Andrew Gn's autumn/winter 2010 show at Paris Fashion Week.
Andrew Gn's autumn/winter 2010 show at Paris Fashion Week.

Fashion talk: Don your pretty, floral dresses while there's time



Having caught a glimpse of the autumn/winter Paris catwalks, I would offer some advice: enjoy the roses while there's still time. From what I can see, fashion has turned a corner and gone very sleek - maybe even a bit too bleak. What the fashion website style.com heralds as a victory for the power-suited businesswoman, I read as a loss for the average, normal woman - one who is not reed thin and earning a six-figure company salary.

Buzzwords for the autumn/winter 2010 season are "clean", "polished", and "chic", which is how I might describe the area around my coffee table after a good going over with a duster, not my clothes. I saw the writing on the wall when Phoebe Philo sent out her utilitarian Celine range last October, closely followed by Hannah MacGibbon's Chloé ponchos and boy scout shirts. It's all lovely, just not my cup of tea.

Which is why I sure as anything am going to make sure I enjoy the current season, which is romantic, feminine, flouncy and all about dresses. Included in my floral frock wish list are styles by Ralph Lauren, Rochas, Rebecca Taylor and Erdem. Team any one of these with a thin belt, black Louboutin stilettos or glossy nude heels by Jimmy Choo, a retro granny bag and a Tom Binns Alice In Wonderland charm necklace.

I can live without the home-dye red hair and leather drainpipes that fashion magazines advocate. My spring look is bare legs, a floral dress and nice shoes. Although digi prints are very "of the season", you just know they are going to date. Floral prints, in contrast, get better with age. They are the perfect spring antidote to the fierce, aggressive, warrior-woman tailoring we've just left behind, and they will supply a breather before we enter this new era of utility and bodycon tailoring.

I am looking towards the London-based, Canadian-born designer Erdem Moralioglu for inspiration. He has successfully put a new spin on both florals and dresses, and is certainly the designer who has influenced high street trends the most this season. His rose and pansy prints are vivid and modern while never losing sight of what made them appealing in the first place (dare I call them pretty?). Erdem seems to be one of the only floral-loving designers who get this balance right. It looked OK on the catwalk, but I'm not sure how Stella McCartney's flowery print dress will look on all her celebrity friends, especially those on the other side of 35. (Ouch! There, I've said it.)

In contrast, during the recent London Fashion Week, Sarah Brown and Samantha Cameron, who will soon be battling it out for prime minister's wife in the British general election, both chose Erdem and looked great. I admire designers, male or female, who consistently make women look great. Others include Alber Elbaz, who has inherited enough Parisian grande dames from his days at Yves Saint Laurent to be put in his place if he did anything besides this.

Much as I admire Roland Mouret, if you aren't a model, under 21 or teetering on the verge of anorexia, you are not a walking advertisement for his work. Although I'd like him to embrace colour more, Elbaz has created a unique modern glamour - made for and to be appreciated by women of all ages. Besides, anyone who slips in comfort as an added factor deserves to take his place among the designer greats.

The other thing about florals is they are flattering for most skintones. Last week's dud Oscar fashion night proved just how blood-draining blush pinks and the nude neutral palette is. The way to wear your pretty flowery dress (and I say again, wear it while you can) is under an army surplus khaki shirt. Kylie Minogue and Madonna have both been spotted wearing these recently. Despite virtually every designer doing a take on this, nothing quite looks like the real thing. When was the last time that happened?

Company name: Farmin

Date started: March 2019

Founder: Dr Ali Al Hammadi 

Based: Abu Dhabi

Sector: AgriTech

Initial investment: None to date

Partners/Incubators: UAE Space Agency/Krypto Labs 

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
NO OTHER LAND

Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal

Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham

Rating: 3.5/5

The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Power: 510hp at 9,000rpm
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
Price: From Dh801,800
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

Freezer tips

  • Always make sure food is completely cool before freezing.
  • If you’re cooking in large batches, divide into either family-sized or individual portions to freeze.
  • Ensure the food is well wrapped in foil or cling film. Even better, store in fully sealable, labelled containers or zip-lock freezer bags.
  • The easiest and safest way to defrost items such as the stews and sauces mentioned is to do so in the fridge for several hours or overnight.
How to wear a kandura

Dos

  • Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion 
  • Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
  • Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work 
  • Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester

Don’ts 

  • Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal 
  • Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe

Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010

Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille

Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm

Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year

Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”

Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners

TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013 

UPI facts

More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions

The National's picks

4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young

Inside%20Out%202
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%C2%A0%3C%2Fstrong%3EKelsey%20Mann%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%C2%A0Amy%20Poehler%2C%20Maya%20Hawke%2C%20Ayo%20Edebiri%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E4.5%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A