This will go down as the season of the fashion flashback (the 'fashback'?!)
I say this having spent a week going through rail upon rail of high-waisted denim flares, jumbo cords, pleated midis, velvet platforms and - a real blast from the past - baby-grow jumpsuits (remember them?) previewing new collections poised for delivery to department stores and boutiques.
Of course, being talked through all these by some gorgeous 20-year-old public relations girl oblivious to the fact I am confronting the clothes of my youth helps me put a new slant on what I might otherwise consider simply "old".
Take stirrup pants. Back in the 1980s when stretchy, tapered trousers with the foot bit cut out were called "ski pants", we wore them with a shirt/leotard hybrid called a "body".
When I interrupted one blonde pony-tailed PR (with nails painted the exact dark blue I chose as a teenager) to tell her this she replied curtly: "Pay attention."
I'm glad I did. What she said next is vital to anyone experiencing a flashback every time they open a magazine in the months ahead: "Stirrup pants are worn with a leather sweatshirt in 2011."
A leather sweatshirt. Just remember this: what you choose to wear with items making a return to the fashionable wardrobe will mean the difference between looking hip or looking like you're trapped in a time warp.
It's strange. The autumn/winter 2011/12 collections from trailblazing designers such as Marc Jacobs and Prada all managed to look highly contemporary on the catwalk, despite consisting of items cherry-picked from various easy-to-define fashion eras.
The key style of the cult denim brand, Mother, for instance, is the ubiquitous 1970s shape: flares. This season's colours - burgundy/oxblood, gold/saffron/mustard and dark evergreen - are also throwbacks. As is the fabric now making a comeback: velvet.
A modern way to wear this is via footwear. The high street brand, Office, has done a fabulously contemporary wedge velvet "flatform", which, along with Topshop's Doc Marten or Penelope Chilvers's Cuban-heeled ankle boots, could instantly update your wardrobe. Another Chilvers offering is the essential new flattie: the gentleman's velvet crested slipper.
How well I remember wearing this around 1986 with a Rifat Ozbek embroidered jacket (and in my dreams, an Azzedine Alaia dress).
After an absence of I don't know how long, I'm reading about Rifat Ozbek and Alaia again. Not only back by demand, but having survived long enough to see their particular signature being paid homage to by their peers.
Kate Winslet's dress by Victoria Beckham, worn to the Venice Film Festival, was very Alaia with the addition of this season's midi length (his original 1980s style would have boasted a way-shorter hemline).
Some designers seem to master the juxtaposition of old and new effortlessly. Others fail. Christopher Kane's print of crochet squares (crucially fashionable in the early 1970s), which appear on his leather pencil skirts and biker jackets, exemplifies the former category. Christopher Bailey's nod to 1960s shapes for Burberry works because he has learnt that when it comes to design, nostalgia should be sprinkled like salt: sparingly.
It will be interesting to see what, if any, eras come up in the next round of spring/summer shows. Designers delight in throwing the fashion press off scent rather than announcing the comeback of a decade with a fanfare as you might imagine. But there are exceptions.
My most memorable show occurred on the very last day of one particular Paris ready-to-wear season in the late 1990s, by which time the entire audience was tired and homesick, having been away for almost two months, watching fashion shows day in day out.
The decision by the ever-thoughtful Japanese designer Junya Watanabe to accompany his collection of futuristic pieces made in industrial waterproof textiles with a Carpenters soundtrack had the North American contingent weeping - in a nice way.
What at first appeared to be a crazy contrast - models walking to the distinctly melancholy acoustics of Karen Carpenter singing her classic, Rainy Days and Mondays - eventually made sense.
Watanabe's starting point for the collection was a raincoat worn by Ali MacGraw in the 1970 film, Love Story. There was a 1970s feel to the collection but this almost didn't matter. The sheer abnormality of hearing a guilty-pleasure song at a fashion show (where music is so low key - or weird - you rarely register, let alone remember, it) sent one plunging into thought. Songs are soundtracks to our lives but they aren't the only things to evoke precious memories. Clothes do this, too.
Post-show, spilling out of the darkness on to the pavements of bustling Paris, a rainbow appeared in the sky. This remains my favourite fashback.
The%20specs
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Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
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The biog
Marital status: Separated with two young daughters
Education: Master's degree from American Univeristy of Cairo
Favourite book: That Is How They Defeat Despair by Salwa Aladian
Favourite Motto: Their happiness is your happiness
Goal: For Nefsy to become his legacy long after he is gon
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
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Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
THE SIXTH SENSE
Starring: Bruce Willis, Toni Collette, Hayley Joel Osment
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Rating: 5/5
The biog
Name: Fareed Lafta
Age: 40
From: Baghdad, Iraq
Mission: Promote world peace
Favourite poet: Al Mutanabbi
Role models: His parents
The specs: 2018 Mercedes-Benz S 450
Price, base / as tested Dh525,000 / Dh559,000
Engine: 3.0L V6 biturbo
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Power: 369hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 500Nm at 1,800rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 8.0L / 100km
RACE CARD
5pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 1,400m
5.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 1,200m
6pm: Arabian Triple Crown Round-1 (PA) Listed Dh230,000 1,600m
6.30pm: HH The President’s Cup (PA) Group 1 Dh2.5million 2,200m
7pm: HH The President’s Cup (TB) Listed Dh380,000 1,400m
7.30pm: Wathba Stallions Cup (PA) Handicap Dh70,000 1,200m.
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More on Quran memorisation:
Read more about the coronavirus
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Second Test
In Dubai
Pakistan 418-5 (declared)
New Zealand 90 and 131-2 (follow on)
Day 3: New Zealand trail by 197 runs with 8 wickets remaining
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.”
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Normal People
Sally Rooney, Faber & Faber
Tales of Yusuf Tadros
Adel Esmat (translated by Mandy McClure)
Hoopoe
DUNGEONS%20%26%20DRAGONS%3A%20HONOR%20AMONG%20THIEVES
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NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
