Farida Khelfa

Khelfa, one of eight children, was born in Lyon to Algerian immigrants. She ran away from her strict Muslim family at the age of 15, joining her sister in Paris. There she befriended Christian Louboutin, who gave her a place to stay. While working at a nightclub, Khelfa was discovered by photographer Jean-Paul Goude. Goude was the first to use Khelfa as a model and later introduced her to designer Azzedine Alaïa.

In 2013 Khelfa was appointed as the brand ambassador for Schiaparelli. Khelfa parted with the brand in 2017 stating that she needed time to focus on her own projects including filmmaking. However Khelfa continued to work with the brand, notably appearing on the Schiaparelli spring/summer 2020 Haute Couture runway in 2019.