Scene Selects: A Day in the Life of Egyptian Designer Sarah Bahaa

Emerging designer Sarah Bahaa began with discarded fabrics and turned them into a language of style. This Scene Selects follows her day in five looks, from the studio floor to the evening stage.

Mariam Elmiesiry

Sep 12, 2025

Every designer’s life is stitched with routine: the late nights in the studio, the fittings that blur into mornings, the discipline behind it all. For emerging Egyptian designer Sarah Bahaa, that rhythm began in 2021 with scraps; surplus textiles, discarded fabrics, material salvaged from the Egyptian Clothing Bank. What others overlooked, she transformed into the foundation of her work. Sustainability, for her, has been the method itself.

Her dresses have a signature line: stripped-back silhouettes in black, interrupted by a single sleeve weighted with beadwork. These garments exist as both sustainable and elegant, modest and modern, functional and exact.

“You can always find a way to create art, wherever you are in life,” Bahaa says. That persistence threads through every collection, turning limitation into design, and resourcefulness into presence.

This week’s Scene Selects follows Bahaa not just as a designer but as a woman in motion. In five looks, she maps the contours of her day: the ambition of a fashion show invitation, the structure of an office meeting, the control of backstage, the command of evening, and the honesty of fittings.

Look 1 — Pois Rouges | Fashion Show Invitation

“A fresh take on polka dots. For me, getting dressed is a reminder that any day can feel like a runway.”

Dolce & Gabbana | Polka-dot skirt