Welcome to our new travel series, Postcards From... – snapshots of places around the world, as seen through the eyes of the people who live, work or create there – or those who are simply passing through. This month, we’re kicking off in Cairo with model and entrepreneur Sarah Lysander and her partner, photographer Bashir Arab-Sanchez.
“If there was ever a city to overtake New York as the city that never sleeps, it would be Cairo,” says Bashir, of his recent trip there with Sarah. The couple travelled to the Egyptian capital with clothing brand Kotn to shoot its autumn/winter 2025 campaign, Don’t Go To Baseteen At Night – and while they went for work, the city more than left its mark. “It was non-stop: markets, food stalls, shisha bars all open at all hours of the night into the morning,” adds Bashir. “There was always something out of the ordinary happening; wherever you looked it was an unfamiliar scene [for us], almost like you had to do a double-take every five minutes.”
Kotn is an Egyptian-Canadian brand based in Toronto, but its story is deeply rooted in Egypt through co-founder Rami Helali. Rami has long split his life between Egypt and Canada, but in the six months leading up to the launch of Kotn in 2015, he lived with a farming family in the Nile Delta – a formative experience that shaped the brand’s vision and its ongoing commitment to sustainably sourced cotton.
Fast-forward to today, and Cairo remains at the heart of the brand’s story. It’s why last month, Bashir and Sarah Lysander, joined the Kotn crew on location in Cairo, alongside director Jad Rahme and photographer Mohammed Sherif to capture the campaign in the city’s electric, ever-moving streets. By day, they worked. By night, they were swept up in the city’s wild rhythm, with the AW25 collection serving as their uniform for spontaneous adventure.
Below, Sarah and Bashir share a few of their memories from Cairo – from checking off bucket-list memories together at the Pyramids to wrapping the shoot at 5am, when the city felt more alive than ever. This is their snapshot of Cairo, seen through the lens of Kotn...
“We arrived to set early, which was taking place in a local Cairo neighbourhood called Bulaq,” says Bashir. “There also happened to be a big football game on that night – and there was a place showing the game for everyone to see. I’ve always found football to be a language in these parts of the world; something as small but familiar as a footballer’s name can instantly strike conversation, relation and excitement.”
“We shot through the night and had a late call time, around 5am, which was weird because the environment we were in, you’d think it was 8pm on a Friday night,” says Sarah. “The energy of the neighbourhood really kept us going – it was contagious.”
“This was taken at around 2am. I don’t know when he opened, or closed his barber shop, but walking past, I had to take a photo. I wanted to catch a candid moment – but the guy was so friendly, he insisted on posing,” says Bashir.
“The following night, we all went to a local spot on a back street called Hawawshi el rabee3 and had all sorts of Egyptian staples,” says Sarah. “We sat on a bustling street that just felt so alive, the food was amazing – the Molokhia in particular and we tried new things. It felt like a true local experience.”
“The Pyramids had been on our bucket list for a long time,” says Bashir. “We had gone there for dinner one night, but then we were also able to go inside the next day – and it was a truly memorable,” says Sarah. “We’ve both always been intrigued by the mystique surrounding these structures, and while we gained no further insight as to how they came to be, it was really powerful to just be in their presence.”
