There were pops of it in London at Christopher Kane and Giles, but it takes a designer of Miuccia Prada's standing to confirm, as the Milan summer 2011 collections start, that vibrant colour is a hot trend for next season. Shocking pink, DayGlo orange and bright green, worked into bold graphic stripes and pictorial prints across loose, minimalist clothing, are summed up by Prada as "exaggerated simplicity".
Such vivid jolts of colour are not a familiar part of her repertoire, which is why it seems all the more shocking when it appears. Miuccia Prada's modus operandi is to find something unfamiliar and rework and refine it to make it her own, so now she is claiming new territory as a colourist. She kept her fashion shapes clean and simple, but used a flourish of baroque pattern with flora and fauna cotton prints (the banana patterns and monkeys swinging around on a baroque frame of greenery are a particularly playful touch), Carmen Miranda-embroidered figures and jaunty Mexican sombrero hats to convey her upbeat message.
There were stiff T-shirt-and-skirt combos to open the show, followed by a new jacket-and-dress silhouette. She has redrawn her jackets, making them longer and full on the shoulders over slender, knee-length skirts and finishing in a flirty peplum hem and some ever-so-sensible platform sneakers, all colourful and playful. The final flourish: the impossible-to-ignore DayGlo-stripe fur stoles (not an obvious summer accessory), and a bright mix of terrific bags that were equally bold and graphic.
Prada, however, cannot claim colour as all her own, for on the opening day of the Milan season Frida Giannini at Gucci mixed gorgeous jewel colours with the deftness of Yves Saint Laurent. Perhaps the recent retrospective of Saint Laurent's work in Paris was a source of inspiration: Giannini opened her show with a series of colour-blocked pieces that daringly teamed purple and burnt orange for a dress, and a combination of jade jacket, turquoise shirt and purple trousers.
The colourful message was all the more striking when the rest of the show was a subtle mix of safari colours and ever-so luxuriously crafted leather and suede pieces. A jacket draped and fringed with ribbons of nude-coloured suede, a leather macramé top with tassel hem or a dress of exotic, coloured feathers and Perspex, demonstrate the Gucci artisans' craftwork at its best. And all this was before Giannini got down to the elaborate Moroccan detailing on the Gucci bags.
A State of Passion
Directors: Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi
Stars: Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah
Rating: 4/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Lamsa
Founder: Badr Ward
Launched: 2014
Employees: 60
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: EdTech
Funding to date: $15 million
THE BIO
Family: I have three siblings, one older brother (age 25) and two younger sisters, 20 and 13
Favourite book: Asking for my favourite book has to be one of the hardest questions. However a current favourite would be Sidewalk by Mitchell Duneier
Favourite place to travel to: Any walkable city. I also love nature and wildlife
What do you love eating or cooking: I’m constantly in the kitchen. Ever since I changed the way I eat I enjoy choosing and creating what goes into my body. However, nothing can top home cooked food from my parents.
Favorite place to go in the UAE: A quiet beach.
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
The advice provided in our columns does not constitute legal advice and is provided for information only. Readers are encouraged to seek independent legal advice.
UAE SQUAD FOR ASIAN JIU-JITSU CHAMPIONSHIP
Men’s squad: Faisal Al Ketbi, Omar Al Fadhli, Zayed Al Kathiri, Thiab Al Nuaimi, Khaled Al Shehhi, Mohamed Ali Al Suwaidi, Farraj Khaled Al Awlaqi, Muhammad Al Ameri, Mahdi Al Awlaqi, Saeed Al Qubaisi, Abdullah Al Qubaisi and Hazaa Farhan
Women's squad: Hamda Al Shekheili, Shouq Al Dhanhani, Balqis Abdullah, Sharifa Al Namani, Asma Al Hosani, Maitha Sultan, Bashayer Al Matrooshi, Maha Al Hanaei, Shamma Al Kalbani, Haya Al Jahuri, Mahra Mahfouz, Marwa Al Hosani, Tasneem Al Jahoori and Maryam Al Amri
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The biog
Favourite food: Tabbouleh, greek salad and sushi
Favourite TV show: That 70s Show
Favourite animal: Ferrets, they are smart, sensitive, playful and loving
Favourite holiday destination: Seychelles, my resolution for 2020 is to visit as many spiritual retreats and animal shelters across the world as I can
Name of first pet: Eddy, a Persian cat that showed up at our home
Favourite dog breed: I love them all - if I had to pick Yorkshire terrier for small dogs and St Bernard's for big
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
Sheikh Zayed's poem
When it is unveiled at Abu Dhabi Art, the Standing Tall exhibition will appear as an interplay of poetry and art. The 100 scarves are 100 fragments surrounding five, figurative, female sculptures, and both sculptures and scarves are hand-embroidered by a group of refugee women artisans, who used the Palestinian cross-stitch embroidery art of tatreez. Fragments of Sheikh Zayed’s poem Your Love is Ruling My Heart, written in Arabic as a love poem to his nation, are embroidered onto both the sculptures and the scarves. Here is the English translation.
Your love is ruling over my heart
Your love is ruling over my heart, even a mountain can’t bear all of it
Woe for my heart of such a love, if it befell it and made it its home
You came on me like a gleaming sun, you are the cure for my soul of its sickness
Be lenient on me, oh tender one, and have mercy on who because of you is in ruins
You are like the Ajeed Al-reem [leader of the gazelle herd] for my country, the source of all of its knowledge
You waddle even when you stand still, with feet white like the blooming of the dates of the palm
Oh, who wishes to deprive me of sleep, the night has ended and I still have not seen you
You are the cure for my sickness and my support, you dried my throat up let me go and damp it
Help me, oh children of mine, for in his love my life will pass me by.
The Pope's itinerary
Sunday, February 3, 2019 - Rome to Abu Dhabi
1pm: departure by plane from Rome / Fiumicino to Abu Dhabi
10pm: arrival at Abu Dhabi Presidential Airport
Monday, February 4
12pm: welcome ceremony at the main entrance of the Presidential Palace
12.20pm: visit Abu Dhabi Crown Prince at Presidential Palace
5pm: private meeting with Muslim Council of Elders at Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
6.10pm: Inter-religious in the Founder's Memorial
Tuesday, February 5 - Abu Dhabi to Rome
9.15am: private visit to undisclosed cathedral
10.30am: public mass at Zayed Sports City – with a homily by Pope Francis
12.40pm: farewell at Abu Dhabi Presidential Airport
1pm: departure by plane to Rome
5pm: arrival at the Rome / Ciampino International Airport
