Any fan of the television series Mad Men or Sex and the City will tell you that the clothes form a major part of the show's appeal. The popularity of Carrie Bradshaw's huge corsage brooches, floral motifs and vintage looks means they are just as likely to be seen hanging from the rails on the high street as they are on screen.
Media and popular culture have the power to spur fashion trends, and a hit film or TV series often becomes the birthplace for launching screen icons and a fashion trend following. The US$1 billion (Dh3.67bn) global box office of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland in 2010 not only revealed the commercial potential of fairy tales, but also whetted the appetite for charm bracelets, pendants, belts, stripey socks and other "Alice in Fashionland" items that were high-street hits that year.
This year offers two twists on the Snow White story: Lily Collins and Julia Roberts star in Mirror Mirror, featuring gloriously over-the-top theatrical costumes, and Snow White & the Huntsman with Kristen Stewart and Charlize Theron offers a darker medieval take. Fashion influences from both films are tipped to have a sway over designers, fashion editors and ultimately, the high street.
Film inspiring fashion can be traced back to the golden age of Hollywood when women looked to movie stars for fashion tips.
"When Helen Rose designed the costumes for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in 1958, she did a retail version of the Elizabeth Taylor chiffon cocktail dress that sold quite mildly until the film was released and it was a best-seller for three years," says Sandra Halliday, editor-in-chief of Worth Global Style Network (WGSN), a trend and style consultancy. "When 'real world' designers have been involved in movies since, that has been less likely to happen, but street fashion does feel the effects - just think of Giorgio Armani and American Gigolo."
Now, thanks to new technology and social media, high-street designers can spot trends much more easily and recreate catwalk designs quickly and cheaply for the mainstream market.
"Couture designers will draw inspiration from everywhere for their collections, whereas for the high street it is important for fast fashion collections to reflect what is happening within popular culture now," says Ainsley Mackney, head of design for Creative Design Industries in the UK, a company that designs for the high-street outlet New Look. "The transition can be very fast in quick-response production locations such as Turkey and Romania. Some styles can be designed, made and shipped in as little as a few weeks."
The UK high-street buyer Rachel Law points to examples such as the 2010 film Black Swan featuring Natalie Portman. Retailer demand for recreating the look was huge.
"Brands such as Forever 21 and Zara flooded their stores very quickly with feather skirts and ballerina silhouette-style dresses that followed nude and 'tutu' pink colour palettes," Law says. "Black lace detailing also became a huge trend at that time reflecting the darker side of the Black Swan character."
But it's not only popular culture that can spur fashion trends. Ideas for newness also go hand-in-hand with other factors such as brand names, advertising and celebrity endorsement. Sometimes an influential film just happens to coincide with a direction in fashion and the look takes off. Popular culture will therefore magnify a trend if the trend is already in its embryonic phase.
"Bonnie and Clyde in the 1960s was a perfect example, but in the 1970s, although the Gatsby look was heavily pushed, it wasn't as much of an influence on real fashion as people expected," says Halliday. "Interestingly though, The Great Gatsby remake this year does happen to coincide with what designers sent out onto the catwalks for Spring/Summer 2012 and so the association will obviously be made by commentators, even though drop-waist dresses were being thought about by trend forecasters like WGSN a couple of years ago and by designers at least a year ago."
The key is obviously in the timing as well as in retailers producing a coordinated range and clever marketing.
"New films generate excitement at the big film festivals - Sundance, Cannes, Venice and Toronto - and fashion magazines are quick to pick up on any potential style influencers," Halliday says. "As the hype builds, coupled with the film's promotional trail of premieres and interviews, retailers may pick up on the trend as well, and if the look happens to be a big catwalk story at the same time, everything falls into place."
So, with many blockbuster films and hit TV shows heading onto our screens this year, what will be your film inspiration for 2012? Mackney and Halliday sum up the situation.
"I think that yet another Twilight film, Breaking Dawn, having been released at the end of 2011 means we will see a resurge in the dark, gothic mystical trend for 2012. My Week with Marilyn also released in 2011 and the new Margaret Thatcher movie will see a return to true ladylike dressing, meaning Forties and Fifties in style, with a nod to heritage tweed," says Mackney.
And for Halliday?
"Baz Luhrmann's remake of The Great Gatsby is going to be huge, and the Twenties trend has already been seen on the Spring/Summer 2012 catwalks and red carpet. We wouldn't be surprised if this glamorous eveningwear trend continued into Autumn/Winter 2012-2013, as the sumptuous fabrics, embellishments and jewel-like colours probably suit the Autumn/Winter season even more. The Oscar-tipped movie The Artist is another great source of inspiration for this trend; the black-and-white silent movie is an ode to the Golden Age of Hollywood.
"The much-hyped new Batman film - The Dark Knight Rises - features Anne Hathaway as Catwoman, and her skin-tight leather ensemble might inspire pieces for Autumn/Winter 2012-2013. The Hunger Game is predicted to be the new Twilight, and Katniss Evergreen's (aka Jennifer Lawrence) post-apocalyptic wardrobe - leather jackets and hooded anoraks, pants and hunting boots in dark browns and greens, accessorised with a bow and arrow and braided hair - might inspire the youth market."
