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  • 7 weeks ago
Global Icons Gather in Doha to Honor Franca Sozzani and Spotlight Arab Creativity

Doha hosted the first Franca Fund Gala, honouring Franca Sozzani and raising over $4M for preventive genomics. Paired with M7’s Threads of Impact exhibition featuring 100 regional designers, the event spotlighted Qatar’s rise as a cultural and creative hub.

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00:00The who's who of fashion, arts, and culture have converged on Doha, and it's all for
00:13a good cause. The Franca Fun Gala is being held at the Museum of Islamic Art, bringing
00:19together celebrities in honor of the late Vogue Italia editor, Franca Sozani.
00:29People all over the world involved with fashion, the arts, culture, the sense of oneness.
00:36Qatar, Doha is really showing the world how to use the arts to bring people together.
00:42Among those paying tribute, supermodel Giselle Bundchen, who worked closely with Sozani for years.
00:48She was a very soft-spoken lady, but very strong in her Italian, very Italian, and very loving,
00:56you know, a very nice person who was very great at what she did.
01:01She was someone who supported me when I was young, and she knew how much I loved to be
01:06in front of the camera when I was young and in front of the great photographers, and she
01:11made that happen for me.
01:12She put me on the cover of Italian Vogue twice.
01:15The gala was co-hosted by Vogue's Anna Wintour, who shared a decades-long friendship with Sozani.
01:20She was an extraordinary, fearless, courageous woman who took endless risks and really stood
01:29up for everything that she believed in, whether it was climate change or women's rights.
01:34After Sozani's passing in 2016 from a rare lung cancer, her son created the Franca Fund for
01:40Preventive Genomics, partnering with Harvard geneticist Dr. Robert Green to push DNA-based
01:46medical research forward. The Doha Gala raised more than $4 million.
01:52We now have some sense of what is going to put you at risk for cancer, heart disease, some
01:59types of autism, a whole range of things. If you have these DNA changes, it's not necessarily
02:05that you're going to get the condition, but you have a clue that you're at risk for it.
02:09And if you're at risk for it, you can do something to protect yourself.
02:14It's something that a lot of scientists know a lot about, but not people. And we want to bring
02:20it to people. And that's why fashion and arts in general try and empower people to know more about
02:27this. For many here, Sozani was a trailblazer, a champion of diversity, creativity, and emerging talent.
02:36Creating opportunities for models of color that would have never graced a cover.
02:42And it had such a huge hand in Vogue blast. Often, I feel like we establish style, but don't get the credit for it.
02:55I found her to be so warm and so welcoming, while also being a visionary and edgy and cool, but mama.
03:02And, you know, so she's just had like this dichotomy of this beautiful mix.
03:05And she is very missed, but will never be gone.
03:10This year's gala arrives in Doha through a partnership with M7, reflecting Qatar's growing
03:15role as a hub for creativity, design, and philanthropy.
03:19It's really important for us working in the industry to understand the power of what we're
03:26doing and the idea of we can tell our own stories and have representation in the global scene.
03:33From personal stories to cultural identity, Threads of Impact showcases over 80 designers,
03:42redefining what Arab fashion looks like.
03:45Supported by Fashion Trust Arabia, this exhibition is a celebration of culture,
03:50storytelling, and style from across the MENA region.
03:53So this exhibition is a retrospective of seven years of Fashion Trust Arabia since it launched.
04:04And we wanted to present all the winners and the finalists from the past seven years.
04:11A lot of the designers are from the region, but we do have some guest countries.
04:16The exhibition revolves around seven main themes.
04:21So those are the threads that join, that bring together some of the designers.
04:25For the first time, M7 is showcasing the work of 100 regional designers under one roof.
04:32What was important for us in this exhibition is to present it at a very high standard.
04:37So we treated this exhibition like we do any other world-class exhibition.
04:43And we wanted people to come and see the talents that we have in the region.
04:48A milestone, Al-Sulaytis says, is essential for elevating emerging talent
04:53and presenting it at a world-class standard.
04:55A milestone, let'slerde seepeople.
04:59Read the album.
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05:03So at the end of the, we released a quote,
05:04it was this likelihood would in the form of a month-use quality.
05:06A life-use and ANGELA is not going to live in awnie way.
05:07nomically was about a world-class standard.
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05:13But the fact of art was listed at a way of an artisanism,
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05:20Or a other thing that we got out of it here,
05:21I think we got out of it.
05:22But my elf system is very strong as a fan relaxer.
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