Hanaa Ben Abdesslem is a Tunisian model who has found success modeling for top designers like Chanel, Givenchy, and Jean Paul Gaultier. She defies Western assumptions about Arab beauty with her androgynous looks. While modeling has given her confidence, the beauty standards she faced growing up in Tunisia and working in Lebanon emphasized more extreme looks. Gaultier chose Hanaa to close his couture show, a sign of how he frequently casts diverse models to challenge notions of beauty.

1. 162|Harper’s BAZAAR|July/August 2012 October 2012|Harper’s BAZAAR|163
CREDITHERE
lifting
The
veilOne day after walking in Chanel’s spring/summer 2011 haute couture
show in Paris, Tunisian model Hanaa Ben Abdesslem returned to
her homeland to volunteer at a refugee camp during the Arab Spring.
Alex Aubry meets the woman changing the face of Arabian beauty,
while Bazaar photographs Hanaa in the season’s most coveted couture
Styling by Elaine lloyd-jones
Photography by Michelle Ferrara
Hanaa Ben Abdesslem wears veil
and dress, both Armani Privé.
Platinum and diamond bracelet
with 54.95-carat aquamarine and
four spinels totalling 7.12 carats,
from Cartier’s Dépaysement
collection presented at the 26th
Biennale des Antiquaires

2. interviewThe
n 1935, Bettina Ballard, then a young Paris-based fashion editor for American Vogue, recalled attending a Madame Alix Grès
presentation at the couturier’s cramped salon on Paris’s Faubourg Saint-
Honoré. Keeping her audience waiting as she pinned together her last
dress backstage, Madame Grès’ show finally began with the appearance
of her favourite model, “a beautiful Indo-Chinese girl who would weave
into the room, draped skintight in jersey.”
Since couture’s earliest days, Paris designers have been known to
pepper their intimate presentations with a host of exotic beauties. Long
before the advent of jet travel, such models imparted a certain polish to
their creations, while alluding to a cosmopolitan world far beyond the
walls of the couture salons. In the 1920s, exiled White Russians were
much in demand for their reed-thin frames and aristocratic allure. While
the 1950s saw the emergence of feted mannequins such as Alla,
a Eurasian beauty with soaring cheekbones who became a star attraction
at Dior’s shows, in addition to Balenciaga and Givenchy favourite China
Machado, whose blended Portuguese and Chinese lineage was captured
by Richard Avedon in the pages of Harper’s Bazaar.
Relegated to the margins of fashion history until recently, the presence
of these multi-ethnic models at the Paris couture houses points to the
fashion world’s early fascination with the culturally (and some might
add racially) ambiguous; one that endures today, despite the continued
debate surrounding the lack of diversity on fashion’s catwalks and in
style publications.
The evening before presenting his autumn/winter 2012 couture
collection, lights blaze through the windows of Jean Paul Gaultier’s
headquarters at 325 Rue Saint-Martin in the Marais. Inside, moneyed
clients and jaded editors alike must pass an inscription heralding the
FUTURE OF THE PROLETARIAT on their way up to Gaultier’s
couture salon, a reminder of the building’s previous life as the home of
the French Socialist party.
Upstairs, the couture workrooms buzz as the house’s petite mains work
late into the early morning to complete a number of half-finished gowns.
In the middle of this tiny tempest stands Gaultier, calmly conducting
a final fitting on Tunisian model Hanaa Ben Abdesslem who is wearing
the wedding gown that will close his show.
Pinching at fabric and adjusting the dress, the designer steps back to
examine the dress on her, all the while carrying on multiple conversations
with the heads of his ateliers, consulting sketches pinned on every
I
164|Harper’s BAZAAR|October 2012
Dress, Atelier Versace.
Shoes, Dhs3,600, Jimmy
Choo. White gold, black
lacquer and diamond
bracelet; platinum ring with
two triangular-cut diamonds
of 3.20-and-3.03-carats and
14 baguette-cut diamonds
totalling 4.70 carats;
platinum and diamond
earrings, all Cartier
➤
October 2012|Harper’s BAZAAR|165

3. interviewThe
October 2012|Harper’s BAZAAR|167
Fur jacket and dress,
Jean Paul Gaultier couture.
Platinum and diamond
pavé earrings with two blue
oval-cut spinels; platinum
necklace with 236.27-carat
aquamarine, 6.68-grain
natural pearl, aquamarine
beads and baguette-cut
diamonds, both Cartier
Dress, Dhs65,000, Valentino.
Platinum and diamond ring
with 17.13-carat cushion-shape
yellow sapphire and onyx;
platinum and diamond ring
with 24.46-carat cushion-
shape sapphire from Ceylon,
onyx spots and nose, emerald
eyes, both Cartier

4. interviewThe
available wall surface, and reaching for a nearby table piled with
a profusion of glittering jewels, gloves and headpieces. The model beams
as the designer perches a skeletal top hat of ivory satin on her head.
