Farewell Basil Soda

Deeply saddened by Basil Soda’s passing. It’s difficult to find the right words when confronted with such terrible news.

Basil was fighting illness for a while now. Last time I saw him, a few month back, he’d had lost a lot of weight. But he didn’t say a thing. Just a gentle smile and a warm embrace.

We’ve met a few years ago. A common friend introduced us. Basil wanted to make a film about his latest collection and was interested in working with me. He’d seen a short film I directed and wanted the same zany style of comedy.

I was expecting to meet a fashion diva, full of his international fame --many stars like Katy Perry, Emily Blunt and Marion Cotillard wore Basil Soda dresses at red carpet events. But I discovered the most gentle of men. Always humble, always polite, always respectful, always available.

Basil was passionate. Basil was incredibly talented. Basil was a poet. Basil was an iconoclast. He could have wanted one these trendy egotistic videos, so common in the fashion industry. Instead he chose to talk about himself through the eyes of his best friend, his lively Jack Russell, Puncho.

Quickly our work relation became somewhat of a friendship. And I’ll never forget his cheeky smile when he used to greet me, expecting good old devilish me to come up with some shocking comment about something!

Today, Lebanon has lost one of his most prominent fashion ambassadors. And many have lost a dear friend. My thoughts are with his wife Denise, his son Jad and all his loved ones.

Goodbye Basil. You were way too young to go. And you will be terribly missed.