WRITER: Nadia  Michel

From its brand new flagship store, LaLaQueen has unveiled a new Geometric collection, which evokes the healing power of crystals and comes with a side of good conscience. 

We live in an age where highly manipulated images on social media platforms affect what we perceive as beauty. But there's a local contemporary fashion label, which specialises in handmade leather handbags that's aiming to show how beauty goes deeper than the surface. “Fashion is about the outside and spirituality is about the inside, so it’s very challenging to merge the two, but that is what LaLaQueen is about,” explains the brand's designer and founder, Sally Sarieddine.

Located in the Beirut Central District and designed to portray a 'fashion art gallery', LaLaQueen's first flagship boutique comprises a ground floor shop and a mezzanine level that's utilised by the creative team.

It's perhaps most evident in her latest collection - Geometric, which is inspired by crystals and their healing powers but it's actually something intrinsic to her brand, which she launched in 2009. Her most famous bag – the vintage-inspired Doctor, which became a global sensation when Amal Clooney was spotted carrying one in 2015, takes her philosophy to its most literal sense.

Sally Sarieddine.

“The link between fashion and healing is paralleled not only through the inspiration of the shape in a literal context but also my promise of a conscious fashion label,” says Sarieddine. “I commit to being ethical, sustainable and I want to allow conscious customers to shop with peace of mind. I use locally sourced materials, less chemicals, no waste, as well as reused and recycled materials where I can.”

Like all products made by LaLaQueen, Geometric bags  are ethical, sophisticated and timeless. They're also entirely handmade in Lebanon.

Such thoughtful products certainly deserve an equally inspired space in which to showcase them and that's exactly what you'll find at LaLaQueen's new flagship boutique in downtown Beirut. Designed by architect Fadi Naccour, it's a space intended to inspire wonder and we found it perfect for pondering which of the cool, buttery soft, oversized leather Moon clutches we wanted to take home. (It was the olive green one, in case you wondered.)