Yasmin Abdallah: Rufus Sewell Ex-Wife, Vyrao Founder and Fashion Career Bio

Yasmin Abdallah, known professionally as Yasmin Sewell, is an Australian-Lebanese fashion entrepreneur, fragrance founder, and creative director, born in Sydney, Australia, around 1975. She built one of the most respected careers in British fashion over more than 25 years, moving from her Soho boutique Yasmin Cho through senior roles at Browns, Liberty London, Moda Operandi, and Farfetch, before launching Vyrao in May 2021, a luxury wellness fragrance brand that attracted investment from Estee Lauder, Manzanita Capital, and L Catterton. She is also widely recognised as the ex-wife of British actor Rufus Sewell, whom she married in March 1999. Her Instagram account @yasminsewell has around 240,000 followers, and her net worth is estimated at approximately $4 million, reflecting two decades of senior fashion roles and her equity position in Vyrao.

Quick Bio

Attribute	Details
Full Name	Yasmin Abdallah (professional name: Yasmin Sewell)
Known As	Yasmin Sewell; Yasmin Abdallah
Date of Birth	Circa 1975 (exact date not publicly confirmed)
Age	Around 50 to 51 years old (as of 2026)
Birthplace	Sydney, Australia (grew up in Maroubra suburb)
Nationality	Australian (Lebanese heritage)
Ethnicity	Lebanese-Australian
Religion	Not publicly disclosed
Education	Dropped out of school at approximately 15 to 16; no formal higher education
Profession	Fashion entrepreneur, fragrance founder, creative director
Active Since	Early 1990s
Platforms / Outlets	Instagram @yasminsewell (around 240,000 followers)
Total Following	Around 240,000 on Instagram
Height	Reportedly 5 ft 7 in (170 cm)
Weight	Reportedly around 55 kg (121 lbs)
Relationship Status	Separated from Kyle Robinson (reportedly); current status unconfirmed
Net Worth	Approximately $4 million (estimated)

Who is Yasmin Abdallah?

Yasmin Abdallah, known professionally as Yasmin Sewell, is an Australian-Lebanese fashion entrepreneur and fragrance founder who built a 25-year career reshaping British fashion retail before launching Vyrao, a luxury wellness fragrance brand, in 2021.

She retained the surname Sewell professionally after her 1999 marriage to British actor Rufus Sewell, using it consistently across key career years at Browns, Liberty, and Farfetch, and continuing with it as the founder identity for Vyrao. Her Instagram account, @yasminsewell, carries around 240,000 followers and describes her as “Energy worker Founder @vyraoworld.” The Vyrao brand, which blends neuroscience-backed fragrance with energy medicine, attracted institutional investment from Estee Lauder’s New Incubation Ventures arm in 2023, alongside Manzanita Capital and L Catterton.

Yasmin grew up in Maroubra, a beachside suburb of Sydney, in a Lebanese-Australian household. Her mother ran a local hairdressing salon. She dropped out of school at around 15 to 16 and moved to London at approximately 20, where she built her career from scratch. Like Lauren Chandiram, who also built a fashion business and company directorship independent of her famous partner, Yasmin’s professional identity was constructed through her own commercial instincts long before her connection to Rufus Sewell became her most-searched association.

Early Life and Background

Childhood and Family

Yasmin Abdallah was born in Sydney, Australia, around 1975, growing up in the beachside suburb of Maroubra in a Lebanese-Australian family where her mother worked as a hairdresser and her grandmother was an anchor of Arabic food and music traditions.

Her Lebanese heritage gave her what she has described in interviews as deep cultural roots, including regular immersion in Arabic food and music at her grandmother’s house. The Maroubra suburb, on Sydney’s southern beaches, was and remains a working-class coastal neighbourhood with a strong surf culture and community identity. The ocean and nature connection formed in Maroubra remained a reference point for Yasmin throughout her career and became a direct influence on Vyrao’s grounding fragrance Mamajuju, which she has described as inspired by “the soil of her native Australia.”

