Since 2016, Dior has been inviting artists from around the world to reimagine its Lady Dior bag through their own artistic lens.
For the sixth instalment of the Dior Lady Art programme, Saudi artist Manal AlDowayan’s vision for the bag pushes the boundaries of both art and fashion. AlDowayan explains how the collaborative process began with a single design and expanded from there.
“I am the type of person who likes to give options to myself and when I saw the design, I wondered: ‘Is this the bag that I truly wanted to make?’”
So she came up with another two designs and when she presented them to the Dior team, they welcomed them all, even though one was not even a Lady Dior. “It’s a testament to Dior and their openness to creative processes from artists,” she says.
The bags not only bear AlDowayan’s artworks from over the years, but also an imprint of her extremely detailed approach to her craft. One such nuance was the translation of the Dior letters into Arabic, something that had never been done before. AlDowayan had initially sent samples of the letters in classic calligraphic style, before deciding to change them to versions she had personally written, as she felt this would be closer to her vision.
The photography on the bags is deeply personal. The first bag, The Boys, depicts three young boys and a Land Cruiser set against a graffiti-emblazoned wall, a combination of two artworks she had created for collections in 2010 and 2016.
“My father had photographed these three boys in northern Saudi Arabia in 1962 before going off to study in the United States,” she says.
The images evoke nostalgia, documenting a young man bidding adieu to his country as he goes off to explore his dreams, while the car symbolises a pivotal moment of transformation in Saudi Arabia.
The second bag features an image from her Landscapes Of The Mind collection. This series of images captures the oil facilities near her home, but she “plants” palm trees in the oil tankers to remind us that while oil has radically transformed lives in Saudi Arabia, there is also a reality of how damaging fossil fuels are for the environment.
The bag contains other symbols representing transformation: two doves, for example, with birds being a recurring motif in her work. A short Arabic statement is stitched into the back of the bag, also taken from one of her artworks, and reads: “I live in the eye for the moment.”
“I felt it was very relevant vis-a-vis transformation, things we didn’t understand then and more today, whether it be the pandemic or the contemporary understanding of the effects of fossil fuels,” she says.
It is the third bag that most strongly embodies the meshing of art and function – a sculpted piece inspired by the forms of the desert rose crystal, which AlDowayan has been increasingly exploring in her art. This rare crystal forms in arid conditions following heavy rainfall, and AlDowayan had encountered it in her immediate surroundings since childhood.
“People historically believed that the rocks carried spirits that spoke to the desert traveller,” she says.
She perceives it as being very feminine, and loves its form and ephemeral quality, for it doesn’t last for long, dissolving within a few years.
“We had to figure out the medium we wanted to use,” she says about bringing her bag to reality. “I sent [the Dior team] crystals from Arabia, they scanned and 3D-printed them before casting them in gold metallic fibreglass with a bit of metal frame. It’s a new digital way of producing bags, unlike the old-school leather-making technique,” she says.
AlDowayan talks about how her four sisters helped her design the bags and encouraged her to take on the project; it became a bonding experience for them during the pandemic.
“We would meet once a week on Zoom to discuss the project and discuss every single detail about the bags,” she says. It would have otherwise been a lonely process while navigating the pandemic and lockdown in London.
“I enjoyed being taken out of my comfort zone as an artist, the challenge was unexpected and the result was absolutely unexpected,” she says. “When attending the Riyadh and Dubai launches, I saw that Saudi women were very emotional and excited to encounter the bags. Having imbibed these iconic brands their whole life, it was a proud and personal moment to see images by a designer from their country on a brand like Dior."
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Dirham Stretcher tips for having a baby in the UAE
Selma Abdelhamid, the group's moderator, offers her guide to guide the cost of having a young family:
• Buy second hand stuff
They grow so fast. Don't get a second hand car seat though, unless you 100 per cent know it's not expired and hasn't been in an accident.
• Get a health card and vaccinate your child for free at government health centres
Ms Ma says she discovered this after spending thousands on vaccinations at private clinics.
• Join mum and baby coffee mornings provided by clinics, babysitting companies or nurseries.
Before joining baby classes ask for a free trial session. This way you will know if it's for you or not. You'll be surprised how great some classes are and how bad others are.
• Once baby is ready for solids, cook at home
Take the food with you in reusable pouches or jars. You'll save a fortune and you'll know exactly what you're feeding your child.
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
City's slump
L - Juventus, 2-0
D - C Palace, 2-2
W - N Forest, 3-0
L - Liverpool, 2-0
D - Feyenoord, 3-3
L - Tottenham, 4-0
L - Brighton, 2-1
L - Sporting, 4-1
L - Bournemouth, 2-1
L - Tottenham, 2-1
The struggle is on for active managers
David Einhorn closed out 2018 with his biggest annual loss ever for the 22-year-old Greenlight Capital.
The firm’s main hedge fund fell 9 per cent in December, extending this year’s decline to 34 percent, according to an investor update viewed by Bloomberg.
Greenlight posted some of the industry’s best returns in its early years, but has stumbled since losing more than 20 per cent in 2015.
Other value-investing managers have also struggled, as a decade of historically low interest rates and the rise of passive investing and quant trading pushed growth stocks past their inexpensive brethren. Three Bays Capital and SPO Partners & Co., which sought to make wagers on undervalued stocks, closed in 2018. Mr Einhorn has repeatedly expressed his frustration with the poor performance this year, while remaining steadfast in his commitment to value investing.
Greenlight, which posted gains only in May and October, underperformed both the broader market and its peers in 2018. The S&P 500 Index dropped 4.4 per cent, including dividends, while the HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index, an early indicator of industry performance, fell 7 per cent through December. 28.
At the start of the year, Greenlight managed $6.3 billion in assets, according to a regulatory filing. By May, the firm was down to $5.5bn.
Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi
Director: Kangana Ranaut, Krish Jagarlamudi
Producer: Zee Studios, Kamal Jain
Cast: Kangana Ranaut, Ankita Lokhande, Danny Denzongpa, Atul Kulkarni
Rating: 2.5/5
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
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Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
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Director: Paul Weitz
Stars: Kevin Hart
3/5 stars
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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.
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
FA Cup quarter-final draw
The matches will be played across the weekend of 21 and 22 March
Sheffield United v Arsenal
Newcastle v Manchester City
Norwich v Derby/Manchester United
Leicester City v Chelsea
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
