Mouna Ayoub
منى أيوب
Born
Mouna Ayoub

(1957-02-27) 27 February 1957
Kuwait
NationalityLebanese nationality and French
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1979; div. 1996)​
[1]

Mouna Ayoub (Arabic: منى أيوب) (born 27 February 1957 in Kuwait)[2] is a French socialite and businesswoman of Lebanese origin. Frequently in the media, she is often a guest of the Cannes film festival and makes headlines in French gossip magazines.[3]

Biography

She was born into a Maronite Christian family. At the age of 20 she converted to Islam to marry Nasser Al-Rashid, a 40-year-old businessman and adviser to King Fahd. She has five children with Nasser Al-Rashid.[4] After eighteen years of marriage, and according to her divorce agreements, she left Saudi Arabia and built a fortune by investing in real estate and stocks.[5] She wrote about her marriage in her 2000 book La Vérité: autobiographie.[6][7][8]

Ayoub stated she wrote the book to explain her situation, and to address allegations published by a Lebanese magazine that she was a modern-day Madame Bovary.[8] As Scott MacLeod of Time wrote: "But if her tale provides a rare look at the extravagance often wrought by unimagined wealth, it also serves as a disturbing manifesto against the extreme restrictions imposed on women by some ultraconservative Arab societies."[8] Her former husband filed suit in an attempt to stop publication of the autobiography.[5] The book became a best seller in France.[8]

In 1997, she bought a boat from Bernard Tapie, the Phocéa (the largest sailing yacht in the world before 2004), for €5.56 million to which was added €18.25 million worth of work.[9][10] To pay for the work she sold a number of her jewels including "The Mouna diamond", one of the largest yellow diamonds of the world (112.53 carats (22.506 g)) for a price of €2.52 million (16.5 million francs) a Bulgari necklace for 15.3 million francs, and a collection of jewels by Tabbah.[11][10][12] After getting rid of the yacht, she sold the contents in a well publicized auction.[9]

The Associated Press estimated her net worth at over $300 million.[5][7] In 2006, The New York Times offered a figure of about $500 million.[13]

She has the largest private collection of haute couture in the world, encompassing more than 10,000 items.[3][7] She never wears the same item of couture twice, and all of the major couture houses maintain an Ayoub mannequin for a proper fit in her absence.[7][14] The Associated Press claimed: She's also a couture philanthropist. "One of the richest women in the world will this week disclose how a disastrous marriage to a Saudi Royal family adviser drove her to depression and attempted suicide."[5]

In late 2023, she partnered with Maurice Auctions and Kerry Taylor to auction 252 lots of Chanel haute couture, ranging from belts and bangles to full runway looks.[15] A coat embroidered by Lesage with chinoiserie-inspired motifs, identical to one featured in multiple Metropolitan Museum Costume Institute exhibits, held the highest estimate of €150,000-200,000.[16] It sold for €312,000 before buyers premiums. [17]

Published works

  • Ayoub, Mouna (1 January 2000). La Vérité: autobiographie (French) (Paperback) (in French). Neuilly-sur-Seine: M. Lafon. ISBN 2840986248.

References

  1. ↑ Menkes, Suzy (27 July 1999). "Mouna Ayoub, Couture Client, Shares Treasures : A Passion for the Finest". The New York Times.
  2. ↑ Staff writer (25 June 2000). "Le cri d'amour de Mouna Ayoub". La Dépêche du Midi (in French). Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  3. 1 2 "Mouna Ayoub – Couture is an art". Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  4. ↑ "Mouna Ayoub: 'la mode m'a permis de faire la paix avec moi-même' – Gala". 21 January 2015.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Coman, Julian (18 June 2000). "My marriage of misery to a billionaire". The Daily Telegraph. Paris. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  6. ↑ Ayoub, Mouna (1 January 2000). La Vérité: autobiographie (French) (Paperback) (in French). Neuilly-sur-Seine: M. Lafon. ISBN 2840986248.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Adamson, Thomas (20 February 2014). "Cinderella to Couture Queen: Meet Mouna Ayoub". Gennevilliers, France: Associated Press. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  8. 1 2 3 4 MacLeod, Scott (31 July 2000). "What Money Can't Buy". Time. Cairo. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  9. 1 2 Szmydke, Paulina (19 March 2014). "Mouna Ayoub's Moving Sale" (PDF). Women's Wear Daily. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  10. 1 2 "The Long, Troubled, Glamorous Life Of Superyacht Phocea". Vanuatu Daily Post. 16 November 2012. Archived from the original on 14 August 2014. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  11. ↑ Ghorra, Sara (8 September 2015). "House of Tabbah: The designer and manufacturer of bespoke jewelry". Executive Life. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
  12. ↑ "Record prices in auction houses". BBC News. 17 November 1998. Retrieved 14 August 2014.
  13. ↑ Reddy, Sameer (27 August 2006). "The Remix: Petro Dollies". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  14. ↑ Adamson, Thomas (20 February 2014). "Meet Mouna Ayoub: the billionaire haute couture collector". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 14 August 2014. Retrieved 14 August 2014.
  15. ↑ Garcia-Furtado, Laia (15 November 2023). "Want to Own a Piece of Fashion History? An Auction of '90s Chanel Haute Couture From the Collection of Mouna Ayoub Will Give You the Chance". Vogue. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
  16. ↑ "CHANEL HAUTE COUTURE". Maurice Auction (in French). 15 November 2023. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
  17. ↑ Socha, Miles (21 November 2023). "This Chanel Coat Just Sold for 312,000 Euros". WWD. Retrieved 21 November 2023.
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