If you go
- The nearest international airport to the start of the Chuysky Trakt is in Novosibirsk. Emirates (www.emirates.com) offer codeshare flights with S7 Airlines (www.s7.ru) via Moscow for US$5,300 (Dh19,467) return including taxes. Cheaper flights are available on Flydubai and Air Astana or Aeroflot combination, flying via Astana in Kazakhstan or Moscow. Economy class tickets are available for US$650 (Dh2,400).
- The Double Tree by Hilton in Novosibirsk ( 7 383 2230100,) has double rooms from US$60 (Dh220). You can rent cabins at camp grounds or rooms in guesthouses in the towns for around US$25 (Dh90).
- The transport Minibuses run along the Chuysky Trakt but if you want to stop for sightseeing, hire a taxi from Gorno-Altaisk for about US$100 (Dh360) a day. Take a Russian phrasebook or download a translation app. Tour companies such as Altair-Tour ( 7 383 2125115 ) offer hiking and adventure packages.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
The biog
Name: Capt Shadia Khasif
Position: Head of the Criminal Registration Department at Hatta police
Family: Five sons and three daughters
The first female investigator in Hatta.
Role Model: Father
She believes that there is a solution to every problem
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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
BIGGEST CYBER SECURITY INCIDENTS IN RECENT TIMES
SolarWinds supply chain attack: Came to light in December 2020 but had taken root for several months, compromising major tech companies, governments and its entities
Microsoft Exchange server exploitation: March 2021; attackers used a vulnerability to steal emails
Kaseya attack: July 2021; ransomware hit perpetrated REvil, resulting in severe downtime for more than 1,000 companies
Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments
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.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
More on Quran memorisation:
Barbie
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Company%20Profile
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Signs%20of%20%20%20%20%20%20%20heat%20stroke
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Libya's Gold
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
Winners
Best Men's Player of the Year: Kylian Mbappe (PSG)
Maradona Award for Best Goal Scorer of the Year: Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)
TikTok Fans’ Player of the Year: Robert Lewandowski
Top Goal Scorer of All Time: Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)
Best Women's Player of the Year: Alexia Putellas (Barcelona)
Best Men's Club of the Year: Chelsea
Best Women's Club of the Year: Barcelona
Best Defender of the Year: Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus/Italy)
Best Goalkeeper of the Year: Gianluigi Donnarumma (PSG/Italy)
Best Coach of the Year: Roberto Mancini (Italy)
Best National Team of the Year: Italy
Best Agent of the Year: Federico Pastorello
Best Sporting Director of the Year: Txiki Begiristain (Manchester City)
Player Career Award: Ronaldinho
The bio
Date of Birth: April 25, 1993
Place of Birth: Dubai, UAE
Marital Status: Single
School: Al Sufouh in Jumeirah, Dubai
University: Emirates Airline National Cadet Programme and Hamdan University
Job Title: Pilot, First Officer
Number of hours flying in a Boeing 777: 1,200
Number of flights: Approximately 300
Hobbies: Exercising
Nicest destination: Milan, New Zealand, Seattle for shopping
Least nice destination: Kabul, but someone has to do it. It’s not scary but at least you can tick the box that you’ve been
Favourite place to visit: Dubai, there’s no place like home
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Teams
Punjabi Legends Owners: Inzamam-ul-Haq and Intizar-ul-Haq; Key player: Misbah-ul-Haq
Pakhtoons Owners: Habib Khan and Tajuddin Khan; Key player: Shahid Afridi
Maratha Arabians Owners: Sohail Khan, Ali Tumbi, Parvez Khan; Key player: Virender Sehwag
Bangla Tigers Owners: Shirajuddin Alam, Yasin Choudhary, Neelesh Bhatnager, Anis and Rizwan Sajan; Key player: TBC
Colombo Lions Owners: Sri Lanka Cricket; Key player: TBC
Kerala Kings Owners: Hussain Adam Ali and Shafi Ul Mulk; Key player: Eoin Morgan
Venue Sharjah Cricket Stadium
Format 10 overs per side, matches last for 90 minutes
Timeline October 25: Around 120 players to be entered into a draft, to be held in Dubai; December 21: Matches start; December 24: Finals
Sri Lanka v England
First Test, at Galle
England won by 211
Second Test, at Kandy
England won by 57 runs
Third Test, at Colombo
From Nov 23-27
Company profile
Date started: 2015
Founder: John Tsioris and Ioanna Angelidaki
Based: Dubai
Sector: Online grocery delivery
Staff: 200
Funding: Undisclosed, but investors include the Jabbar Internet Group and Venture Friends
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Pros%20and%20cons%20of%20BNPL
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The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
Dubai World Cup factbox
Most wins by a trainer: Godolphin’s Saeed bin Suroor(9)
Most wins by a jockey: Jerry Bailey(4)
Most wins by an owner: Godolphin(9)
Most wins by a horse: Godolphin’s Thunder Snow(2)
