DUBAI // Colourful Bedouin tents, wind towers and the emirate's landmark buildings have been painted on to a white satin dress by a group of artists with special needs for a Dubai fashion school's show.
The 11 students used bold brushstrokes to replicate Dubai's skyline on a dress inspired by both the kimono and abaya.
The completed outfit, featuring a five-metre train and red cummerbund, will be displayed at a weekend fashion show opening on Friday at 5.30pm at the DIAC Student Hub near Heriot-Watt University in Dubai's International Academic City. The show has been organised by second-year students at the university.
"It's a great platform for these students to show what they can do," said Wemmy de Maaker, the director of Mawaheb (Talent) from Beautiful People, a studio that teaches art to special-needs students in the central Bastakiya district.
"We have some artists who are really developing their talent and we want to make sure they are recognised."
The artists, from Sharjah and Dubai, have conditions such as muscular dystrophy, learning difficulties and Down's syndrome. They began work last month blending fabric, sand and glittering mosaic tiles on 12 large canvas paintings.
These depict a red and blue-lined Bedouin tent, the Burj Al Arab streaked with yellow and purple lights, the Etisalat building cocooned within a giant purple butterfly and flowers strewn across the Burj Khalifa.
Guided by their art teacher, Gulshan Kavarana, the students then painted compact designs on to 20 pieces of cloth to be sewn on the dress's hemline, sleeves, cummerbund and train.
"They used glitter for the paintings on the dress because the tiles and sand used on the canvas are too heavy," Mrs Kavarana said. "It's a misconception that art by people with special needs is childish. This will show the world what people with disabilities are capable of."
Heriot-Watt students will also carry the original canvases down the catwalk during the fashion show, and Mawaheb will auction the dress and the canvases in September.
The idea to integrate art and fashion was thought up by teachers of both schools.
"It's absolutely stunning, the dress is a walking canvas," said Vanessa Northway, the head of Heriot-Watt's School of Textile and Design. "The work is a strong statement about Dubai because it is different things to different people."
Ten fashion school students designed the dress with a simple cut to highlight the art work. They said collaborating with special-needs students was a learning experience.
"Most people think people with special needs would just be able to do general strokes, but their work is quite amazing," said Shivani Agarwal, 20, a fashion marketing student.
"They've used bold colours and interesting silhouettes. This will show people that those with special needs can do a great amount of work."
For the special-needs art students, the dress was a means to express themselves. One painting has a couple in a khandoura and abaya seated in the desert gazing at the sun setting over Dubai's imposing structures.
"This is about Dubai. I like sand and buildings," said Zaid Jaffer, a 28-year-old Iraqi student with special needs. "Painting makes me relaxed, calm."
Sharan Budhrani, who is a wheelchair user, said painting made him happy.
"It's my passion," said Sharan, 20, who painted a wind tower for the dress. "I wanted to show people where the real Dubai is."
rtalwar@thenational.ae
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.
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Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
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Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.
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Trojans: Create a backdoor into systems, which becomes a point of entry for an attack.
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Worms: Send copies of themselves to other users or contacts. They don't attack the system, but they overload it.
Zero-day exploit: Exploits a vulnerability in software before a fix is found.
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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.”