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."
Ticket prices
General admission Dh295 (under-three free)
Buy a four-person Family & Friends ticket and pay for only three tickets, so the fourth family member is free
Buy tickets at: wbworldabudhabi.com/en/tickets
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Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
Another way to earn air miles
In addition to the Emirates and Etihad programmes, there is the Air Miles Middle East card, which offers members the ability to choose any airline, has no black-out dates and no restrictions on seat availability. Air Miles is linked up to HSBC credit cards and can also be earned through retail partners such as Spinneys, Sharaf DG and The Toy Store.
An Emirates Dubai-London round-trip ticket costs 180,000 miles on the Air Miles website. But customers earn these ‘miles’ at a much faster rate than airline miles. Adidas offers two air miles per Dh1 spent. Air Miles has partnerships with websites as well, so booking.com and agoda.com offer three miles per Dh1 spent.
“If you use your HSBC credit card when shopping at our partners, you are able to earn Air Miles twice which will mean you can get that flight reward faster and for less spend,” says Paul Lacey, the managing director for Europe, Middle East and India for Aimia, which owns and operates Air Miles Middle East.
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
Other promotions
- Deliveroo will team up with Pineapple Express to offer customers near JLT a special treat: free banana caramel dessert with all orders on January 26
- Jones the Grocer will have their limited edition Australia Day menu available until the end of the month (January 31)
- Australian Vet in Abu Dhabi (with locations in Khalifa City A and Reem Island) will have a 15 per cent off all store items (excluding medications)
TRAP
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Rating: 3/5
Joker: Folie a Deux
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson
Director: Todd Phillips
Rating: 2/5
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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More from Neighbourhood Watch:
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Best Academy: Ajax and Benfica
Best Agent: Jorge Mendes
Best Club : Liverpool
Best Coach: Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool)
Best Goalkeeper: Alisson Becker
Best Men’s Player: Cristiano Ronaldo
Best Partnership of the Year Award by SportBusiness: Manchester City and SAP
Best Referee: Stephanie Frappart
Best Revelation Player: Joao Felix (Atletico Madrid and Portugal)
Best Sporting Director: Andrea Berta (Atletico Madrid)
Best Women's Player: Lucy Bronze
Best Young Arab Player: Achraf Hakimi
Kooora – Best Arab Club: Al Hilal (Saudi Arabia)
Kooora – Best Arab Player: Abderrazak Hamdallah (Al-Nassr FC, Saudi Arabia)
Player Career Award: Miralem Pjanic and Ryan Giggs
Top investing tips for UAE residents in 2021
Build an emergency fund: Make sure you have enough cash to cover six months of expenses as a buffer against unexpected problems before you begin investing, advises Steve Cronin, the founder of DeadSimpleSaving.com.
Think long-term: When you invest, you need to have a long-term mindset, so don’t worry about momentary ups and downs in the stock market.
Invest worldwide: Diversify your investments globally, ideally by way of a global stock index fund.
Is your money tied up: Avoid anything where you cannot get your money back in full within a month at any time without any penalty.
Skip past the promises: “If an investment product is offering more than 10 per cent return per year, it is either extremely risky or a scam,” Mr Cronin says.
Choose plans with low fees: Make sure that any funds you buy do not charge more than 1 per cent in fees, Mr Cronin says. “If you invest by yourself, you can easily stay below this figure.” Managed funds and commissionable investments often come with higher fees.
Be sceptical about recommendations: If someone suggests an investment to you, ask if they stand to gain, advises Mr Cronin. “If they are receiving commission, they are unlikely to recommend an investment that’s best for you.”
Get financially independent: Mr Cronin advises UAE residents to pursue financial independence. Start with a Google search and improve your knowledge via expat investing websites or Facebook groups such as SimplyFI.
BACK%20TO%20ALEXANDRIA
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Duminy's Test career in numbers
Tests 46; Runs 2,103; Best 166; Average 32.85; 100s 6; 50s 8; Wickets 42; Best 4-47
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
Hidden killer
Sepsis arises when the body tries to fight an infection but damages its own tissue and organs in the process.
The World Health Organisation estimates it affects about 30 million people each year and that about six million die.
Of those about three million are newborns and 1.2 are young children.
Patients with septic shock must often have limbs amputated if clots in their limbs prevent blood flow, causing the limbs to die.
Campaigners say the condition is often diagnosed far too late by medical professionals and that many patients wait too long to seek treatment, confusing the symptoms with flu.
Tales of Yusuf Tadros
Adel Esmat (translated by Mandy McClure)
Hoopoe
Thank You for Banking with Us
Director: Laila Abbas
Starring: Yasmine Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Ashraf Barhoum
Rating: 4/5
Jigra
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
How much of your income do you need to save?
The more you save, the sooner you can retire. Tuan Phan, a board member of SimplyFI.com, says if you save just 5 per cent of your salary, you can expect to work for another 66 years before you are able to retire without too large a drop in income.
In other words, you will not save enough to retire comfortably. If you save 15 per cent, you can forward to another 43 working years. Up that to 40 per cent of your income, and your remaining working life drops to just 22 years. (see table)
Obviously, this is only a rough guide. How much you save will depend on variables, not least your salary and how much you already have in your pension pot. But it shows what you need to do to achieve financial independence.
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APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits
Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Storage: 128/256/512GB
Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4
Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps
Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID
Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight
In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
Price: From Dh2,099
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EXPATS
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Stage result
1. Jasper Philipsen (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix 4:42:34
2. Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Hansgrohe
3. Elia Viviani (Ita) Ineos Grenadiers
4. Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) BikeExchange-Jayco
5. Emils Liepins (Lat) Trek-Segafredo
6. Arnaud Demare (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
7. Max Kanter (Ger) Movistar Team
8. Olav Kooij (Ned) Jumbo-Visma
9. Tom Devriendt (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
10. Pascal Ackermann (Ger) UAE Team Emirate
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The specs
Engine: 5.0-litre V8
Power: 480hp at 7,250rpm
Torque: 566Nm at 4,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: L/100km
Price: Dh306,495
On sale: now
SPECS
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more from Janine di Giovanni
The Farewell
Director: Lulu Wang
Stars: Awkwafina, Zhao Shuzhen, Diana Lin, Tzi Ma
Four stars
Easter%20Sunday
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At Eternity’s Gate
Director: Julian Schnabel
Starring: Willem Dafoe, Oscar Isaacs, Mads Mikkelsen
Three stars
