New Book On Travel Style Features Umm Kulthum

A new lavishly-illustrated coffee table book on travel style through the decades features iconic Egyptian diva Umm Kulthum alongside fashion greats like Princess Diana and Jackie Kennedy.

A Journey in Style has been launched by Heathrow in collaboration with supermodel Yasmin Le Bon to mark the opening of the Chanel store in Terminal 5. The book celebrates some of the most stylish travellers, outfits and luggage to grace Heathrow's concourses since London's global hub airport opened in the 1940s. The collection of archive photos inside the book highlight the connection between fashion and travel, capturing brilliant images of the jet set from yesteryear and today's style icons.

[caption id="attachment_358162" align="alignnone" width="600"] Yasmin Le Bon at Heathrow.[/caption]

The book includes more than 160 images capturing the glamour of air travel, featuring screen sirens like Marilyn Monroe and Marlene Dietrich, music legends Mick Jagger and The Beatles, iconic model and trendsetter Kate Moss and Queen Elizabeth II.

Umm Kulthum is shown in the book arriving at Heathrow in 1967, where she met with famous French actor Jean-Claude Pascal. Sporting her signature black sunglasses and beehive, the "Star of the East" exudes her usual classic glamour in a bejewelled abaya with lace trim and a long fur coat draped over her shoulders.

[caption id="attachment_358161" align="alignnone" width="620"] The cover of A Journey in Style, and Umm Kulthum meeting French actor Jean-Claude Pascal.[/caption]

The book has been created to mark the completion of a three-year program costing £40 million that brings together some of the most luxurious fashion brands at Heathrow. Chanel will open its doors to customers on December 22 in Terminal 5, joining Louis Vuitton, Mulberry, Burberry, Cartier and Rolex, among others.

“There’s something fabulously glamorous about flying that has always fascinated me and to this day I still get excited about travelling," Le Bon says. "From the starlets of the 50s stepping onto the runway in their oversized sunglasses and trollies stacked with monogrammed luggage, to today’s style icons, air travel has always been packed with stylish possibility.”