Tania Fares

Founder

Tania Fares is an international entrepreneur, adviser, and philanthropist who has dedicated her professional life to empowering creativity, becoming a driving force promoting the business of fashion in London, the MENA region, and beyond. She is cited often as providing strategic support to an entire generation of designers.

Lebanon-born Fares is the co-founder and co-chair of the Fashion Trust, a nonprofit initiative dedicated to scouting, funding, and mentoring young design talent. She first launched this initiative in 2011, when she created the U.K.’s BFC Fashion Trust, which she headed for 10 years, and now is co-chair of the British Fashion Council Foundation charity.

The platform that she built, bringing together a powerful community of business owners and leaders from all over the globe, as well as partnerships with industry giants, including Farfetch and HSBC, has empowered business growth for more than 50 diverse designers, including Sophia Webster, Roksanda, and Emilia Wickstead, to name a few.

Fashion Trust was conceived with the purpose of supporting fashion designers in building their businesses and thriving at a global level. Current by-products of the Fashion Trust include the Fashion Trust U.S. and Fashion Trust Arabia, which spotlights and supports designers in the MENA region, of which she is also co-founder.

Fares transformed the Middle East into a fashion hub with its launch in 2018, bringing on partners like MatchesFashion, Value Retail, and Harrods, while also creating and hosting FTA’s judging panel of international industry leaders, including Christian Louboutin, Diane von Furstenberg, Pierpaolo Piccioli, Thom Browne, Victoria Beckham, and Remo Ruffini.

Fares has been a contributing editor at British Vogue since 2011.

She has published two books: London Uprising: Fifty Fashion Designers, One City, co-written with Sarah Mower, and Fashion in LA, co-written with Krista Smith, which delves into the LA fashion world.