Sarah Beydoun is the founder and creative director of Sarah’s Bag. Born and raised in Lebanon, she belongs to a generation of Beirut-based designers who came of age during the country’s fifteen-year civil war and are now contributing to rebuilding the city’s cultural life through their work in various creative industries.
After studying sociology at the American University of Beirut, Sarah earned her master’s degree from the Universite Saint Joseph, where she wrote her thesis on female prostitution and women prisoners in Lebanon. She realized she could combine her interest in bettering underprivileged women’s lives with her love for fashion. In doing so, she created a robust young business that is stylishly aware and socially responsible at the same time.
Sarah decided to set up her company as part of a rehabilitation program, whereby women at risk from economic depravation or the stigma of having served time in prison would learn valuable skills in return for a reliable income and a stable source of pride, dignity, and empowerment. In the process, these women would be helping to revamp the centuries’ old traditions of artisans and textile makers in the Middle East for the purpose of invigorating contemporary fashion. The arrangement turned out to be successful, innovative, and highly efficient.
As the company expanded, Sarah teamed up with her friend Sarah Nahouli. By 2003, Sarah’s Bag had outgrown its workshop in Horsh Beirut and moved to its current showroom nestled into the high- ceilinged, tile floored rooms of a beautiful old building in Gemmayzeh, a neighborhood near Down- town Beirut that is a mix of antiquated cosmopolitan charm and youthful urban energy.
Sarah’s Bag participated in several exhibitions around the Arab world including Dubai, Kuwait, Jeddah and Riyadh.
In February 2008, the British Council chose Sarah Beydoun to represent Lebanon in the “INTERNA- TIONAL YOUNG FASHION ENTREPRENEUR” competition.
In 2008, in the memory of Oum Kalthoum (June- November 2008) l’Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris invited Sarah’s Bag among other artists to showcase their clutch of the Egyptian icon.
In February 2009, under the framework of Arabesque: Arts of the Arab World. Sarah’s Bag exhibited in the “Kennedy Center International Festival” in Washington.
Today, with thirty points of sale all over the world, Sarah’s Bag is still committed to the Middle Eastern crafts culture in its designs while adhering to the newest trends in fashion.
