Beena Soni

Beena Soni is a very well known jalabiya/galabiya designer in the region.
She was born in India, but moved to Dubai to be a make-up artist.

From there on, her story gets pretty interesting - while working as a make-up pro and earning a little over $150 a month, she also was giving some informal advice to her clients as to what to wear with their newly painted faces.
Word got spread, and she found herself styling more and more clients, until, finally, she was asked (or so she tells on her website www.beenas.com) to create a complete pret-a-porte for one of them.
Thus, Beena Soni The Designer was born.

Now she is an extremely successfull business person, who has opened 2 boutiqies in some of the most plush Dubai hotels.

Oh, and also her pieces "are popular with members of royalty"!
Ca-Ching! A penny goes into my piggy bank!

Anyway, enjoy her beautiful galabiyas (Arabic housedress) below.
They are hella expensive.

Pix are from www.beenas.ae

Sheikha Maitha

I must declare, that Sheikh Mohammed must be a very proud poppa to such a gorgeous offspring!

Sheikha Maitha Bint Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum is one of the younger (b. 1980) daughters of Sheikh Mo, and she is an absolute betty (if you don't know what "betty" is - then go watch "Clueless")!

Not only she is beautiful, tall (5.9 ft), has loads of moolah and blue blood, but she is also an accomplished Olympian.
Let me ask you how many of the world's hot royals can boast such a claim? Prince Harry? Princes Beatrice? Various Monaco Princesses?

Yeah, i didn't think so either.

Sheikha Maitha participated in 2008 Beijing Olympics in martial arts competition and also was a flag bearer for the Dubai Team.
I don't think she won anything though.

Anyway, she is seriously into karate and actually won 4 gold medals in Gulf championships.
Additionally, Sheikha Maitha is involved with "Dubai Cares" charity, which works for providing decent children's education for impoverished nations.

Ramadan Pendants from Damas

Middle Eastern Jewelry powerhouse Damas just introduced a new pendant.
It's called Ramadan Pendant and is suppose to commemorate holy for muslims month of Ramadan, which this year falls on Aug through Sept.

It's made with gold and diamonds and all kinds of bling.

Damas also has another, less opulent, Ramadan pendant. This one is made with diamonds, gulf pearls and gold.

And some say Christmas is commercialised!

Pix VIA www.damasjewel.com

Reem and Hindi Ali Beljafla

Ali Beljafla sisters are Emirati designers.
They are young and fabulous - one is owner of a design agency, another one is also some kind of a businesswoman.
Both of them attended design institution of sorts in London (don't know which).

They do rock-n-roll abayas, which remind me a bit of good old Gucci cuts from Tom Ford days.












Pix are from www.dascollection.com

Kylie and Danni Minogue in Dubai

Kylie and Danni (or however she spells it) arrived in Dubai yesterday.
The younger one is a guest judge on X-Factor (American Idol-type show)and the older one is tagging along.

They are staying in Atlantis on Palm Jumeira.

www.arabianbusiness.com wrote and article about:

...in the background will be Dubai: sun shining, azure waters glinting, skyscrapers towering, everybody smiling.
The subliminal message will be priceless to the city.

There will be no labour camps, no fraudsters, no building sites, no road works, just serene, warm, safe and sunny bliss.

The pic is from visit to Atlantis opening last year.
P.S. That dress is fugly.

Noelle Adam

Noelle Adam is a Dutch native, who practiced law for 10 years in the great city of Amsterdam before deciding she wants to be a designer.

She graduated with fashion degree from some sort of UK based institution and launched her first pret-a-porte this year at the Dubai Fashion Week.

Noelle Adam won Dubai Fashion Week 2009 Emerging Talent Competion.

I say her dresses are not bad for the former lawyer.

Also, all her designs are also available in mini-me format for the little girls!











Pix are from her website www.noelleadam.com

Roberto Cavalli Club Dubai

In case you didn't know, Dubai is clinically addicted to European luxury brands.
So here, now you know.

Bags, stores and cars are not enough for this city. It needs more to feed on.
It needs designer-branded real estate.

