Adidas has released its latest spring/summer 2022 collection, and has once again joined forces with Dubai artist Fink 22 to celebrate.
Called the Blue Version collection, the clothes are a reworking of 1980s and 1990s adidas pieces, recreated for today's audience. Familiar elements such as shorts and tracksuits have been reimagined as oversized, or in modern, technical fabrics, with new pleated detailing, and decorated with asymmetric elements.
With the whole collection in shades of blue and grey, jackets have been stretched down to floor-length and running base layers such as leggings, T-shirts, and sports bras are now in technical waffle weave cotton, and come in new proportions.
For the UAE launch of the new collection, adidas turned to British artist Fink 22 to celebrate, commissioning a site-specific installation inside The Dubai Mall store.
Also called Blue Version, it is in shades of blue, and an ode to the power and beauty of the sea. Known for his unconventional approach, abandoning the crisp lines of other graffiti artists in favour of a more energetic, free-form method, the artist has even rethought the use of spray cans, preferring to use a different approach to applying paint.
“As an artist, I’m inspired by the world around me, with the graffitied streets of Berlin providing the idea to repurpose the humble fire extinguisher as a paintbrush,” says Fink 22.
For this project, his unique, paint-splattered approach covers a large canvas in merging tones of blue, with drips and runs. Deliberately untidy, the work is designed to evoke a sense of moving water, and suggests waves breaking on the shore, or a waterfall.
Fink 22 is an entirely self-taught photographer, abstract painter and muralist. With a unique style of large-scale one-line drawings filled with bright colours, he has created works in Berlin, Bali, London, and Melbourne in addition to Dubai. This is his second collaboration with adidas.
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Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
Retirement funds heavily invested in equities at a risky time
Pension funds in growing economies in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East have a sharply higher percentage of assets parked in stocks, just at a time when trade tensions threaten to derail markets.
Retirement money managers in 14 geographies now allocate 40 per cent of their assets to equities, an 8 percentage-point climb over the past five years, according to a Mercer survey released last week that canvassed government, corporate and mandatory pension funds with almost $5 trillion in assets under management. That compares with about 25 per cent for pension funds in Europe.
The escalating trade spat between the US and China has heightened fears that stocks are ripe for a downturn. With tensions mounting and outcomes driven more by politics than economics, the S&P 500 Index will be on course for a “full-scale bear market” without Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts, Citigroup’s global macro strategy team said earlier this week.
The increased allocation to equities by growth-market pension funds has come at the expense of fixed-income investments, which declined 11 percentage points over the five years, according to the survey.
Hong Kong funds have the highest exposure to equities at 66 per cent, although that’s been relatively stable over the period. Japan’s equity allocation jumped 13 percentage points while South Korea’s increased 8 percentage points.
The money managers are also directing a higher portion of their funds to assets outside of their home countries. On average, foreign stocks now account for 49 per cent of respondents’ equity investments, 4 percentage points higher than five years ago, while foreign fixed-income exposure climbed 7 percentage points to 23 per cent. Funds in Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan are among those seeking greater diversification in stocks and fixed income.
• Bloomberg
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Dubai World Cup Carnival card:
6.30pm: Handicap (Turf) | US$175,000 | 2,410 metres
7.05pm: UAE 1000 Guineas Trial Conditions (Dirt) | $100,000 | 1,400m
7.40pm: Handicap (T) | $145,000 | 1,000m
8.15pm: Dubawi Stakes Group 3 (D) | $200,000 | 1,200m
8.50pm: Singspiel Stakes Group 3 (T) | $200,000 | 1,800m
9.25pm: Handicap (T) | $175,000 | 1,400m
The biog
From: Upper Egypt
Age: 78
Family: a daughter in Egypt; a son in Dubai and his wife, Nabila
Favourite Abu Dhabi activity: walking near to Emirates Palace
Favourite building in Abu Dhabi: Emirates Palace
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
