JEDDAH: Saudi model Taleedah Tamer, 17, turned heads this week when she made her debut at Haute Couture Fashion Week in Paris, walking the runway for Italian designer Antonio Grimaldi on Monday.
The up-and-coming beauty wore a sleek white pant suit with a structured cape and slit sleeves and then strutted down the runway in a pale pink column gown, embroidered with vertically-lined sequins and adorned with a feather accent on one shoulder.
The model took to Instagram to document her whirlwind experience in Paris, thanking the designer before adding she was heading out for sushi after the show.
“Thank you @antoniogrimaldi. Now sushiiii (sic),” she captioned a casual close-up photo.
After landing her first contracts modeling for Karloff jewelry and Rubaiyat, the Saudi model made fashion waves by gracing the latest cover of Harper’s Bazaar Arabia.
Born and raised in Jeddah to a Saudi father and Italian mother, Tamer enjoyed support from both her parents to pursue a career in the fashion industry. Her father, Ayman Tamer, is chairman of the Tamer Group, a health care, pharmaceutical and beauty company, while her mother, Cristina, is a former model who worked for Giorgio Armani, La Perla and Gianfranco Ferre.
In a recent interview with Arab News, Tamer revealed her fashion goals: “I do have professional and personal goals in many different fields within the fashion industry, but in regards to publications, being able to grace the cover of any of Vogue’s ‘Big Four’ — the French, Italian, British or American Vogue — would be such an honor.
“On the runway, I’ve always wanted to walk for Armani since my mother walked for them when she was younger, so that would be special. In photography, I would love to work with Steven Meisel. Some destinations I would love to visit and work on in location are Bora Bora, India, Croatia and Japan.”
The model counts Gisele Bundchen and Dutch-Moroccan-Egyptian star Imaan Hammam among her modeling inspirations.
Tamer, a recent graduate of the British International School of Jeddah, hopes to continue her modelling career while furthering her education in business marketing.
Designer Grimaldi, who debuted Tamer on the Paris runway, has been dressing Middle Eastern clients for two decades in his bespoke styles.
“No one would have imagined this,” he told Harper’s Bazaar Arabia on the idea of a Saudi model on the runway and the global reaction to it.
“People think that behind the abaya, there is something very far away from them. That is not true. All women are the same, they like the same things. This is the perfect time to show that.”
Meanwhile on Tuesday, models strutted past Parisian landmarks, including the green book stalls that line the river Seine, at Chanel’s fashion show, as the luxury label mocked up an entire cityscape to present its latest haute couture collection.
The fashion house, known for its extravagant runway displays, set the scene for its winter styles under an imposing recreation of the domed, neoclassical Institut de France that houses the country’s language council and looms over the river.
The first styles out of the blocks included an array of tweed suits — a Chanel staple reimagined for every collection by octogenarian designer Karl Lagerfeld — in shades of grey that evoked chic Parisian looks from the 1940s, Reuters reported.
However, the jackets and straight skirts were updated to feature slits, creating flared sleeves as models displayed glimpses of long, fingerless gloves.
Other standout pieces included puffy party dresses with feathered hemlines and edgier, rock-style gowns with a metallic glint.
Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week runs until July 5.
Only a handful of brands belong to the select haute couture club — to qualify, brands have to be approved by French fashion’s governing body and fulfil criteria covering staffing, skills and the service offered to private clients.
Taleedah Tamer makes waves in Paris
Taleedah Tamer makes waves in Paris
