Farida Khelfa (born May 23, 1960) is a French documentary filmmaker and former model.
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.
1989
The couple had been together since 1989 and already had two sons, Ismaël Seydoux and Omer Seydoux, at the time of their marriage.
Through her marriage Khelfa is the step-mother of stylist Camille Seydoux and actress Léa Seydoux, her husband's children from his first marriage to Valérie Schlumberger.
2008
Khelfa is a friend of former model Carla Bruni and was a witness at her 2008 wedding to French president Nicolas Sarkozy.
2012
Khelfa married Henri Seydoux in 2012.
2013
In 2013 Khelfa was appointed as the brand ambassador for Schiaparelli.
2017
Khelfa parted with the brand in 2017 stating that she needed time to focus on her own projects including filmmaking.
2020
However Khelfa continued to work with the brand, notably appearing on the Schiaparelli spring/summer 2020 Haute Couture runway in 2019.
At 20 Khelfa was involved romantically with photographer Jean-Paul Goude.
