Latest news with #haute couture


Khaleej Times
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Khaleej Times
Look: Dubai-based designer Rami Al Ali first Syrian invited to Paris Haute Couture Week
Syrian couturier Rami Al Ali made history Thursday as the first fashion designer from his country to feature in the official Paris Haute Couture Week calendar in a new landmark for Arab representation in the luxury business. After years of showing his tailored evening dresses on the sidelines of Couture Week, he was invited this year by France's Federation de la Haute Couture et de la Mode to join the programme. He sent out models in long pleated dresses in pastel colours, making elaborate use of silk, rolled crepe fabric, embroidery and beading in a collection that reflected his optimism about the future of his war-ravaged country. "We called the collection the 'Guardian of Light', and it came at a time that is very hopeful, very promising," the 53-year-old told AFP beforehand. The fall of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in December led to the rise of rebel-turned-transitional leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, which has brought a fragile end to nearly 14 years of civil war. Al Ali, who grew up in the eastern Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor before moving to Dubai, where he founded his brand more than 20 years ago, was holding back tears as he spoke to reporters afterwards. He told AFP he had been feeling "nervous, excited, tired, happy" about his breakthrough moment, which follows years of dressing A-listers and royalty including Beyonce and Oscar winner Helen Mirren. 'Bolder, braver' After decades of Syria being a byword for violence and political oppression, Al Ali hopes that artists will now help highlight the country's rich history and design culture. "I think now we have much more freedom in expressing ourselves in all different aspects, political, humanitarian, creative. We have a lot to say, and definitely we are bolder, braver in the way we express it," he said. Haute Couture Week is separate from the ready-to-wear Paris Fashion Week and is dedicated to handcrafted, one-of-a-kind creations made for red carpet events, galas, and other high-profile social occasions. The programme this week included two designers from Lebanon — Elie Saab and Zuhair Murad — as well as Cameroon's Imane Ayissi, the sole sub-Saharan African label included in the calendar. Saudi Arabian designer Mohammed Ashi's brand Ashi Studio was also in the programme. Ayissi, who joined the Couture calendar in 2020 at the same time as much-hyped Indian designer Rahul Mishra, paid tribute to the increasing diversity on the Paris fashion circuit. "It shows that things are changing, that things are moving forward," former model Ayissi told AFP this week after his show, which made elaborate use of traditional African textiles.


Malay Mail
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Malay Mail
Rami Al Ali makes history as Syria's first couturier at Paris Haute Couture Week
PARIS, July 12 — Syrian couturier Rami Al Ali made history Thursday as the first fashion designer from his country to feature in the official Paris Haute Couture Week calendar in a new landmark for Arab representation in the luxury business. After years of showing his tailored evening dresses on the sidelines of Couture Week, he was invited this year by France's Federation de la Haute Couture et de la Mode to join the programme. He sent out models in long pleated dresses in pastel colours, making elaborate use of silk, rolled crepe fabric, embroidery and beading in a collection that reflected his optimism about the future of his war-ravaged country. 'We called the collection the 'Guardian of Light', and it came at a time that is very hopeful, very promising,' the 53-year-old told AFP beforehand. Models presenting creations for Rami Al Ali. — AFP pic The fall of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in December led to the rise of rebel-turned-transitional leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, which has brought a fragile end to nearly 14 years of civil war. Al Ali, who grew up in the eastern Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor before moving to Dubai, where he founded his brand more than 20 years ago, was holding back tears as he spoke to reporters afterwards. He told AFP he had been feeling 'nervous, excited, tired, happy' about his breakthrough moment, which follows years of dressing A-listers and royalty including Beyonce and Oscar winner Helen Mirren. 'Bolder, braver' After decades of Syria being a byword for violence and political oppression, Al Ali hopes that artists will now help highlight the country's rich history and design culture. 'I think now we have much more freedom in expressing ourselves in all different aspects, political, humanitarian, creative. We have a lot to say, and definitely we are bolder, braver in the way we express it,' he said. A model presents a creation for Rami Al Ali. — AFP pic Haute Couture Week is separate from the ready-to-wear Paris Fashion Week and is dedicated to handcrafted, one-of-a-kind creations made for red carpet events, galas, and other high-profile social occasions. The programme this week included two designers from Lebanon — Elie Saab and Zuhair Murad — as well as Cameroon's Imane Ayissi, the sole sub-Saharan African label included in the calendar. Saudi Arabian designer Mohammed Ashi's brand Ashi Studio was also in the programme. Ayissi, who joined the Couture calendar in 2020 at the same time as much-hyped Indian designer Rahul Mishra, paid tribute to the increasing diversity on the Paris fashion circuit. 'It shows that things are changing, that things are moving forward,' former model Ayissi told AFP this week after his show, which made elaborate use of traditional African textiles. — AFP


Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Grey's Anatomy star Kate Walsh, 57, goes commando at Paris Fashion Week alongside her Aussie fiancé
