Inside fashion designer Lama Jouni's Dubai studio, white walls are crafted from luxurious panels reminiscent of Parisian interiors, and clothing is displayed on black bars suspended from the ceiling. The right side of the room is sectioned off to house the designer's production facilities and a fitting room, while Jouni's office is situated at the back, bordered by glass walls. It is decorated with Plexiglas picture frames, a black and gold trinket box adorned with a tassel, and a trio of white candles. A vintage sewing machine sits in a corner, next to a mood board covered in faint sketches.
It's a juxtaposition of contemporary and classical styles, and this element of contrast is also reflected in Jouni's designs – specifically in her latest collection, which was inspired by the history of her home country, Lebanon. "I wanted to embody how the colonisation of the French affected Lebanon and the identity of the Lebanese people," she says.
Asymmetry and ruffles are given a grown-up edge in her autumn/winter 2017 range, which comprises both street wear and formal wear, from hooded sweatshirts to gowns. "In the collection, you have a lot of contrast between the florals and greens of Lebanon, and a lot of the other side of Lebanon, where you're in your car and you look around and the houses are really messed up," Jouni says.
Inspired by a war-torn community that has famously managed to maintain its spirit, and is known for being fun-loving, glamorous, creative and ambitious, utilitarian cuts are brought to life with glamorous gold touches, while embroidered floral motifs sprout from hemlines of sheer black chiffon. The colour palette is mature and sober, with crimson red and sage green breaking up the jet-black attire. Slouchy black hoodies are embroidered with "Mille Neuf Cent Quarante Trois 1943" – the year that Lebanon gained independence from France, and white T-shirts are emblazoned with "Liberté!".
They're sentiments intended to evoke a celebratory mood, perhaps loosely inspired by Dior's range of feminist T-shirts that have launched a worldwide style craze since debuting on the runway in September last year.
Minimalism is at the heart of Jouni's aesthetic, and it shows in her personal style. The designer wears an all-black three-piece outfit consisting of a V-neck T-shirt, wide-leg trousers and an asymmetrical blazer. Black and white Converse Chuck Taylor shoes, a handful of silver rings and on-trend red-orange eyeshadow complete her look.
Jouni says she designs for women who seek clothing that is simple, minimal and practical, with a hint of glamour. "I'm trying to create a brand that caters to women who work, who are independent and who spend their own money, and that's why the clothes are affordable. The most expensive piece is Dh3,000 – and it would be a gown, or a cocktail dress that has a lot of work," she says.
Jouni moved to Paris at the age of 17, where she studied fashion at Esmod, Parsons and L'Istituto Marangoni. "I was really young – 17 – when I moved, and I had no background in street fashion or art or anything. So I got to learn a lot more about history, photography and styling," she says. She remained in Paris and interned with multiple brands such as Reed Krakoff and Rad Hourani. She also worked at Balmain as an assistant patternmaker in the label's atelier.
"I got to know everything – to draft an entire collection, from sketching, to digging into the archives, to seeing it on the runway and assisting on the catwalk – I literally saw the entire process," she says. "And that's when I felt like okay, enough. I spent two years doing unpaid internships, and it takes a long time to build a business, so I thought, let me start now while I'm still young."
Jouni, who was raised in Saudi Arabia, now had to decide where to base her brand. "I'm Lebanese, and honestly my country is not very stable. Staying in Europe is very difficult for a Lebanese to start a business there, not because its competitive but just because of paperwork," she says. "My family lives in Saudi Arabia, and there is no way I would go back, especially after living in Paris for eight years. In Dubai, the industry was growing, and I wanted to grow with it."
Jouni set up her base in Dubai Design District (d3), participated in four seasons of Fashion Forward Dubai (FFWD), and was selected last year as the winner of an initiative that enabled her to show at London Fashion Week. The contest was a partnership between FFWD, FAD Institute of Luxury Fashion & Style Dubai and Fashion Scout, and was a part of FFWD's Epic X Samsung programme, which aims to empower emerging designers in the region.
"It was crazy – my first European runway show. The exposure was great, and it opened a lot of doors for me."
She won't be participating in October's edition of FFWD as she is travelling to Paris to showcase her spring/summer 2018 collection in showrooms after Paris Fashion Week. Although she is based in Dubai, Jouni's aspirations point to the creation of an internationally-recognised label.
