Look Who's Coming Over! - April & May

Let's play a game!
She is loca, loca, loca and her hips usually don't lie.  Her daddy is Lebanese, but she doesn't mention it much in the western media.
If you guessed Shakira - duh! - you're right and she's coming over to Abu Dhabi on April 29!!!!  I better hurry and buy me some tix!

He's a youngish Jewish (he has a Hebrew tattoo to prove it, among other things) boy who fronts mediocre faux-rock band with incomprehensible name.  Mostly famous for romancing the pants of Jessica Simpson while she was still married.  Sorry, but there's nothin else i know or care to find out about him :(

If you guessed Adam Levine of Maroon 5, then you're right and he and his band are giving a concert in Dubai on April 21.

This All-American original gangsta is big!  Famous marijuana advocate and connoisseur, got criminal record (drug & gun possession) and long-suffering wife.  He was denied entry to Australia and consequently he's concert was cancelled, but apparently his criminal past is not a problem for Abu Dhabi! 

I'm concerned how he's gonna stay baked in UAE, which has zero tolerance policy.

If you guessed Snoop Dogg, then you're right and he's performing in Abu Dhabi on May 6!

Michael Cinco

Here is another precious, precious Dubai-based Filipino designer.  Look at him!  Admire the fierceness!
Kneel at his beauty!

All jokes aside, those who live in the Middle East know how hard it is for the South Asians to make it big here.  Majority of south-asians hold menial jobs in UAE - house maids, sales clerks and such - so kudos to those fabulous Philippines-born designers who break the stigma and raise the flag.

Michael Cinco came to Dubai in 1997 to work for some fashion house.  He left shortly to take courses in St. Martin's School of Art in London for about a year.  Upon his return Mr. Cinco opened up his own fashion house and now is a much demanded designer around here.

Check out his gowns and beautiful Filiipina actresses/models here:

Pix from www.michaelcinco.com

Dubai World Cup 2011

Here you go, yearly post.

Horses run.  Some girl named Jessy J sang. Who dat??? 

Ladies wore hats.

But, apparently, not all of them wore PANTS!

So, here is what i learned from this year's Dubai World Cup - hats are mandatory, but you don't have to worry about the rest of your wadrobe. 

NO PANTS, NO SKIRTS - NO PROBLEM!

Pix via ahlanlive.com

Hind Abdulrazak/Candella

Hind Abdulrazak is young, lovely and very creative second-generation Dubaiian. 

She used to work in construction - boooooring - but eventually swapped her briefcase for scissors and thimble. 

Hind is the managing partner of Candella boutique on fancy and posh Jumeirah strip. 

Here she sells some other people's clothes, but also her own wonderful, skillfully draped dresses.

She was nice enough to explain to me her creative process:

"For the most part I design by organically draping fabrics and pinning them to a form until I am happy with the shape!"

I think her dresses are delicious and have this gorgeous feminine feel.  To me it looks like Hind takes inspiration in that glamorous, bygone era of 1950s, which is so on right now - think Mad Man, Dita Von Tease, Burlesque. 

 Most prices fall in the AED 500 - 1500 range but some of the evening gowns are AED 2500- 3500.

Dita would look lovely in any of these:

Images of dresses courtesy Hind Abdulrazak