Beirut is POP: A look inside the sacred Sporting Club

Beirut is a place where change casts a long shadow and, arriving each time with a population-wide jerk, it’s approached with a collective groan. While each transformation – political, economic, colonial – is calculated according to how precariously it will alter livelihoods in its wake, there are a few constants: ritual, pop, and kitsch.

Originally published in Dazed MENA Issue 02| Order Here

Yes, Lebanon certainly adopted some influence when it was under the 23-year French Mandate, but it was mostly the aesthetic attitudes from a pre-revolution Versailles. The city’s aesthetics defy trend forecasts, rather. It hoards the timeless, staying ahead of trend cycles as they eventually return home every few years. Those VW Beetles with eyelashes on the headlights aren’t going anywhere. And that bronzed, muscly man sporting a cross so big it could anchor a yacht? It’s a look inherited from his father.

In Beirut, vanity isn’t just accepted, it’s heritage. And perhaps no place captures this petri dish better than Sporting Club. Established less than a decade after the events that led to Lebanon’s independence in late 1946, Sporting Club was a statement, a reminder that Beirut would remain alive and unbothered. And having stood through everything from the chaos of civil war to the glitz and disillusionment of the 2000s, it is, indeed, strangely eternal.

Here, fishermen claim their rocks every morning, casting lines into the Mediterranean Sea as if nothing has changed in the last 50 years. The sunbathers rotate like clockwork, synchronised in pursuit of the perfect bake. Chest hair is combed just so. V necks are deep. Hair gel is industrial. The ladies arrive later, hair high and lips fuller – start with 3ml – ino fard marrah, no? We don’t tan, we bake. It’s a tiered gateau, fit for Marie Antoinette and frosted with SPF 0.

The beach club subsumes a special brand of kitsch that’s not only unique to Beirut, but also the only real continuity in a city forced to perpetually rebuild. If kitsch is rooted in its ability to replicate real sensory experiences, its appeal essentially comes down to shared sensibilities and an ability to overwhelm, much like the sun-bleached institution itself. American art critic Clement Greenberg once declared, “Kitsch changes according to style, but remains always the same.” And so, by that definition, Sporting Club is kitsch.

Full cast in Gucci

Originally published in Dazed MENA Issue 02| Order Here

Art director GABRIEL MOUFARREJ, hair stylist REMAH JAMMOUL, make-up artist MOE RIDA, production house FIFTEEN O FIVE, executive producer SAMER FLEIHAN, creative producer FATIMA MOURAD, project lead JOE DEEBA, production manager JEANNE KARAM, art director assistant EMILE MAROUN, photography assistants FATIMA ELIE, CHARBEL NAKHLEH, hair stylist assistant WAEL SALLAM, production assistant MICHELE NAY, styling assistants PATILE TACHJIAN, JOE AL DACCAHE, special thanks SPORTING BEACH CLUB, LOCAL VICE, ILLE MODELS, cast SYLVIE HATEM, HANADI NASSER, RANA BOUSTANY, NATHALIE MOUKADEM, MISA, SOULAIMAN KAMAL, KARIM EZZEDDINE, MOHAMAD SHIBLY, RANDA ABI RACHED, ALAIN ASSAF, OUSAMA SHAMS, FADEL EL SOURI, HUSSEIN HASSAN, ABU KHODOR