"My vision for the brand is to build and create an e-commerce [platform] that can reach customers inter-nationally, and then set up my first shop in the UAE or Lebanon," she says.
"Then, one day, I'm hoping I can sell the brand to a private equity company that will turn it into a franchise, and have it everywhere in the world. That's the end goal – to have Lama Jouni in every corner, in every place in the world."
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SPECS
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
Gran Gala del Calcio 2019 winners
Best Player: Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus)
Best Coach: Gian Piero Gasperini (Atalanta)
Best Referee: Gianluca Rocchi
Best Goal: Fabio Quagliarella (Sampdoria vs Napoli)
Best Team: Atalanta
Best XI: Samir Handanovic (Inter); Aleksandar Kolarov (Roma), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Kalidou Koulibaly (Napoli), Joao Cancelo (Juventus*); Miralem Pjanic (Juventus), Josip Ilicic (Atalanta), Nicolo Barella (Cagliari*); Fabio Quagliarella (Sampdoria), Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus), Duvan Zapata (Atalanta)
Serie B Best Young Player: Sandro Tonali (Brescia)
Best Women’s Goal: Thaisa (Milan vs Juventus)
Best Women’s Player: Manuela Giugliano (Milan)
Best Women’s XI: Laura Giuliani (Milan); Alia Guagni (Fiorentina), Sara Gama (Juventus), Cecilia Salvai (Juventus), Elisa Bartoli (Roma); Aurora Galli (Juventus), Manuela Giugliano (Roma), Valentina Cernoia (Juventus); Valentina Giacinti (Milan), Ilaria Mauro (Fiorentina), Barbara Bonansea (Juventus)
Sreesanth's India bowling career
Tests 27, Wickets 87, Average 37.59, Best 5-40
ODIs 53, Wickets 75, Average 33.44, Best 6-55
T20Is 10, Wickets 7, Average 41.14, Best 2-12
John Wick: Chapter 4
Director: Chad Stahelski
Stars: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, George Georgiou
Rating: 4/5
Company Profile
Name: HyveGeo
Started: 2023
Founders: Abdulaziz bin Redha, Dr Samsurin Welch, Eva Morales and Dr Harjit Singh
Based: Cambridge and Dubai
Number of employees: 8
Industry: Sustainability & Environment
Funding: $200,000 plus undisclosed grant
Investors: Venture capital and government
The biog:
From: Wimbledon, London, UK
Education: Medical doctor
Hobbies: Travelling, meeting new people and cultures
Favourite animals: All of them
Richard Jewell
Director: Clint Eastwood
Stars: Paul Walter Hauser, Sam Rockwell, Brandon Stanley
Two-and-a-half out of five stars
Indika
Developer: 11 Bit Studios
Publisher: Odd Meter
Console: PlayStation 5, PC and Xbox series X/S
Rating: 4/5
Company Profile
Company name: Cargoz
Date started: January 2022
Founders: Premlal Pullisserry and Lijo Antony
Based: Dubai
Number of staff: 30
Investment stage: Seed
England squad
Joe Root (captain), Alastair Cook, Keaton Jennings, Gary Ballance, Jonny Bairstow (wicketkeeper), Ben Stokes (vice-captain), Moeen Ali, Liam Dawson, Toby Roland-Jones, Stuart Broad, Mark Wood, James Anderson.