No details about her father or siblings have been publicly documented. Her mother’s hairdressing salon appears in multiple interviews as one of the few family references Yasmin has shared publicly.

Education

Yasmin Abdallah left school at approximately 15 to 16 years old, a decision she has described as driven by certainty that her future lay in fashion; she has no formal higher education in any publicly documented source.

After leaving school, she worked as a personal assistant at McGrath, the established Sydney property agency, one of the few pre-London career details that appears consistently across multiple biographical sources. SHOWstudio notes she began her career at Harper’s Bazaar in New York before moving to London; other sources describe her as moving to London at approximately age 20 or 22. The overlap in accounts suggests she had brief stints in New York and Sydney between her teenage years and her arrival in London’s Soho in the mid-to-late 1990s.

Business Ventures and Career

Yasmin Cho Boutique (Late 1990s)

Yasmin opened her Soho boutique, Yasmin Cho, in London’s Soho in the late 1990s, stocking early collections from Rick Owens, Gaspard Yurkievich, and other designers who were largely unknown at the time.

The boutique became one of the most influential fashion destinations in London during its years of operation. The New York Times named it one of the most influential boutiques in the world. In a 2012 Fairfax Media interview, Yasmin recalled the early years: she had a shaved head, an Australian accent, and was navigating a market dominated by British fashion women. She described opening the boutique with “little financial backing and no experience in fashion or retail” but credited her instinct for trend identification as the defining factor. Her own quote on the experience: “I wasn’t even thinking about sales… I just went for it, and as a result it had a lot of integrity and people loved it.”

Browns Fashion (2005 to 2008)

In 2005, legendary retail expert Joan Burstein personally approached Yasmin to take the helm of Browns, one of London’s most prestigious fashion boutiques, where she championed emerging designers including Christopher Kane, Nicholas Kirkwood, Roksanda Ilincic, Meadham Kirchhoff, and Marios Schwab, and played a key role in introducing Acne Studios to the European market.

Browns had been a defining force in London fashion since Joan Burstein opened it in 1970. Yasmin’s arrival in 2005 as buying director marked a significant creative turn for the store. ZapCrest’s account of her career credits her with “early endorsement of designers such as Christopher Kane and influence in encouraging figures like J.W. Anderson to expand their vision into womenswear.” The SHOWstudio profile confirms her role in helping push Acne into the European market from this position. Her three years at Browns established her as one of the most commercially influential fashion buyers in British retail.

Consultancy, Liberty London, and Farfetch (2008 to 2021)

In 2008, Yasmin founded her own consultancy, with Liberty London as the first major project, followed by roles as fashion director at Style.com, vice president of style and creative at Farfetch, and fashion director at Moda Operandi, while also sitting on the British Fashion Council NewGen panel as an advisor and British Fashion Awards judge.

Liberty London, founded in 1875 on Great Marlborough Street in London, is one of Britain’s most iconic luxury department stores. Yasmin’s consulting engagement there focused on creative direction and buyer strategy. Her Farfetch role, described consistently across primary sources including SHOWstudio as vice president of style and creative, placed her inside one of the fastest-growing luxury fashion platforms of the 2010s. Farfetch went public in September 2018 with a market capitalisation of approximately $5.8 billion at listing. Like Elaine Andriejanssen, who spent eight years at a global asset management firm before transitioning to executive leadership at a private investment vehicle, Yasmin spent this period building institutional career credibility that would underpin her later entrepreneurial ventures.

Etre Cecile

Yasmin co-founded Etre Cecile with Kyle Robinson, described on the brand’s own website as a label for “accessible luxury essentials” blending “British wit and Parisian charm,” known for tongue-in-cheek slogans, punchy prints, and luxury fabrications.

The Etre Cecile About Us page confirms the founding partnership: “Etre Cecile was founded by Yasmin Sewell and Kyle Robinson, two London-based fashion specialists who were driven to fill a gap in the market for accessible luxury essentials.” The label collaborated with Hermes, Maje, Mulberry, and Westfield, placing it in accessible luxury territory. Etre Cecile functioned primarily as a sportswear-influenced label, with T-shirts, denim, and tracksuits as core products. It operated as a commercially successful retail brand before Yasmin’s focus shifted to Vyrao.

Vyrao (2021 to Present)

Yasmin launched Vyrao in May 2021, a London-based luxury fragrance and wellbeing brand that fuses neuroscience-backed ingredients with energy medicine concepts, with fragrances priced at approximately £135 to £165 per 50ml bottle, each containing a Herkimer crystal charged in Hawaii.

The brand name comes from the Latin verb “vireo,” meaning “I am verdant, I am vigorous, I sprout green growth.” Each Vyrao fragrance is built around a specific emotional state: The Sixth targets mindfulness and intuition; Sun Rae promises happiness (and won Best Independent Fragrance at the 2024 Fragrance Foundation Awards); Mamajuju offers grounding; Witchy Woo, I Am Verdant, and others complete the range. Fragrances are composed by perfumers including Lyn Harris and Meabh McCurtin, and developed through Yasmin’s collaboration with energy healer Louise Mita, who trained in Integrative Quantum Medicine. 88 to 89 percent of the formulae use natural ingredients, with 80 percent certified organic. In 2023, Estee Lauder took a minority stake through its New Incubation Ventures arm. Manzanita Capital and L Catterton have also invested. Yasmin confirmed she remains majority shareholder. Vyrao is stocked at retailers including Ssense and Violet Grey.

Social Media Presence

Yasmin Sewell maintains an active Instagram presence at @yasminsewell, with around 240,000 followers, where she shares a mix of Vyrao content, personal lifestyle, and fashion reference.

Platform	Followers / Subscribers	Content Type
Instagram (@yasminsewell)	Around 240,000	Vyrao brand content, fashion reference, personal lifestyle, wellness

Net Worth and Income Streams

Yasmin Abdallah’s net worth is estimated at approximately $4 million, reflecting career earnings across senior fashion roles and her equity stake in Vyrao, which has attracted institutional investment from Estee Lauder, Manzanita Capital, and L Catterton.

The $4 million estimate from kandvnails.com’s April 2026 analysis represents the most comprehensive recent assessment, noting her Farfetch period, Etre Cecile co-founding, and Vyrao’s growing valuation trajectory. Vyrao fragrances retail at approximately £135 to £165 per bottle across premium global stockists. The brand’s institutional investment profile suggests a company valuation that makes Yasmin’s majority shareholder equity meaningful beyond her personal career earnings.

Income Stream	Estimated Contribution	Notes
Vyrao (CEO and founder)	Primary current income; majority equity stake	Launched May 2021; backed by Estee Lauder, Manzanita Capital, L Catterton
Etre Cecile (co-founder)	Fashion label income	Founded with Kyle Robinson; accessible luxury essentials
Consulting, advisory, and past senior roles	Historical career earnings	Browns, Liberty, Style.com, Moda Operandi, Farfetch spanning 2005 to 2021

Physical Appearance

Height and Body Stats

Yasmin Sewell is reportedly 5 feet 7 inches tall with dark complexion and black hair, maintaining a slim build consistent across her decades of street style photography as one of London fashion’s most-photographed women.

Stat	Value
Height	5 ft 7 in (170 cm) (reportedly)
Weight	Around 55 kg / 121 lbs (reportedly)
Eye Colour	Dark brown
Hair Colour	Black

Personal Life

Relationships

Yasmin Abdallah married British actor Rufus Sewell in March 1999 after approximately four years of dating; the marriage ended after nine months in 2000, with neither party publicly disclosing the reasons.

Rufus Frederik Sewell, born October 29, 1967, in Twickenham, London, is a British actor known for roles in The Diplomat, Dark City, Victoria, and Judy. He and Yasmin met around 1994 to 1995 when Yasmin was approximately 19 to 20 years old. The marriage has been described by Yasmin as a period when she was “emotionally unsettled” and still “figuring out who she was,” according to kandvnails.com’s April 2026 analysis. She retained the name Sewell professionally for career continuity, using @yasminsewell on Instagram and Yasmin Sewell as the identity for Vyrao. Like Sanne Hamers, who also maintained her own professional identity despite her association with a famous partner, Yasmin’s use of the Sewell name has been a pragmatic professional choice rather than a sentimental one.

After divorcing Rufus, Yasmin entered a long-term relationship with Kyle Robinson, a film actor and fashion entrepreneur who co-founded Etre Cecile with her and ran Paper Mache Tiger, a fashion showroom. Together they have two sons, Renzo and Knox. A 2023 Instagram post showing Yasmin in a family portrait with a man named Craig, alongside her children and dogs, generated discussion that Kyle and Yasmin may no longer be together. She has not publicly confirmed her current relationship status. She also has a son named Gene, who appears in the 2023 family portrait, whose background has not been documented in any source.

Family

Yasmin Sewell has at least three sons: Gene, Renzo Robinson, and Knox Robinson. Renzo and Knox are her sons with Kyle Robinson; Gene’s background has not been publicly documented.

The kandvnails.com April 2026 analysis is the most comprehensive source on her children, noting: “She has three sons: Gene, Renzo, and Knox. She had two sons (Renzo and Knox) with her second husband Kyle Robinson. Gene appears in a 2023 family portrait she shared on Instagram.” Yasmin lives in London, where Vyrao is based. She has spoken in interviews about her connection to Australia and regularly returns to Sydney.

Achievements and Milestones

• Opened Yasmin Cho boutique in London’s Soho in the late 1990s; named by the New York Times as one of the most influential boutiques in the world.
• Appointed by Joan Burstein to lead Browns fashion buying in 2005, where she championed Christopher Kane, Roksanda Ilincic, Nicholas Kirkwood, Meadham Kirchhoff, Marios Schwab, and Acne Studios.
• Served as chief creative officer at Liberty London (2008), fashion director at Style.com and Moda Operandi, and vice president of style and creative at Farfetch.
• Sat on the British Fashion Council NewGen panel as advisor and served as a British Fashion Awards judge.
• Co-founded Etre Cecile with Kyle Robinson, a sports-luxe label that collaborated with Hermes, Maje, Mulberry, and Westfield.
• Founded Vyrao in May 2021, pioneering the luxury wellness fragrance category; secured investment from Estee Lauder, Manzanita Capital, and L Catterton while retaining majority ownership. Vyrao’s Sun Rae won Best Independent Fragrance at the 2024 Fragrance Foundation Awards.

Interesting Facts About Yasmin Abdallah

• Yasmin has been trained in Integrative Quantum Medicine, Reiki, and meditation, all of which directly informed the founding philosophy of Vyrao, making her one of the few luxury brand founders whose product line stems directly from personal healing practice.
• Each Vyrao fragrance bottle contains a Herkimer crystal, described as a 450-million-year-old mineral, charged with energy in Hawaii by Vyrao’s energy healer partner Louise Mita before being included in the product.
• The Vyrao fragrance Sun Rae, a spicy citrus scent promising happiness and composed by IFF perfumer Meabh McCurtin, won Best Independent Fragrance at the 2024 Fragrance Foundation Awards.
• Yasmin has declined to rebrand professionally from the surname Sewell despite the marriage ending in 2000, explaining the decision as one of professional continuity: her reputation was built under that name across two decades at Browns, Liberty, Farfetch, and Style.com.
• Rufus Sewell, her ex-husband, gained renewed international recognition through his role as US Ambassador to the UK in the Netflix drama The Diplomat, which premiered in 2023 and was one of Netflix’s most watched shows that year.
• Yasmin described her 2019 “aha moment” in multiple interviews: realising she needed to step away from trend-driven fashion and create something rooted in emotional wellbeing rather than external appearance, which led directly to Vyrao’s founding concept.

Read About

• Jodean Bottom biography
• Elaine Andriejanssen biography
• Mirtha Jung biography
• Paul DeRobbio biography
• Dina Norris biography
• Alex Aniston biography