Baume & Mercier, a Swiss luxury watchmaker, has announced the auctioning of special creations, done in collaboration with three of the region’s most well-known designers, Hussein Bazaza, Zayan Ghandour and Rula Galayini.

The move comes on the back of Baume & Mercier’s participation in Fashion Forward 2017, atop fashion event in Dubai, UAE.

Auction proceeds will be donated to Dubai Cares, the UAE based global philanthropic organization working towards providing children and young people in developing countries with access to quality education.

Working closely with the watchmaker’s creative team at headquarters, under design director Alexandre Peraldi, the three designers created exclusive straps for Baume & Mercier’s Classima collection, inspired by fashion, women and the brand’s DNA.

“This initiative is an expression of our profound and philanthropic commitment to improve the standards of living of those less fortunate than us,” said Ramzi Nakad, Fashion Forward Dubai co-founder.

 “With this donation to Dubai Cares, we are hoping to help 15,000underprivileged children and young adults in Egypt, 50 per cent of which are girls, break the cycle of poverty by providing them with access to safe and conducive learning environment”, he added.

Tariq Al Gurg, chief executive officer at Dubai Cares said: “Supporting girls’ education is one of the single best investments we can make to help nations overcome the cycle of poverty. With such valuable support from Baume & Mercier, we believe that the private sector can play a key role in this equation and this auction is a great example on how watch brands can help us in empowering children, notably girls, through education.”

Dubai Cares’ three-year program in Egypt aims to cultivate girls’ leadership skills through extracurricular activities and sports, and enabling them to put these skills into practice through participating in Student Unions.

Despite near-universal enrolment in primary education in Egypt, a recent study conducted by the Population Council, found that around 26 per cent of girls surveyed in the country’s frontier governorates, and 23 per cent of those surveyed in rural parts of Upper Egypt, had never attended school, as opposed to 10 per cent and 7 per cent of boys surveyed in these respective area. Egyptian primary schools also have, on average, around 43 students per class, but some governorates – such as Giza, with 52 students per class – have an even higher student-to-teacher ratio.

Bidding on the designers’ creations kicked off through a silent auction that took place during the Baume & Mercier Fashion Forward cocktail party will continue until December 14.

The donation amount will be revealed on the December 15. – TradeArabia News Service