This image is a portrait of me and my grandmother, Ehsan Ouf, in her flat in Cairo. It is part of a project Grandma and the Fur Coat that I started in 2024. I lived with her for four years, while I was studying photography, and we spent a lot of time chatting and watching TV on that couch.

The dress I’m wearing is her engagement dress from 1971 – one of the very few items she wore as a young woman that she still has – and the fur coat she’s wearing was a gift from my late grandfather. I persuaded her not to sell it – and that is partly why I decided to start this project: to document how stylish she was. In the 70s and 80s she dressed like a celebrity, wearing brands such as Chanel and Dior. She had a collection of wigs, and even matched the colour of her cigarettes to her outfits.

Sometimes she tries to convince me to wear a wig when I go out. I think she secretly doesn’t like my curly hair.

While I was living with her I started going through boxes of old photos. One of my favourites is a black and white photograph taken on the day she got engaged. Many of them were taken by my late grandfather. He loved photographing my grandmother. I never knew him – he died in 2000, two months after I was born – but we share the same love of photography. No one had shot her since he died so I wanted to continue his legacy – and do something for her.

When my grandfather was alive they often hosted family and friends in the flat, but after his death people stopped coming to visit. Now her days are quiet, and sometimes lonely. As well as being a tribute to how fashionable she was as a young woman, this series reflects on the passing of time, and how life changes. I have started a second project, Ehsan, named after her, which focuses more on who she is now: a 78-year-old woman who is ageing gracefully.

• Farida Mahdy is a photographer, assistant curator and visual artist from Egypt. See more at instagram.com/faridamahdy