Saudi-British singer Alewya is one of the stars of the recent pre-autumn fashion campaign by Loewe.
Shot by the idiosyncratic German photographer Juergen Teller, the images capture a whole host of famous people in unguarded poses.
The Spanish luxury house has put an attitude of fun and playfulness at the heart of everything it does since coming under the control of creative director Jonathan Anderson in 2013 — and this campaign is no different.
Alewya, whose full name is Alweya Demmisse, is featured sitting on a drum, with her locs and fabulous metal-sheathed nails on full display.
She stars alongside Academy Award-winning actor Sir Anthony Hopkins, who is giving a cheery thumbs-up, and Josh O'Connor, best known for playing the young Prince Charles in British TV series The Crown.
Model Kaia Gerber, meanwhile, appears twice: once in a bath in the middle of the road, and again clutching a sink plunger while wearing a coat decorated with sink plugs sewed on like giant buttons.
K-pop star and solo artist HyunA, a Loewe ambassador, also features, alongside Japanese Paralympic athlete Maya Nakanishi, who won gold in the long jump at the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships in Dubai.
American artist Lynda Benglis, 80, also makes an appearance wearing a colourfully mismatched jumper and tracksuit bottoms.
With Anderson at the helm, Loewe, which was first founded in 1846, has been steered towards a high-end version of irreverent happiness that is spreading, slowly but surely, throughout the whole fashion industry.
Who is Alewya?
Born in Saudi Arabia and raised in the UK, the singer-songwriter Alewya Demmisse draws on her Arab heritage in her work. She's influenced by her Egyptian father's Sudanese roots and the culture of her Ethiopian mother to create a unique sound that has put her on every "one to watch" list of note, including 2021's NME 100, Essential emerging artists list.
While dancing in a crowded scene for the film Kids in Love, Demmisse was spotted by Cara Delevingne, who persuaded her to take up modelling. She went on to sign with Women in New York and Storm in London, and Vogue described her as its "new model obsession."
Demmisse soon relocated to New York for modelling, sharing a flat with fellow models Adwoa Aboah and Binx Walton, and walking for DKNY during the New York Mercedes-Benz spring-summer 2015 fashion week. She then returned to the UK to study maths and philosophy at King's College, London.
Despite not picking up a guitar until the age of 21, her main focus now is music. She released her debut single in 2020 and appeared as a guest on one of Little Simz's records, going on to support the rapper for his 2021 UK tour.
Demmisse, 27, whose name means "most high" in Amharic, is also a self-taught artist, working in illustration and sculpture. Her scratchy, powerful, female-dominated artworks, along with her music and modelling career, prompted Love Magazine to describe Demmisse as the "triple threat" of the decade.
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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.”
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