Kate Walsh put on an eye-popping display at Paris Fashion Week on Tuesday as she went commando in a very racy white gown. The Grey's Anatomy star, 57, stepped out in Stephane Rolland haute couture for the Fall/Winter 2025/2026 show with her Australian fiancé Andrew Nixon. The actress, who relocated to Perth to be with Andrew, stunned onlookers with her raunchy look, which featured a revealing slit from her chest to her hip. Showing off her toned tummy, Kate donned a sultry pose as she hit the white carpet on her way into the French venue. Despite shocking the crowd with her partial nudity, there appeared to be a sheer mesh panel which ensured she kept some modesty at the ritzy event. From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail's new showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop. Kate Walsh, 57, put on an eye-popping display at Paris Fashion Week on Tuesday as she went commando in a very racy white gown Kate opted for large pieces of jewellery, with a chunky ring and bracelet featuring huge blue stones with diamond bands. She was also seen wearing a pair of dark designer glasses as she slicked back her locks into an artful up-do and slicked on a minimal makeup look. The US star relocated to Western Australia to be with Andrew after they met in 2020, with The Umbrella Academy actress confirming their engagement in October 2022. Kate, who hails from California, recently revealed she has fallen in love with Australia's laid-back lifestyle and is now happy to call Perth home. 'I really love Western Australia… I think nature here eclipses everything. It drives me,' she told 'I like the slowness. It's really good for me. And then you go back overseas and you're like, "Oh my god. People are insane."' Kate said she often flies to America for filming before returning to Australia when she is free from her work commitments to spend more time with her fiancé. 'I feel very fortunate I can pop back to LA, go to work, and then come back here and live my best life,' she gushed. Despite shocking the crowd with her partial nudity, there appeared to be a sheer mesh panel which ensured she kept some modesty at the ritzy event She was also seen wearing a pair of dark designer glasses as she slicked back her locks into an artful up-do and slicked on a minimal makeup look 'I needed my life to be a lot more balanced. And then, I fell in love with an Aussie, and here I am. I love it. I'm very grateful,' she continued. Kate reportedly met Andrew, who works for his family business Nixon Farming, on a cruise just before the start of the coronavirus pandemic in early 2020. The Nixon family have been farming malt barley and canola in the Moora/New Norcia area of Western Australia for close to 100 years, according to their website. Before her relationship with Andrew, Kate was married to Day Shift executive producer Alex Young, but they went their separate ways in 2008. Their 15-month marriage officially came to an end in 2010, with the couple citing 'irreconcilable differences' as the reason for the split.


CNN
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- CNN
Planning my multicultural wedding was already difficult. Finding a dress was even harder
There's a photo of my mother on her wedding day that I love. She's sipping soda and laughing with relatives at my parent's Chinese banquet, looking radiant in her evening gown: a strapless, mandarin orange dress that puffs out towards the floor, princess-style. A classic pillbox hat sits poised over her trimmed bob; a sheer shawl drapes over her delicate arms. It's a striking and unusual look for a Hong Kong bride in the 1980s. Inspired by Western haute couture, she designed her wedding gowns (in Chinese weddings, the bride wears several outfits), hiring a neighbor who was a seamstress to help sew. 'We didn't have money for new dresses and I wanted something special that fit my identity. So, I made it myself!' she said. I came across the photo while seeking inspiration for my own wedding. I had recently gotten married to my partner in a small civil ceremony in London, and we planned to host a proper wedding in Hong Kong a few months later. I also wanted to pick dresses that could reflect my 'identity' and personal taste. Unlike my mum, who married another Hongkonger and never left the city, I'll be the first in my family to settle in Britain and marry a partner who is White and British. My fiancé is also the first in his close family to marry a non-White immigrant. Rather than shying away from the challenges of navigating an interethnic marriage, we wanted to actively celebrate and engage with each other's cultural heritages at our wedding. I was excited and couldn't wait to plan everything — starting with my dress. It was supposed to be easy: I'll just find something that feels 'right,' I thought to myself. Something that isn't too expensive, that stylistically honors both Chinese and Western traditions. It wasn't. As soon as I started looking online, I became overwhelmed. My searching prompted a barrage of questions: Should I wear a Chinese cheongsam (qipao) or a white wedding dress? How about both, or neither? Should we do a tea ceremony and rent two-piece qun kwa outfits (traditional Chinese tea ceremony attire)? Or wear Western clothing, but in colors like red and gold that symbolize prosperity in Chinese culture? Before I knew it, I was up until four in the morning on Instagram scrolling over 'inspo' pics, feeling like I'd tripped and fallen into the industrial wedding complex vortex and couldn't claw my way out. I also had a tough time finding bridal shops in London, where I'm based, offering high quality and contemporary Chinese designs (which is strange considering how many overseas Chinese and Asian people live here.) It turns out, I wasn't alone in my struggle. Jenn Qiao, the co-founder of US-based bridal brand East Meets Dress, started her company five years ago after failing to find a modern cheongsam for her own wedding. 'The choices seemed to be dealing with sketchy sellers on Alibaba or impatient grannies in Chinatown,' she writes on the brand's website. 'My maid of honor and I thought: this isn't an isolated experience,' Qiao explained on a phone call, adding that she ended up wearing a pink cheongsam that she eventually designed herself. 'Now, our mission is to offer modern styles that fuse your ethnicity and heritage to your current style.' They started off creating bespoke and ready-to-wear cheongsams, but have since received a growing number of requests for 'fusion' gowns from mixed couples. 'One bride marrying a Mexican (man) wanted to incorporate this shade of blue commonly seen in Mexican art, so we customized one of our dresses in white and included blue embroidery,' Qiao said. It's a niche but growing market. In addition to playing with color, dressmakers also experiment with different materials and silhouettes. Qipology, a Hong Kong-based brand, offers diverse cheongsam designs with functional elements like zippers (rather than the traditional knotted buttons) to prioritize comfort and versatility, as well as fun takes (like a white halter qipao with a feathery trim). 'We have brides of different shapes who don't want to wear something so form-fitting,' said Julie Liu, Qipology's founder. '(Modernization) is not really about how to incorporate the Western world, but about: 'how do I look good in the qipao and not show everyone my belly?'' Grace Pei, a designer at US-based Jinza Oriental Couture, said that over 90% of her clients are in interethnic relationships and planning multicultural weddings. 'I realized that everyone wants to honor their heritage, but nobody knows how,' she said in a phone interview. Pei recently wrote a guide on the topic, recommending that couples include tea ceremonies and Chinese lion dances, and to weave in cultural symbols into the decor — such as using peonies, lotuses and cherry blossoms with orchids or roses into floral centerpieces. As time went on, I realized that my anxieties were less about the dress itself, and more about what it had come to represent: my sense of identity in a mixed marriage. Now that I've chosen to live in a predominantly White society and marry a White partner, I feel increasingly protective of my Hong Kong heritage and defensive against assimilation. The pressure I have felt has been exacerbated by the racist and sexist backlash in recent years to East Asian women marrying outside their race, which has become a negative cultural trope (see this fake 'Oxford Study' that blew up on TikTok and shames Asian women for dating white men, or this viral essay by Chinese American author Celeste Ng about how she was harassed for marrying her White husband). My anxiety was compounded by questions on what the wedding would actually look like. How do you honor multiple cultures on such a momentous occasion? Should we hire a translator for our tea ceremony? How should we approach asking western guests to prepare lai see for the occasion (red envelopes of money to wish the bride and groom good fortune)? Should we serve Chinese or Western food? Should we seat guests by family, as per Chinese traditions, or seat both families together? And, at the crux of these concerns: Would we be able to make choices that cater to both families, who have drastically different cultural expectations? Will they accept us and embrace each other moving forward? My partner also felt overwhelmed by these choices, but tried to reassure me that our extended families — who would be meeting for the first time — would share in our joy on the big day, regardless of its shape or form. Yet every decision still felt fraught with tension; like a choice of one culture over another. When I confessed all of this to a Chinese friend, who recently married her Italian husband, I was relieved to hear she had similar concerns. She had worried that her attempts to honor her cultural heritage would be perceived negatively, and seen as culturally performative. They decided to stick to clothing from their respective cultures: she wore a cheongsam and he wore a Western suit. 'I didn't want us to be viewed as just 'an interracial couple' or have it framed as: 'look at this White man (wearing) traditional Chinese wedding attire,'' she told me. 'I wanted guests to see us as two individuals celebrating our love, rather than (as) cultural symbols.' Her words resonated; they reminded me why I was trying so hard to be culturally thoughtful in the first place. We wanted to celebrate our love and respect for one another, as well as our families. At the end of the day, the best we can do is keep these intentions at the forefront of our decisions, and go with what feels right as a couple. And for us, it ultimately meant choosing several outfits to honor both Western and Chinese traditions — and to engage our loved ones in the process. I went shopping with one of my bridesmaids in London, where we stumbled upon a delicately embroidered white dress with a short train that was on sale (it was fate, we declared), and bought it to wear for our drinks reception. My dad gifted my partner one of his old tuxedos for the big day, and my sister persuaded me to rent a party dress for the karaoke dance portion of our wedding (neither a Chinese or Western tradition, but very me). The dress was Western in design, but in the lucky Chinese color red — a nod to both cultures. These joyful moments were on my mind the morning of our Hong Kong wedding, when we gathered both families together in my family home to take part in the tea ceremony. We wore rented qun kwas for that, and even got one for my mum, who couldn't afford to do so at her own wedding. Together, my husband and I held hands and stood in front of our loved ones: me in a high-collared red jacket and long skirt, with delicately embroidered phoenixes and beaded tassels that spun with each step; my partner in a matching Tang suit, with a pair of dragons dancing over waves of gold and silver. I looked over his shoulder and saw my mum tearing up, hand over her heart, radiant in her dark burgundy qun kwa. 'You look beautiful,' she mouthed, and I smiled back. I did feel beautiful. I felt like me.


The Guardian
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Catwalk v Centre Court: SW19 becomes hot spot for celebrities and brands
On Saturday, all eyes will be on United States' Amanda Anisimova as she takes on Poland's Iga Świątek in the Wimbledon women's finals. But this week there has been another rally taking place off grass. It was catwalk v Centre Court as clashing schedules meant haute couture fashion week in Paris went head to head with the Championships in SW19. Like all matches, there can only be one winner and surprisingly, it appears it is the London suburb rather than the French fashion capital that has claimed the contest. While couture wasn't short of Hollywood stars – Demna's final show for Balenciaga included appearances from Kim Kardashian and Nicole Kidman, and the singer Dua Lipa and rapper Cardi B sat front row at Schiaparelli – Wimbledon has welcomed an eclectic mix, from the pop star Olivia Rodrigo to Arsenal's Bukayo Saka and Oscar winners Mark Rylance and Cate Blanchett. Yasmin Eady, the co-founder of Raven, a London-based communications agency, describes gaining access to the tournament as 'more desirable than ever'. Ralph Lauren, Wimbledon's official outfitter since 2006 (meaning the brand dresses all tournament staff), hosts a string of stars who this year included the actors Ncuti Gatwa and Andrew Garfield. Unlike a fashion show that lasts as little as 10 minutes, a match at Centre Court can go on for hours, but this doesn't seem to be a deterrent. 'Wimbledon has become the must-have ticket for celebrities,' says Daniel Yaw-Miller, a sports and fashion journalist and founder of the SportsVerse newsletter. 'It is one of those events that if you are seen at, gives you a particular kind of status in the celebrity world. It shows that you are moving in certain circles.' The fusion of sport, celebrity and fashion is a growing trend seen across all types of sports including Formula One and football but this year's Wimbledon, the third of four annual grand slam tennis tournaments, has shown just how integrated the two worlds have become. Tennis has come for luxury fashion and luxury fashion has come for tennis. Thrilling rallies from athletes including Carlos Alcaraz and Coco Gauff have propelled interest in the sport, signalling a transition in the game as this new generation of stars take over after the retirement of greats including Roger Federer and Serena Williams. Yaw-Miller describes Alcaraz as a 'new rock star' and 'an athlete's athlete'. After his match against Cameron Norrie, Saka and Jurriën Timber took photos with him. This season the Italian player Lorenzo Musetti used the championships to announce his new Bottega Veneta ambassador role by walking on to the court in a woven, white leather jacket from the brand. He might have got knocked out in the first round but the virality of the images show the impact a fashion partnership can have even if a jacket is worn for a couple of minutes. Sign up to Fashion Statement Style, with substance: what's really trending this week, a roundup of the best fashion journalism and your wardrobe dilemmas solved after newsletter promotion Marisa Hordern, the founder and creative director of the British jewellery brand Missoma, says this summer the company chose to focus on Wimbledon rather than Glastonbury. 'The championships feels more culturally relevant and exciting. In terms of brand exposure, in the UK in terms of sporting events, it's No 1.' When an earring worn by Gauff from Missoma's new tennis collection fell out mid-match, clips of her opponent Dayana Yastremska picking it up quickly spread. Some compared it with Chris Evert's 1978 US Open moment when her bracelet fell off. 'It was one of those awkward moments which just became PR gold,' says Hordern. So far the collection has performed 53% better than the brand had forecast. Eady says an image of a player or a celebrity spectator wearing a piece or carrying an accessory is strongly coveted by brands. It extends to the partners of the athletes too. The influencer Morgan Riddle, who is Taylor Fritz's girlfriend, regularly partners with brands such as Valentino and Ferragamo on her spectator outfits. According to the data firm Launchmetrics, last year's appearance of the Challenger's star Zendaya at the Polo Ralph Lauren suite generated more than £2m in media impact value for the US brand. Unlike other sporting events, the spectators in the royal box sit in close proximity to the court and often end up in the background of coverage. Eady says: 'If you have someone wearing a brand, smiling to the cameras as someone like [Novak] Djokovic wins a final set, that's the money shot.'