“That was a big moment for me,” confides Hanaa, seated in a crowded
café in Midtown Manhattan a few days after Gaultier’s show. “It was
a huge honour to be picked as the bride, especially since Gaultier was
one of the first designers to use me. He’s very down to earth and funny
backstage, and it’s his ability to engage with people that makes working
with him so enjoyable,” adds the gamine model, who first captured the
fashion world’s attention when she took a turn down Givenchy’s spring/
summer 2011 catwalk in the autumn of 2010. At the time, few of the
editors or photographers in attendance could guess the androgynous
beauty’s background, let alone her name.
When she first began working in Paris and New York people often
assumed she was French or Spanish. “I would tell them I was from
Tunisia, and very few would have heard of it or could point it out on
a map,” recalls Hanaa, who defies Western assumptions of what an Arab
woman should look like. Translating more naturally to an international
audience, her hard-to-pin-down looks earned her a coveted beauty
contract with Lancôme. Her universal appeal also serves to highlight the
diversity of skin tones and features found throughout the Arab world,
the result of a cross-cultural mélange that has been going on for centuries.
Yet Hanaa’s appearance on international catwalks has also sparked
a debate within the region surrounding local beauty standards, one in
which she often didn’t fit in to. “I was very aware that I looked different
from a young age. Especially being tall and skinny in a culture where
having voluptuous curves is considered beautiful,” she says, pointing out
that modelling gave her a sense of confidence and empowerment.
While working in Beirut’s fashion industry early in her career, she also
observed an approach to beauty that differed considerably from its
Western counterparts. “When I first began modelling in Lebanon, the
girls tended to be heavily made up and it was always this extreme notion
of beauty,” says the fresh-faced model, who prefers to wear very little
make-up. “There seems to be this perception that in order to be attractive
you need to wear a lot of make-up. But I think the fashion world has
a responsibility to show young girls that there are different ways to be
beautiful, and that there shouldn’t be one standard to go by,” she adds.
Although the decision to chop her hair into a Jean Seberg-esque bob
helped catapult her career into the limelight, Hanaa struggled with
parting from her long locks. “I was by no means the first Tunisian
woman to cut her hair short, and there are plenty of women there today
who continue to wear their hair that way. But I was initially hesitant
because since childhood it’s been engrained in us that to be beautiful,
Arab women must have long hair,” says Hanaa, who hasn’t looked back
since her career took off.
“I remember asking the hairdresser to cover the mirror. I didn’t want
to watch the process, but when I finally looked at myself I was very
happy with the results. It was very elegant and androgynous at the same
time,” recalls the model who found an unexpected fan in her mother.
“Although she was absolutely in tears when she first found out I had cut
my hair, the irony is that she’s now grown to love it. When I walked
Gaultier’s recent show, all the girls had to wear long wigs and she told me
she preferred my shorter hair after seeing pictures of me on the catwalk,”
she continues.
That Gaultier should have picked the 22-year-old from the Tunisian
village of Nabuel to close his couture show came as no surprise to those
who have followed his career over a 30-year period. Considered one of
fashion’s most influential (and original) thinkers, he has long been
inspired by subcultures that have encompassed British punks, Mexican
surrealists and Paris’ North African immigrant communities.
His fascination with the other also extends to his choice of models,
frequently prodding and questioning prevailing notions of beauty by
casting a diversity of ages, genders and ethnicities in his shows. Amongst
his long-time muses is the French-Algerian style icon Farida Khelfa, who
was recently tapped as the new face of Elsa Schiaparelli. During the
1980s she frequently appeared in Gaultier’s shows and ad campaigns
before becoming the directrice of his couture salon; a powerful position
that afforded her access to both the clients and ateliers.
As far back as the 1930s, the Paris couture establishment included
a number of Arab personalities within its ranks. Amongst them was
Madeleine Vionnet’s Egyptian manager, who presided over the
couturier’s Art Deco salon at 50 Avenue Montaigne, ensuring that her
creations appeared on the best dressed women of the day. This tight-knit
circle of couture devotees also included a number of clients from the
Middle East who frequently appeared in the society pages of top fashion
magazines, such as the dark Egyptian beauty Madame Elouy-Bey as well
as Madame Henri Pharaon of Beirut.
Although there have been rare instances of young women from the
region breaking into the modelling business over the decades, their
stories seldom surfaced in the mainstream media. Lebanese-born Mona
Ross was one of the few to have pursued a successful career in the early
1970s, modelling for the likes of Dior and Balmain in Paris, as well as
Oscar de la Renta in New York.