Roberto Cavalli (look at that precious face! just look at it and try to find one natural element on it!) opened club here past May.
This was his 1-st club, Florence and Milan locations were added later.

If you are interested, here is what inside:

Black quartz floors
Six-meter high walls dripping with Swarovski crystals
Entrance hall featuring exclusive Cavalli jewelry
Atolls in gold-colored glass and fur, suspended from the floor hosting a sushi bar and wine bar
A restaurant serving authentic Italian cuisine
Bottles of Roberto Cavalli Vodka
Cavalli-signed chocolates

Cavalli-signed chocolates in particular boggle my mind. How did he sign them?

P.S. In the works are Palazzo Versace and some kind of apartments by Armani.For real!

Curry Truffles

Well, i thought it was a particularly surrealistic combination, but then i googled it, and whaddayou know!

Apparently, tons of people are making it, eating it, and even serving it with their Thanksgiving dinners like it's an apple pie!

What?!

Am i living in culinary dark ages?

Here is a recipe from www.epicurious.com; it has 3 forks out of 4, so it must be good.

Mango Curry Truffles

1 1/4 cups heavy whipping cream
9 ounces high–quality bittersweet chocolate (70% cocoa), chopped, divided
1 teaspoon mild curry powder
1/2 cup mango puree (from 1 mango)
mango powder* or toasted finely shredded unsweetened coconut

For truffle base:
Bring cream to simmer in heavy small saucepan. Remove from heat, stir in curry powder; let stand 2 minutes. Stir in room–temperature mango puree (from 1 mango, pureed until smooth in processor).

Meanwhile, stir 7 ounces chocolate in metal bowl over saucepan of simmering water until smooth. Remove from heat. Add 2 ounces chocolate; stir until smooth. Stir in cream. Chill truffle base until firm enough to roll, about 3 hours.

Line rimmed baking sheet with waxed paper. Roll 2 teaspoons truffle base between fingertips into ball. Transfer to prepared sheet. Repeat with remaining truffle base. Chill until firm, about 1 hour.

For chocolate coating:
Line another rimmed baking sheet with waxed paper. Stir chocolate in metal bowl over saucepan of simmering water just until melted. Remove from heat. Cool slightly.

Scoop some of warm (not hot) melted chocolate into palm of hand. Place 1 chilled truffle in hand and roll in palm to coat. Transfer to prepared sheet. Repeat with remaining melted chocolate and truffles, rewarming chocolate if necessary.
Drop each freshly coated truffle (or just–formed, uncoated truffle) into bowl of mango powder or toasted coconut; turn to coat.

Eat up!

P.S. Pic is by someone named Scott Peterson, so, dude, don't sue.

Curry and Chocolate

Recently i came across rather bizarre dessert.
It's called Chocolate Samosa and it costs -don't faint-$30 US.

While i'm personally not a kind of glutton to spend that kind of moola on a single serving of some pastry, it's probably pretty good. It's created by Michelin star chef (actually, first indian chef to be awarded the star in 100 yrs) and it has quite a following.

Basically, Chocolate Samosa has a crunchy, sweetened samosa shell, filled with masala (!) spiced dark chocolate.

Well, I never!

Who puts masala in chocolate dessert?!

Would you try it?

HSY

Yeee-haw!
I got the Texas connection!

HSY is a Pakistani-based designer studio that is a brain-child of one Hassan Sheheryar Yassin (HSY, duh). Besides clothing, they carry jewelry line and are venturing into home furnishing.
HSY has stores in UK, Pakistan, Dubai and Texas!
I googled them and they have studio/representative in Sugarland, Houston!

HSY even has it's own wikipedia page.

That said wiki page proudly mentions that "current clientèle include royal families in the Middle East, social elites in South Asia, and more recently, social elite from the US and Europe."

Oh no, they didn't!

Just joking. They did.

But it's ok, because i like what they offer - yet another fusion, and from the looks of it, pretty dang interesting.
HSY is a recipient of MTV 2008 Style Icon award and a staple of Dubai Fashion Week.

Take a look-see: