Lebanese Designer, Roni El-Helou, Is Officially the Marc Jacobs of the Region
By Aya Elhelw
What comes to your mind when you think of Lebanon? Of course, there’s the green, the voice of Fyrouz, and fashion and that’s where Roni El-Helou got his inspiration. Roni El-Helou is a 26-year-old Lebanese, living in Birute, who’s well known for his unorthodox designs.
The reason we say that he might be the next Marc Jacobs is that we beleive that most of his designs are inspired by him. If you’re really familiar with their work, you can actually spot the spirit!
Roni started his life studying Marketing. His career in fashion started when he got accepted at Creative Space Beirut, a fashion design school in which he attended from 2013 till he graduated in December 2017.
When in college, he worked for many private clients and Lebanese designers, until he won a national fashion design competition hosted by Persil, sending him to Milan to be a part of the Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti’s workshop. His collection, Thesis, was showcased in the finale in a live fashion show held in Arts and Culture house, Dar El-Nimer.
Last year, Starch foundation chose him to show his second collection, among 29 other fashion labels at the 10th edition of the Fashion Forward Dubai, Dubai’s fashion week. He presented his Spring 2018 collection, which he described as being all about “strong women”.
Check the new collection here:
Roni came home that year to Lebanon with the Boghossian Foundation Prize, a 25,000 Euro grant that’s annually awarded to Lebanese fashion artists.
Roni has just released his Summer 2018 collection, which got its inspiration from free-spirited souls of the generation, as he described it. In tribute to people with courage mixed with empathy, its palette is mixing bold with light colors.
Here are some of the celebrities that he dressed:
