The poet Oscar Wilde once said: "Nothing is so dangerous as being too modern; one is apt to grow old-fashioned quite suddenly." How true. Too often I open my bulging wardrobe, consistently being updated with the very latest gear, I might add, only to find I've simply nothing to wear.
I blame ready-to-wear collections. Twice a year these arrive on the fashion scene like a tornado blowing in the winds of change. In comes a new set of rules, colours and fads. Out goes everything I've spent six months trying to get my head around.
To ignore it would be professionally fatal. But embracing it doesn't always provide the instant gratification it should. Any customer brave enough to become a living fashion barometer must be prepared to face ridicule.
Is it any wonder there's a growing backlash to this relentless fast-fashion habit, that runs so contrary to the raging eco vibe.
"I only wear last season's clothes!" said the master of tongue-in-cheek wisdom, Karl Lagerfeld, recently.
"Real fashion insiders hate clothes when they are hot," (presumably meaning crucially trendy?) the eminent fashion writer Sarah Mower has written.
While I am not quite the fashion nut who embraces trends maniacally, I am shocked at how easily I find myself swayed. There is something about new-season trends that makes you hanker after what you thought you hated - albeit eventually. The late Alexander McQueen was particularly adept at inspiring this, while Dries Van Noten's, Lanvin's and Miuccia Prada's extraordinary colour and fabric choices - which initially seem yucky but all too soon become sublime - are another case in point.
It's pointless blaming Lagerfeld or his peers for constantly changing their minds about what is fashionable. Taste is dynamic. Fashion is a reflection of what is going on "out there" and surely a designer's purpose is to interpret his or her findings into clothes, wearable or not?
It's a different case, however, with pre-collections; the twice-yearly ranges slipped in between the big seasons to act as palate cleansers. Cruise, resort wear or pre-spring as it's known, is just arriving in store now and not a day too soon.
Once seen as a "poor relation" to trend-heavy autumn/winter or spring/summer ranges, pre-collections are steadily growing in importance, popularity and relevance.
Many department store buyers confide they now spend more than 60 per cent on pre-collections, that give a gentle taster of trends to come (which many women feel is as far as they want to go). One insider explained them to me thus: "Ready-to-wear plonks you in a foreign destination without a guidebook. Cruisewear takes you on a first-class ride and gives you a window seat."
Cruisewear provides options concerning how far you dare go in terms of rocking a new trend that is about to, but hasn't yet, hit mainstream. Mr Wilde might approve of that, I'd wager.
"Cruise collections are great because they are often more wearable and accessible than mainline collections," says Salama Alabbar, the founder and director of Symphony Style LLC, which owns and operates Temperley London, Marami and Symphony stores at the Dubai Mall. "They also have a better price point."
Is it mere coincidence that those brands putting energies into pre-collections happen to be exactly the same ones currently top of their league? Symphony, for instance, stocks Willow, Ports 1961 (Michelle Obama is wearing this), Chris Benz, Jason Wu, Jonathan Saunders, Rupert Sanderson and Thakoon.
"We were attracted to the feminine, carefree aesthetic of cruise ranges which fit our store concept," said Alabbar, who reckons pieces like the sarong shorts from Willow, Jonathan Saunders floral-printed dresses and Rupert Sanderson's fuchsia pink satin "Delta" stilettos, are currently on every fashionista's "wish list".
Alabbar also points out that cruise hits a particular chord with Middle Eastern customers because it is well-suited to the UAE climate. "It can be hard to heavily buy into the furs and leather etc that autumn/winter often presents us with. Without cruise, the Middle Eastern customer would have to wait a lot longer to get summery pieces."
"Cruisewear is a focused, tightly edited collection that is designed to fill a gap pre-spring when everyone has grown tired of special occasionwear but are not quite ready to leap into overly summery clothes," said Tony Alcindor, the vice president of marketing for Ports 1961, which will launch a pre-collection for autumn/winter in 2011 as a result of customer demand.
Could cruisewear, with its winning formula of being not "too modern", be what wardrobes are waiting for?
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
The specs: Macan Turbo
Engine: Dual synchronous electric motors
Power: 639hp
Torque: 1,130Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Touring range: 591km
Price: From Dh412,500
On sale: Deliveries start in October
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
The Baghdad Clock
Shahad Al Rawi, Oneworld
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Sept 15: Bangladesh v Sri Lanka (Dubai)
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The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
The biog
Family: He is the youngest of five brothers, of whom two are dentists.
Celebrities he worked on: Fabio Canavaro, Lojain Omran, RedOne, Saber Al Rabai.
Where he works: Liberty Dental Clinic
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No more lice
Defining head lice
Pediculus humanus capitis are tiny wingless insects that feed on blood from the human scalp. The adult head louse is up to 3mm long, has six legs, and is tan to greyish-white in colour. The female lives up to four weeks and, once mature, can lay up to 10 eggs per day. These tiny nits firmly attach to the base of the hair shaft, get incubated by body heat and hatch in eight days or so.
Identifying lice
Lice can be identified by itching or a tickling sensation of something moving within the hair. One can confirm that a person has lice by looking closely through the hair and scalp for nits, nymphs or lice. Head lice are most frequently located behind the ears and near the neckline.
Treating lice at home
Head lice must be treated as soon as they are spotted. Start by checking everyone in the family for them, then follow these steps. Remove and wash all clothing and bedding with hot water. Apply medicine according to the label instructions. If some live lice are still found eight to 12 hours after treatment, but are moving more slowly than before, do not re-treat. Comb dead and remaining live lice out of the hair using a fine-toothed comb.
After the initial treatment, check for, comb and remove nits and lice from hair every two to three days. Soak combs and brushes in hot water for 10 minutes.Vacuum the floor and furniture, particularly where the infested person sat or lay.
Courtesy Dr Vishal Rajmal Mehta, specialist paediatrics, RAK Hospital
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The specs: 2018 Jeep Compass
Price, base: Dh100,000 (estimate)
Engine: 2.4L four-cylinder
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Power: 184bhp at 6,400rpm
Torque: 237Nm at 3,900rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 9.4L / 100km
Profile
Company: Justmop.com
Date started: December 2015
Founders: Kerem Kuyucu and Cagatay Ozcan
Sector: Technology and home services
Based: Jumeirah Lake Towers, Dubai
Size: 55 employees and 100,000 cleaning requests a month
Funding: The company’s investors include Collective Spark, Faith Capital Holding, Oak Capital, VentureFriends, and 500 Startups.
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
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