A Postcard from Morocco
Why we shot our launch campaign in a far-flung corner of the world
Hi everyone! Amy here. Olivia introduced me in last week’s post and interviewed me the week before that, but now I’m here to tell you about the most epic photoshoot I’ve ever been part of. Four months ago, we flew two team members (me + Olivia Eckerson), three models, two photographers, one makeup artist, and one surf coach/producer to Dakhla, a city in Western Sahara (which is technically part of Morocco) to shoot the Annadea launch campaign.
Morocco is undeniably having a moment right now. Sirat–one of the best movies I’ve watched this year–and The Odyssey, which is coming out soon, were both filmed in remote parts of Morocco. I saw that Madonna was just there, plus a handful of other celebrities. I’ve seen Morocco featured in fashion campaigns, and I’ve seen more and more Moroccan designers teaming up with American and European designers on new collections. I didn’t choose Morocco because of the recent attention, mind you, I’ve been enamored with the country for the last six years. In fact, I almost bought a riad and moved to Marrakesh instead of Lisbon back in 2022. Morocco is sensorially indulgent, fantastically whimsical, and unquestionably romantic. The colors are bold, moody, and passionate; the design is rich and textured, the food is full of spices and flavors.
What drew me to Morocco, though, was the people. Moroccans are some of the most generous people I’ve met, always sharing whatever is in front of them: tea, food, soda, anything. They’ll drive six hours one way to pick you up at the airport, they’ll stop to give a ride to an older person who’s having trouble walking in the heat of the harsh sun. They’ll welcome you into their homes and they’ll prepare massive amounts of food for you.
I had been to Marrakech and the Atlas many times, but in October of last year I visited the coast for the first time. I was participating in a women’s surf retreat and spent a week in Imsouane, a tiny surf village two hours south of Essaouira. During those seven days, I met Aymen, a very talented photographer and videographer who took a cinematic approach to filming surf content. I met Ikram, one of the managers at the local surf camp. I met Bamboo, a surf coach who is also the most helpful and resourceful person on this planet. Through these people, I was exposed to gorgeous women, women who I thought would be perfect models to introduce Annadea for the first time. They were surfers from different parts of the world, they were entrepreneurs who had started their own businesses, and they were women who were, frankly, unstoppable. They were pursuing life paths different to those that were more traditionally laid out for them, and I thought: that’s the essence of our Annadea girl. She’s bold, audacious, and spirited. She’s active but she’s a girl’s girl. She can dress up or dress down, she’s as comfortable at a trendy restaurant as she is in the ocean.
Then, Bamboo sent me the Instagram profile of White Dune Canyon in Dakhla. Within a week I was on the phone with the owner and developer, Nawfal, and a month after that I went on a location scout. The place was perfect–turquoise water that you can rarely find in the Atlantic, long stretches of uninterrupted coastline, a beautiful resort with a very nice pool, restaurant, garden, and bungalows, great waves, and a driver who would take us to every remote spot that would be good for shooting. I spent five days surfing, riding horses, going on a jetski, sailing a boat, exploring a deserted island–all in the name of finding the right locations for Annadea.
I shared the photos and videos with Olivia and Kyle, and they approved. We all liked that there was something unique about the environment–it’s not somewhere like the Amalfi coast, or Tulum, or Miami that would be easily recognizable from a million other photoshoots–but it wasn’t so exotic that it was off-putting. It could be somewhere in Mexico or California with the dry desert landscape and the cliffs up against the ocean, but not quite.
Over the next couple of months, Olivia Eckerson worked on the world’s most comprehensive shot list; we must have had thousands of shots on there. She created a very detailed schedule for each day, which we planned in accordance with the tides, the wind, and the sunlight. We pulled together a wardrobe–a combination of gifted products, our own closets, and a few purchased items–and we even created custom Annadea longboards with a Moroccan surfboard shaper.
We took a chance with almost every single part of this shoot. Aymen was not an established photographer, with decades of beauty campaigns under his belt. Two of our three models were not professional models, though they had experience with local brands. Olivia Eckerson had never been on a photoshoot like this before, much less produced one. I had never been the creative director on a campaign. Olivia and Kyle had never been to Morocco, and they weren’t on set during the shoot. But to be honest, I like it this way. I like working with unproven people who want to prove themselves. I like the adaptability, curiosity, and down-for-anything attitude that accompanies professionals who haven’t been worn down by the cut-and-paste approach to their industries. I really do believe that if you want to stand out, if you want to be different, you have to do different things. If we wanted to look like every other beauty brand out there, we’d hire a beauty photographer who shoots for Glossier and Rhode, we’d bring in an art director who has worked for the same brands, and we’d shoot in LA, New York, Ibiza, or some other recognizable location. There’s a time and a place for that, and I’m sure we’ll do it at some point in the future.
But to make a splash–surf/water pun intended–we wanted to embrace the Annadea ethos we penned months before. We wanted to live in color, to take the risk, to embrace the unknown, and to go 10000% all in on the hunch that we could create something incredibly special.
We can’t wait for you to see the full campaign in a few weeks!
The Morocco decision feels like the real creative choice here. Not just a prettier backdrop, but a way of refusing the usual beauty-brand shorthand.