UNN Model Management is Egypt’s first official modelling agency. The company describes itself as “a movement that challenges existing stereotypes, and focuses on barriers set on freedom of self-expression.” Iman Eldeeb, a celebrated model herself, founded UNN in 2018 and was shortly joined by her sister, Yousra. Both were envisioning a “platform and community for talented, young Arab and African individuals to see an accurate representation of themselves, and to unravel within the contested space of fashion and modelling on a global scale.” The name UNN is inspired by the ancient Nubian word meaning ‘rebirth’. Rebirth, after having broken with socially constructed beauty standards, patriarchal control over young women’s lives, and a historically embedded inferiority complex in the face of overpowering western culture. UNN Model Management works towards all of the above and more.
The Eldeeb sisters have set up UNN’s office, a sun-filled flat, in the busy district of Downtown Cairo. Photos of stunningly beautiful girls from the South West Asia and North Africa (SWANA) region and its diaspora adorn the walls. Stepping into UNN’s world, it becomes clear that there is no such thing as a typically Arab or African face. SWANA’s diversity is endless, and this is what the modelling agency is here to prove — in more than one way. “Some people feel discouraged to apply, because they think that it takes substantial measures or a certain look to become a model,” Iman explains as we stand in front of the agency’s model gallery. In reality, UNN’s selection criteria is about intentions and ambition. “We’re a movement,” Iman says, “being part of UNN carries responsibility. Our models need to know their purpose, so that we can support them in realising it.” Yousra, Managing Director and Head Booker, nods and adds, “Most girls who intrigue us don’t believe that they have what it takes to be models, because society tells them that they’re not beautiful. But we’re looking for the kind of beauty that breaks standards.”
A movement and a family
Iman points at a young girl with thick, long curls — Lama from Saudi-Arabia who is a UNN model and international horse-back riding champion. “She’s a pioneer, because in following her passion, she shatters limitations of what girls can and cannot do. In this region, there are a lot of stereotypes around virginity.” It is common for girls to be prohibited from doing sports like cycling or horseback riding because of the assumption that it might break their hymen. Iman proudly notes how Lama’s drive to practice horse-riding translates into her ambitions to express herself as a model.
Yousra shows me Mai, another model with beautiful green eyes. She is wearing a black hijab (“headscarf”) and long leather gloves. “Mai is fearless”, she explains with excitement. UNN signed her to help her “impact the industry and not let the industry force her to change.” Mai grew up in a strict household and was forced to wear the veil when she was 14 years old. Her dad was against a modelling career, but she continued practicing poses at home, until, quoting Mai; “I felt fearless. Then, I went out there and started shooting.” The Eldeeb sisters are aware that some families have outgrown certain ideologies, and they share some of the special cases that have come into the UNN Family.
UNN wants young women to claim their spaces and self-expression — whatever form that might take. Given the regional context, they feel a responsibility to combat internal and external limitations that restrict young women. Adhar, UNN model and refugee from South Sudan, is presently in high demand and was recently featured in CR Fashion Book. However, her refugee status is preventing her from travelling and building an international career. UNN is extending their reach to the United Nations in Cairo to help Adhar with documents and provide her with a South Sudanese passport to start her journey.
Besides inhibitions such as international borders and conflicts, universal beauty standards complicate women of colours’ relationship with their bodies in Egypt and everywhere else. “We’ve had a couple of encounters where girls come to us with bleached hair and even bleached skin”, Iman says. “We strip their perceptions to the core and when they feel undisguised, we start redirecting them.” Models take workshops and photoshoots at UNN’s in-house studio, co-creating concepts and practicing their storytelling. Egyptian heritage plays an interesting part in this, because “most of us Egyptians have an identity crisis”, as Yousra puts it.
Egypt’s identity issues are a mix of post-colonial insecurities, religion, and language. In short, there is a lot of confusion of what and who Egyptians are, specifically what it means to look and act like a modern Egyptian. “We’re raised to think that modern is western”, Iman explains, “But we can be modern Egyptians without imitating western styles, by buying from local designers and supporting Egyptian businesses,” adding: "Cool is western, is unreachable. It takes a lot of work to convince girls that what they have and how they naturally look, with their bushy eyebrows and darker skin tones, is already cool.”
"Most girls who intrigue us don’t believe that they have what it takes to be models, because society tells them that they’re not beautiful. But we’re looking for the kind of beauty that breaks standards.”"
Fashioning social change
The sisters believe that their work in the fashion industry can have an impact on wider society. Historically, “there’s been a lot of communication through fashion that changed narratives”, Iman explains. “The first women to wear pants and a suit were models. They changed the game by making people curious.” Fashion, according to Iman, represents a certain point or experience in time. Through empowering young people to step into their narrative, UNN aims to challenge ideologies that are normalised in this period and location. “A lot of privileged people take their knowledge somewhere else, because here you’re going against a strong current”, says Iman. “But we believe in the power of this new generation to create a shift.”
When scouting for models, Iman and Yousra go beyond the capital and affluent social classes, looking to sign models who usually lack access due to language barriers or their class. Yousra shares observations that those girls specifically show more appreciation and growth than others. “They are more hungry and they make us want to put in the effort, because we see change over the years. It’s nice to see people who have never been outside their province travel abroad, or people who don’t speak English be recognised by the upper class.” Once a model reaches a certain stage of recognition, UNN encourages her to become an advocate and use her voice responsibly. “We’re all learning,” Yousra asserts, “It’s an individual obligation for everyone to educate themselves.”
Iman tells of her years in Milan where she received a lot of no’s from the fashion industry, saying “I was always too much of something.” In creating UNN, she wants to give everything to the industry that she never received; for example, keeping girls safe from exploitation. The agency handles portfolio development and ensures that photographers represent the models well, with a sensitivity to age and empowering concepts. They check moodboards and photos prior to publishing and decline requests that might be harmful. Ultimately, UNN is a movement aimed at impacting individuals and an entire society. This starts with creating safer spaces for young people.
When asked about their experience of running a business as young women in Egypt, the sisters laugh. “They’re intimidated, not us”, Iman smiles. She is usually considered an employee because people cannot imagine a young woman running a company. “Being female owners of a business is challenging, but definitely empowering”, Yousra says. Within the industry, they have no issues. “The fashion world are the outcasts of society collected in one place for the purpose of finding their own individuality”, Iman explains. “It gets difficult when we leave that bubble, because in Egyptian mainstream culture, individuality does not exist.”
In reality, it is naive to underestimate the impact that UNN has and will continue to have both locally and globally. UNN empowers individuals, allowing them to move up the social ladder and become independent. They also challenge rigid fashion concepts and, consequently, long established beauty standards through “respectfully educating clients”, as Yousra puts it. UNN is making strides into a more creative future in Egypt, and towards a self-invented North African fashion scene.
