For French documentary filmmaker, actor, fashion ambassador, and model Farida Khelfa, fashion opened an entire world, which took her far from her family and hometown of Lyon, France. Leaving home at a young age, the determined Khelfa escaped to Paris. Moving to Paris allowed her to be “discovered” by the fashion world, which embraced and supported her from the beginning. She goes beyond the clichés and lends a western platform to Arab women to speak for themselves.

Carla Bruni, former First Lady of France from 2008 to 2012, is a model, singer/songwriter, and mother of two, born in Italy and living and working in France. Coming from a different – one might even say opposite – background than Khelfa, Bruni was born into a successful family of industrialists and lived with ease and comfort. She brushes this all away, saying, “Connections in life aren’t made by your name or your color. I know this sounds so banal, but what is your soul like? What kind of person are you? When you have a similar soul, that’s how you connect. We come from different places, but she is my sister.”

-VOGUE Arabia

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