For Hanaa, who spent her childhood leafing through French fashion
magazines in search of faces that resembled her own, there were few
tangible examples of a successful Arab model. “There weren’t any role
models that I could single out to show my parents that modelling could
be a viable career choice,” recalls Hanaa, who came to admire Farida
Khelfa long before the two eventually crossed paths during a chance
encounter after Chanel’s spring 2011 couture presentation.
“I went up to her after the show to tell her how much I admire her,
and she asked me where I was from. She couldn’t believe that an Arab
girl had made it to the Chanel runway,” says the model of her icon, who
invited her to dinner shortly afterwards.
“She asked me about my dreams and what I would like to do after
modelling. I told her I wanted to take everything I had learnt from this
experience and channel it into something positive back in Tunisia,”
continues Hanaa, who went on to tell Farida about the many talented
young Tunisians she wanted to expose to the world.
Their conversation that evening inspired Farida to create
a documentary about the role played by Tunisia’s youth in the country’s
regime change. Une Jeunesse Tunisienne captured a moment in their lives,
a snapshot taken exactly six months after Ben Ali fled the country. With
the help of Hanaa and her older brother Walid, who also appear in the
film, Farida was able to tell the stories of young artists, photographers
and dancers who became cyber-activists in their bid for positive change.
“I was very inspired by her can-do attitude, and it made me want to do
more for my country,” Hanaa adds.
Not content with her new-found fame as the first Arab face of
Lancôme, the Tunisian-born model has also been using her growing
influence to bring attention to humanitarian causes in her homeland.
“I wasn’t with my family in Tunisia when the revolution took place, and
because of that I felt a need to give back to my country in some way and
take part in its transformation,” says Hanaa.
“Iwas very aware that I looked different from a young age.
Especially being tall and skinny in a culture where
having voluptuous curves is considered beautiful”
Hanaa Ben Abdesslem
October 2012|Harper’s BAZAAR|169
Top, skirt and shoes,
Dior couture
➤

5. interviewThe
“Journalists often ask me if I wear
a burqa when I’m back home. Little do
they know that women in Tunis were one
of the first in the region to discard the veil”
hanaa ben abdesslem
October 2012|Harper’s BAZAAR|171
Dress, Stéphane Rolland.
Platinum and diamond
necklace and matching
earrings, both Cartier
Jacket, Jean Paul Gaultier
couture. Corset, Dhs1,390,
Agent Provocateur. Platinum
and diamond necklace with
sapphire cabochon, opal and
sapphire beads, Cartier

6. 172|Harper’s BAZAAR|October 2012 October 2012|Harper’s BAZAAR|173
interviewThe
One of the ways she decided to give back was to volunteer at the Ras
Jdir refugee camp by the Libyan border, where 25,000 people were
seeking refuge from the civil war. For Hanaa, who had flown in the day
after modelling couture on the Chanel catwalk, it was a surreal experience
travelling to another world in the span of 24 hours, where thousands of
tents stretched into the horizon. “It wasn’t just about distributing food
to families, but the simple act of listening to them. There were so many
mothers and young girls who had made the journey on their own, and
what they needed more than anything at that moment was a sympathetic
ear,” she explains, adding that the experience opened her eyes to the
possibility of using her own connections to the fashion world to improve
the lives of others in her country.
“That’s why I decided to join Esmaani (Listen to Me), an association
in Tunis that provides a network of resources for people in need, from
hospital care to food. It’s not about waiting for the government to
provide these resources, but taking the initiative to do it oneself.
I realised that, being a model with an international audience, I have
a responsibility to bring attention to important causes in my country.
If my voice and presence can help in some way then I will do it,” says
Hanaa, who would also like to help Tunisia’s burgeoning fashion
industry by collaborating with students at ESMOD, the fashion school
established in the capital in 1988.
For a small country hugging North Africa’s Mediterranean coast,
Tunisia has had a long relationship with the fashion world. Its picturesque
towns and desert oases have been used as a backdrop to countless fashion
shoots, while Paris has attracted a number of Tunisian-born talents over
the decades. Among them is the late designer Loris Azzaro, whose
glamorous beaded evening gowns, featuring daring cut-outs, came to
define the decadent 1970s. “I let myself get carried by the atmosphere of
the country of my childhood with its spiced odours, colours and
perfumes… a country where my preferred colour is everywhere, azure of
the sea and sky,” recalled the designer who counted Marisa Berenson,
the era’s ‘It’ girl and legendary model, amongst his fans.
Ironically, Berenson’s grandmother, the couturier Elsa Schiaparelli,
was often inspired by traditional Tunisian dressmaking techniques,
which she would later interpret into some of her most iconic designs.
Having first visited the country as a child with her father, later in life
Schiaparelli purchased a house in Hammamet, spending much of her
retirement travelling between Paris and Tunisia until she passed away on
November 13th, 1973.
