The day we met Anam

On Wednesday the 29th of August, at around 10:30 am, an exceptionally sunny day, the Generation team assembled at a restaurant in Gulberg, Lahore to shoot Ming’s ‘Bangkok High’ collection. Fatima Nasir, our favoured makeup artist had reached before time as usual, her makeup table set up already, we greeted her and then leaned in to ask ‘have you worked with her before?’ ‘Yes,’ she chimed, ‘she’s great!’ It was our first time working with her, and of course, we were nervous if we’d made the right choice. About 15 minutes later, Anam Tanoli walked in, and the energy in the place changed completely. She was charged, high on oomph, and full of life. She apologized profusely for being late, an industry norm, as she shook hands with everyone whilst exclaiming how genuinely excited she was for this project, and the minute we laid eyes on her in person, all apprehensions went flying out the door. We were pleasantly surprised by her innate professionalism and focus, not only was she a breeze to work with, she was also humble, grounded, funny and oh so absolutely cool! We shared jokes about politics between costume changes, she spoke of the pieces she wanted to buy from the collection, and she also shared her aspirations as a stylist, for which we even came up with a collaboration idea for ‘GenLoves’, one that we were really looking forward to. When the news of her death broke on Saturday morning, barely four days later, we were shaken, so confused and for the longest time, remained in a state of disbelief. Was it the same girl we’d shot with a few days ago? Her, with that enigmatic smile? That chirpy, cheerful ball of energy? If only we’d known better. It’s difficult to describe the dilemma we faced when it came to publishing these images, what is the right thing to do really? What would be right in honour of her memory? This could possibly have been her last project, should we hide it away, never to speak of it? Or should we celebrate her talent, her passion towards the craft, and of course her sheer mesmerizing beauty. In the end we decided to go with what we genuinely believe Anam would have wanted. Anam our relationship may have been terribly short-lived , but your spark excited us, your charisma inspired us and your beauty enthralled us, the world has definitely lost one of its brightest smiles, May you rest in peace. A part of you is embedded in ‘Bangkok High’ and we wholeheartedly dedicate the photo series to your talent, your beauty and to the amazing person you will remain to be. Here’s one of Anam’s last projects, “Bangkok High” by GENERATION or in Anam’s own words ‘Eating noodles, but glamorous!