I can’t even begin to explain the one week of pure bliss that was my week at Mazagan, Morocco, where we shot the Melissa Odabash 2013 look book this month. I have never met such incredible welcoming & friendly people in all my travels, anywhere in the world.
Nothing could prepare us for the level of luxury we were greeted with when we arrived. We were taken immediately to two beautiful villas, mine having a long marble swimming pool outside & even its own hamman, having been greeted by everyone who would be working with & for us throughout the week. After making ourselves at home, we made our way down to the dining rooms where we were presented with an incredible ten-course dinner – thankfully after a long journey behind us we were all quite hungry to say the least - & the food was unbelievable.
I was placed in the care of the sweetest butler that never left our side the entire stay. From arriving on our set with freshly squeezed orange juice & croissants every morning to never even letting me lift up my own sunglasses, & chauffeuring us around the resort on a golf cart, every request was met with ‘as you would like’ - & best of all he knew all the best places around town to eat & drink that the tourists didn’t know about – recommending a different place to go every night we were there. Of course, it wasn’t all luxury – the shoot was hard work, sometimes working long hours late into the evening to get the perfect shot, so it was amazing to know that when we got back to our rooms we would be treated to a massage with real Moroccan oil – not a pretty sight afterwards, but our hair & skin was glowing - we really were spoilt!
The massages more than made up for the super-early morning shoots on the beach, & the early morning wake-up call was worth it to see the Arabian horses running through the surf at dawn. The sunsets were also like heaven - the entire sky would be luminescent in all shades of oranges (very on trend for next season!) & we got some incredible shots around these times – I love Morocco in the evening. When the carved doorways & lanterns are lit up it is one of the most beautiful places. We were lucky enough to be taken on a tour into a souk where we watched a man making bread & discovered some amazing waterfront hotels, before being taken to some incredible underground caves where Gucci shot their last campaign – very cool.
Mezagan is also known for having the best spa in Africa, so of course, it would have been rude to not have made sure this was the case! After a tiring five days, I waited until the last night to have my ‘relaxing’ hamman experience. Imagine my surprise when I turned up & was ushered into a men’s hamman! Not the most relaxing of experiences, but definitely by far one of the best hamman I have ever had. He began with intensely scrubbing my body so not even the tiniest amount of self-tan remained before a full massage after which I didn’t have a single know left in my back. I ended up walking out feeling like I was Moroccan with my hair in a turban & freshly scrubbed skin - I definitely gave everyone back at the apartment a good laugh, but it was well worth it.
Keep your eye out for the Melissa Odabash 2013 look book, I think the collection is my best yet - & the location definitely made the pictures super-special.