Leila Menchari, Hermès’ legendary creative director, is another
Tunisian transplant who has made an impact within Paris’ fashion
circles. Since 1977 she has been concocting the whimsical window
displays at the maison’s Faubourg Saint-Honoré premises; earning her
a retrospective in 2010 at L’Institut du Monde Arabe. Leila was
introduced to the fashion world by another fellow Tunisian, Azzedine
Alaïa. Through him she met the couturier Guy Laroche, who hired her
as an in-house model.
Considered a master amongst Paris couturiers for his deep knowledge
of garment construction, Alaïa has earned the respect of fashion editors
and models alike, who clamour to wear his innovative body-contouring
knits and expertly tailored suits. “I’ve always wanted to work with Alaïa.
He’s a true artist,” says Hanaa who, like the talented Tunisian-born
designer, is leaving her imprint on the fashion world.
Despite her success, the model is quick to point out that challenges
still exist for Arab and Muslim girls looking to break into a business that
rewards exhibitionism over modesty. “You grow up very quickly in this
profession. I remember when I first began, I would encounter girls
backstage at the shows who were much younger than me yet seemed
a lot more mature. I had to be strong early on and not compromise my
values. Most of the designers, photographers and publications I work
with respect my decision to not pose nude,” says Hanaa, who has been
photographed by the likes of Mario Sorrenti, Terry Richardson, Mario
Testino, Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin.
“I’ve been lucky to have worked with some visionary editors and
photographers over the years who have helped nurture my career,” adds
the model, who also dreams of posing for Steven Meisel and Paolo
Roversi one day. “When I was growing up, there weren’t any fashion
magazines like Harper’s Bazaar Arabia that offered an alternative
platform for fashion and beauty in the Arab World. It is one of the
reasons I was excited to work with this publication,” adds Hanaa, who
has also grown as she continues to learn the ins and outs of the business.
“Modelling is very much about character building. When you find
yourself having to use the subway in a foreign city or ask for directions,
you become self-reliant very quickly. Being independent is probably one
of the most valuable lessons I’ve learnt in the last few years,” says the
model, crediting her manager and modelling agency, IMG, with creating
a support system that has helped her grow professionally.
Raised within the comfort of an extended Tunisian family, there was
always a brother, uncle or cousin available to lend a hand; a level of
security Hanaa had to do without as she began travelling around the
world on modelling assignments. “In a sense my agency has become my
second family when I am away from home. Whether I am in Paris or
New York, I know I can always stop by their offices if I need anything.
Sophie Galal, my manager who is originally from Saudi Arabia, has also
been incredibly supportive. Because we share a similar cultural
background, she understands where I’m coming from and some of the
challenges I face,” explains Hanaa, who is also changing perceptions
within the fashion industry; especially in a post-9/11 world where
misconceptions about the Muslim and Arab World persist.
“People I’ve encountered often assume that being Muslim means one
is extremely conservative. There is also a tendency to look at the Arab
World as one big monolithic entity with little variation from one country
to the next, when in fact there is a rich diversity of ethnicities, cultures
and even religions throughout the region,” explains the model who is
also trying to shatter stereotypes about Muslim women.
“In the West there seems to be this fixation with the veil, and
journalists often ask me if I wear a burqa when I’m back home. Little do
they know that women in Tunis were one of the first in the region to
discard the veil, and that many progressive laws were passed over the
decades to protect their rights,” says Hanaa, who is proud of these
accomplishments. “I try to explain that the veil isn’t simply a part of the
region’s traditions, but also a choice women have in the way they choose
to express their cultural identity. Within a single family one can find
a mix of generations who choose to go with or without the veil, and
respecting that freedom of choice is important,” she adds, noting that
recent events in Tunis and the region have had the unlikely effect of
creating new opportunities where they may not have existed before.
“Success in the fashion world is often based on being in the right place
at the right time. Today the industry is ready and willing to listen to our
stories, and a lot of it has to do with the changes sweeping through the
region. But it’s important to remember that even if that door has opened,
it can close again. It’s now up to us to keep prying it open in order to
maintain our presence in the fashion world.”
“Iwasn’t with my family in Tunisia when the revolution took
place, and because of that I felt a need to give back to my country
in some way and take part in its transformation”
Hanaa Ben Abdesslem
Dress, belt and shoes, all Chanel
couture. Photography: Michelle
Ferrara at Pancho Saula Artist
Management. Stylist: Elaine
Lloyd-Jones. Stylist’s assistant:
Lisa Corbett. Make-up: Yannis
Soskos at Airport Agency. Hair:
Stéphane Delahaye at B Agency.
Photographed at George V Paris,
Fourseasons.com/paris
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