a.m. to make it happen,” she recalls. “Nobody got paid. We bought some fabrics and earrings and whatever, but it was all very minimal.”

Before photography entered her life professionally, Haddad studied law and was preparing for a career in corporate practice during the pandemic. The experience ultimately forced her to reconsider what she wanted from life altogether. “I was very much going down the path of corporate law,” she says. “And during COVID, I got this pause of perspective.”

Today, she primarily works as a film producer, while photography exists somewhere between editorial and documentary. Her images often blur the line between staged fashion imagery and spontaneous lived moments. She recently completed another editorial project inside Jerusalem’s Old City, photographing women in handmade dresses surrounded by shopkeepers, rooftops, and everyday street life.

“I love editorial work,” she says, “but I like that it’s a bit more in a documentary approach.” That same instinct runs throughout the Lana Lubany series. Beneath the styling and glamour lies a much more personal meditation on Arab femininity and historical memory. Haddad rejects the idea that the “modern Arab woman” is some entirely contemporary invention detached from the past. “The theory of a modern woman is not about relevant times or just now,” she explains. “This Arab woman has been along all of history. It’s not a new concept.”

Instead, the series positions these iconic singers not as distant relics from another era, but as women whose contradictions, eccentricities, ambitions, and emotional complexities still feel deeply familiar today. Haddad speaks about Fairouz’s legendary shyness, Sabah’s endless belief in love despite multiple marriages, and Asmahan’s enduring aura as an underdog figure whose life ended too soon.

“It’s a celebration of our heritage and our love for our heritage and culture,” she says. “Each and every one of us has a little Sabah in her and a little Fairouz in her.”

Credits:

Protagonist: Lana Lubany
Creative Direction: Sama Haddad & Yara Aboud
Photography: Sama Haddad
Styling: Yara Aboud
Hair Artist: Johnny Shahock
Makeup Artist: Boogie Ash
Select Pieces: Rudy Khoury Clara Anton
Studio: ReArt @re.art_ph

Lana Lubany Shape-Shifts Into Iconic Arab Divas in Striking New Editorial

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Lana Lubany Shape-Shifts Into Iconic Arab Divas in Striking New Editorial

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