Working all the pretty faces from your neighbor’s wedding to Elie Saab’s fashion shows, the beautiful Hala Ajam gives me a look behind the blush.
What’s your favorite place in Beirut?
Starbucks.
Say what now?
[Laughs] It’s the only place I can hang out and meet new people. There’s no music there! I can talk. All of Beirut is Glamorous though. It’s a pilgrimage for all the fun people.
Think fast, who’s the most interesting person you’ve made up?
Queen Rania. The sweetest person on earth, it was shocking really, she was very humble. Unbelievable. Claudia Schaeffer was a shock as well, my first ever famous person. I was shaking on the inside but I didn’t show her. She was very interesting and smart.
Sure she was…
She was! She asked about the country, religion, inter-cultural life. We had a beautiful conversation. Intelligence and the fashion industry aren’t mutually exclusive you know.
Let’s agree to disagree then; but isn’t the fashion industry altogether superficial? Isn’t it more of a luxury than a necessity especially in a country like ours?
A luxury? Maybe. But unnecessary? People come from all over the Middle East, they come here for the designers, makeup artists and hairdressers. They’re here to see us and they invest money here. It may be a luxury but it’s for everybody.
Why here?
You know, people believe in our taste, they believe that our opinions are unsurpassed. So even if we have wars, when the politicians shake hands we’ll have a million visitors the next day. Why here? For the pleasure, glamour, good taste, good service, beauty tips and plastic surgeons for all that lifting and stuffing…
Not keen on the stuffing, are we?
I’m not much into Botox and whatnot. They don’t know when to stop sometimes and most doctors don’t care to stop. If you ask for something that looks bad, a doctor might do it anyway. That’s just wrong and the surgeons aren’t giving good advice. Some of these people end up looking like zombies and they just don’t care.
And zombies wearing makeup is an altogether new horror show. So is it fun?
The make up? The most fun I can have in my life! If by any chance I have a half-day off, I don’t know what to do with it; I’m liable to call a customer and ask how her makeup held up during the evening. I live it and love it. And by the way I don’t get many zombies in the salon, I don’t think I’m quite what they’re after.
They conflict with your ‘beauty is from within’ motto.
But that’s why you have different kinds of people. Some want to look like Haifa, Nancy and Elissa. They’re groupies and these people are made stars by the media, which is nice. But what I want to say is when you look at yourself in the mirror you have to love yourself as you are. No one is ugly, really.
I beg to differ; this one time, in band camp…
No one. When you ask the right people around you about how you dress – if you don’t know – or how you hold your hair, a quick style change or simple makeup can upgrade your looks by 50%. This isn’t about beauty as a quantity, but everyone will find someone attracted to them, so if beauty is attractiveness then no one is really ugly. The bohemian will find a bohemian lover with messy hair, messy clothes and an aversion to showers.
Hey! these slacks were very fashionable a decade ago. But seriously, aren’t you in the business of superficiality?
No, it’s just some good fun. Though overdoing things turns it into that and makes you look funny. Sometimes they’re pointing at you because you look funny, which is not good. Maybe it’s because of the complete set of designer wear you have on display, or your strange eternal eyebrow…
Nice top by the way…
[Laughs] Very funny. Yes my sweater is a Chloé but I’m not flaunting it! And these are $20 jeans, you know. There’s a middle ground to everything.
Written for Time Out Beirut
I'm Karl, and I'm an acquired taste.
I've been an editor for 4 years, a writer for 5 more, and a geek ever since I wrote Pong on my first Atari. I'm married to the perfect woman and we live in the desert. 
She’s cute. Is she wearing tons of make up?
@Antox
I’d be disappointed if she isn’t; it’s her job you know. She’s actually very pretty without it though.
I won a make over type thing and got my make up professionally done on friday. I spent all morning getting it done and all the train ride home wiping most of it off. i think if the person doing it had done queen rania’s make up i would have been a little more confident.
There’s no music in Starbucks?
We usually have jazz or some kind of happy, chill, I drink my coffee and do work on my Mac or read a book – kinda music playing.
Most Starbuckers are Mac users by the way. I don’t know how that selection got made and what force of attraction turned it that way.
The wonders of life I tell ya.
@Chirine
Hobos? Or in a more general view, “qui se ressemble, s’assemble”.
@wliknayla
You decided to study in a country where oysters with marmelade is cuisine, you really expected them to have even a hint of taste somewhere? Blame it on yourself only^^
Karl, how did you first get the idea to interview miss Ajam? Too bad I don’t like make up, most of the time if not everytime, I perceive it as paint on the face rather than perceiving the face with less ponctual flaws. And it doesn’t taste good either!
There is a trend I noticed, men are getting to make up. Men have been using cosmetic products for more than decade but I am noticing more and more men wearing foundation or a slight touch of eyeliner and from their look, I gather they are sales representative or something approaching where looks play a key role. I know she is on the other end of the spectrum but I was wondering if this topic was mentionned.
@wliknayla
Any chocolate advertisements on the horizon?
@Chirine
I don’t actually remember if Starbucks plays music; but then she could mean a particular branch or that the music isn’t loud. Also most of them have outdoor seating, and those don’t have music.
@Agénor
I don’t like makeup either, very few women can actually pull it off, and even less can look good with it on. I find makeup on men… disturbing; they’ll need the foundation to hide the bruises though.
@Agénor
I noticed there are two types (at least) of wearing make up:
1- To hide what one may think is an imperfection: a pimple, dark circles under the eyes, dry or pale lips.
2- To accentuate a part of a face: dark eye liner to make the eyes bigger, lip stick to make lips thicker etc.
3- Then there are those who wear make up like paint on the face where clowns and circus performers can be placed (along with some women who don’t notice their make up puts them in that category). I always wondered how someone can give a real kiss on the cheek of a face that has this much foundation.
I used to say I was against make up but I swing between 1 and 2. I had a thing against the dark circles under my eyes until I went all the way to China to have a one on one with a panda. I wanted to figure out how one can have those dark circles and still be oh-so-cute!
Panda told me that such things are either inherited or are a manifestation of a problem going on inside ourselves (bad liver blood production for instance). Panda also said make up will cover such things but if one wants to be naturally radiant and oh-so-cute, one has to deal with the issue from its core. Such a thing takes much longer than applying a foundation cream and much more effort.
But on the long run, it’s totally worth it. Then Panda ate bamboo.
And I ate an ice cream.
@Chirine
Panda is jealous because foundation cannot be applied to fuzz. On an unrelated note, I’m checking my liver.