“We were both excited and terrified."
Lupita Nyong’o attended the opening night of the musical version of Monsoon Wedding and her look consisted of a beautiful saree by a Pakistani designer.
But the standout element was an intricate mehendi design on her shaved head.
The mehendi was done by a henna artist named Sabeen, who is based in New York.
Lupita was introduced to Sabeen by Misha Japanwala, whose wedding mehendi she did.
On Instagram, the Black Panther star showed off the design and wrote:
“I met Henna by Sabeen last year at a wedding in Pakistan.
“She did the henna design for the bride and I was astounded by the intricacy and beauty of her work.
“There was something unique about the way she expressed herself in henna art. And I promised myself, ‘One day I will have a reason to work with Sabeen’.”
Lupita travelled to Karachi for Misha’s wedding in February 2022.
When she was invited to the opening of the Monsoon Wedding musical, Lupita struggled to find something to wear.
She borrowed a saree and jewellery from Misha but felt her look was not complete.
Lupita continued: “And then, in the middle of the night, an image shot into my mind of a henna design covering my bald head!!!
“I could do something special and different, to celebrate the culture using the canvas readily available to me! I was so excited by the idea that I could not go back to sleep.
“Misha connected me to Sabeen, and we were on our way.”
Sabeen had not designed mehendi for a head before nor had Lupita had mehendi done on her.
“My only prompt to her was that I wanted a widow’s peak (homage to the bindhi, borla/maang tikka), the rest was all her innovation.
“She suggested jagua, a natural dye from the jagua fruit of South America that would be dark enough to give good contrast to my dark skin.
“We were both excited and terrified. What if it went wrong or looked funny??? Well, I thought, I can always wear a head wrap.”
But the final design was something both of them were proud of.
“We stopped now and again so that I could give her feedback because she was determined to leave me a happy client.
“And Sabeen was meticulous. She did not stop until it was perfect.
“When we looked at the finished head… we were both grinning!”
Lupita Nyong’o said it took about 24 hours for the dye to show up properly.
“And when it came in, in full contrast the next day, I was simply moved. It was beautiful. It was bold and elegant; it had a point of view.
“We had not played it safe, and it had paid off. And I had found a new way to express myself without hair!
“So the moral of this story is: Dare yourself to seek out beauty in new ways.
“And, Sabeen, thank you for bestowing on me the beauty of your hand and history!”
Fans praised the actress for her tribute to Desi culture while others believed she started a new trend.
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