DUBAI: She previously served as the muse for one of famed footwear designer Christian Louboutin’s handbag collections and now Elisa Sednaoui Dellal has debuted her very own range of accessories.
The Egyptian-Italian model, actress and philanthropist has launched a new collaboration with France-based accessories label Josefina. Featuring 16 leather carryalls, pouches, backpacks and accessories handcrafted by artisans in Spain, the profits from the collaboration will go toward her educational social enterprise Funtasia.
“It’s here! The collection of which 100 percent (of the) proceeds (after costs of production) will benefit @funtasiaeducation programs in Italy, Egypt, Mexico and soon Argentina, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the US,” wrote the mother-of-two on Instagram, thanking creative director of Josefina, France Lamy Herbeau, for her “generosity and wisdom” and for allowing her to “have so much fun and freedom working on the creative direction of this line.”
The Italy-born beauty, who spent much of her childhood in Egypt, decided to pay sartorial homage to her Egyptian roots by decorating each bag with crocodiles and an interpretation of the Abyssinian cat — a representation of the Ancient Egyptian sun deity, Ra.
“We loved the Ancient Egyptian inspired crocodile and cats so much that we decided to expand the collection to additional makeup cases and a computer case,” she stated on Instagram.
Designed with practicality in mind, the internal compartments within the designs came in very handy, according to Sednaoui Dellal, after she had her second child.
The Josefina x Funtasia Education collaboration is currently available for purchase online, where the pieces retail from $63 to $377.
The model is always coming up with creative ways to benefit her social enterprise. In November, she partnered with former Princess Alia Al-Senussi of Libya to guest curate the “Contemporary Curated” auction at Sotheby’s London, with the sale of ten of the works collected for the auction going toward Funtasia.
Founded in 2013, the Elisa Sednaoui Foundation’s mission is to promote the educational development of children and adults, as well as provide access to hands-on creative learning experiences and programs.
