Meet the Egyptian Designer That Turned Cleopatra Into a Paris Fashion Icon

Sara Hegazy had a booming career as an engineer when fashion came across her path. “I had started to design gowns for me and my friends since 1997, but I never saw it as a career; it was my passion,” she tells Barakabits.

Moving to Kuwait city in 2007, the Egyptian designer studied drawing and coloring techniques via the internet, until she submitted her first three dresses to an atelier; one of them, her own wedding gown. “They offered me a job and I didn’t take it, but that was the moment I said to myself: ‘forget about engineering,’” she says. She took online courses, studied fashion in Dubai, and decided to create her own business plan.

A competition for Maybelline in New York several fashion contests later, she launched her first collection: 15 pieces, colorful jumpsuits and dazzling rainbows in traditionally black abayyas that sparked the interest of international media.

But Hegazy’s goal was clear: she wanted to present a collection in Paris. “I needed a big collaboration to innovate with my designs, so I thought of partnering with Asfour to create a heavy collection with crystals centered around the figure of Cleopatra,” she recalls. After myriad design preparations and three months of intensive research, Hegazy discovered the Tiffany Fashion Show 2014, a competition that runs parallel to Paris Fashion Week, but is especially dedicated to international rising talents. “They loved the idea of having Cleopatra as an icon,” she says.

Combining white and gold, Sara’s inspiration is based in history books, but also on the architecture of the palace Cleopatra lived in. “Every dress had to be daring and sharp to represent her unbreakable spirit and her fearless desire to rule the world,” she concludes.

For more information: Visit Sara Hegazy’s website and Facebook page.