Match statistics
Abu Dhabi Harlequins 36 Bahrain 32
Harlequins
Tries: Penalty 2, Stevenson, Teasdale, Semple
Cons: Stevenson 2
Pens: Stevenson
Bahrain
Tries: Wallace 2, Heath, Evans, Behan
Cons: Radley 2
Pen: Radley
Man of the match: Craig Nutt (Harlequins)
Infobox
Western Region Asia Cup Qualifier, Al Amerat, Oman
The two finalists advance to the next stage of qualifying, in Malaysia in August
Results
UAE beat Iran by 10 wickets
Kuwait beat Saudi Arabia by eight wickets
Oman beat Bahrain by nine wickets
Qatar beat Maldives by 106 runs
Monday fixtures
UAE v Kuwait, Iran v Saudi Arabia, Oman v Qatar, Maldives v Bahrain
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Company Profile:
Name: The Protein Bakeshop
Date of start: 2013
Founders: Rashi Chowdhary and Saad Umerani
Based: Dubai
Size, number of employees: 12
Funding/investors: $400,000 (2018)
SPEC SHEET: APPLE IPHONE 15 PRO MAX
Display: 6.7" Super Retina XDR OLED, 2796 x 1290, 460ppi, 120Hz, 2000 nits max, HDR, True Tone, P3, always-on
Processor: A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 6-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Memory: 8GB
Capacity: 256/512GB / 1TB
Platform: iOS 17
Main camera: Triple: 48MP main (f/1.78) + 12MP ultra-wide (f/2.2) + 12MP 5x telephoto (f/2.8); 5x optical zoom in, 2x optical zoom out; 10x optical zoom range, digital zoom up to 25x; Photonic Engine, Deep Fusion, Smart HDR 4, Portrait Lighting
Main camera video: 4K @ 24/25/30/60fps, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps, HD @ 30fps, slo-mo @ 120/240fps, ProRes (4K) @ 60fps; night, time lapse, cinematic, action modes; Dolby Vision, 4K HDR
Front camera: 12MP TrueDepth (f/1.9), Photonic Engine, Deep Fusion, Smart HDR 4, Portrait Lighting; Animoji, Memoji
Front camera video: 4K @ 24/25/30/60fps, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps, slo-mo @ 120/240fps, ProRes (4K) @ 30fps; night, time lapse, cinematic, action modes; Dolby Vision, 4K HDR
Battery: 4441mAh, up to 29h video, 25h streaming video, 95h audio; fast charge to 50% in 30min (with at least 20W adaptor); MagSafe, Qi wireless charging
Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.3, NFC (Apple Pay), second-generation Ultra Wideband chip
Biometrics: Face ID
I/O: USB-C
Durability: IP68, water-resistant up to 6m up to 30min; dust/splash-resistant
Cards: Dual eSIM / eSIM + eSIM (US models use eSIMs only)
Colours: Black titanium, blue titanium, natural titanium, white titanium
In the box: iPhone 15 Pro Max, USB-C-to-USB-C woven cable, one Apple sticker
Price: Dh5,099 / Dh5,949 / Dh6,799
TUESDAY'S ORDER OF PLAY
Centre Court
Starting at 2pm:
Malin Cilic (CRO) v Benoit Paire (FRA) [8]
Not before 4pm:
Dan Evans (GBR) v Fabio Fogini (ITA) [4]
Not before 7pm:
Pablo Carreno Busta (SPA) v Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) [2]
Roberto Bautista Agut (SPA) [5] v Jan-Lennard Struff (GER)
Court One
Starting at 2pm
Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND) v Dennis Novak (AUT)
Joao Sousa (POR) v Filip Krajinovic (SRB)
Not before 5pm:
Rajeev Ram (USA) and Joe Salisbury (GBR) [1] v Marin Cilic v Novak Djokovic (SRB)
Nikoloz Basilashvili v Ricardas Berankis (LTU)
The more serious side of specialty coffee
While the taste of beans and freshness of roast is paramount to the specialty coffee scene, so is sustainability and workers’ rights.
The bulk of genuine specialty coffee companies aim to improve on these elements in every stage of production via direct relationships with farmers. For instance, Mokha 1450 on Al Wasl Road strives to work predominantly with women-owned and -operated coffee organisations, including female farmers in the Sabree mountains of Yemen.
Because, as the boutique’s owner, Garfield Kerr, points out: “women represent over 90 per cent of the coffee value chain, but are woefully underrepresented in less than 10 per cent of ownership and management throughout the global coffee industry.”
One of the UAE’s largest suppliers of green (meaning not-yet-roasted) beans, Raw Coffee, is a founding member of the Partnership of Gender Equity, which aims to empower female coffee farmers and harvesters.
Also, globally, many companies have found the perfect way to recycle old coffee grounds: they create the perfect fertile soil in which to grow mushrooms.
Kill
Director: Nikhil Nagesh Bhat
Starring: Lakshya, Tanya Maniktala, Ashish Vidyarthi, Harsh Chhaya, Raghav Juyal
Rating: 4.5/5
TWISTERS
Director:+Lee+Isaac+Chung
Starring:+Glen+Powell,+Daisy+Edgar-Jones,+Anthony+Ramos
Rating:+2.5/5
Tips for entertaining with ease
· Set the table the night before. It’s a small job but it will make you feel more organised once done.
· As the host, your mood sets the tone. If people arrive to find you red-faced and harried, they’re not going to relax until you do. Take a deep breath and try to exude calm energy.
· Guests tend to turn up thirsty. Fill a big jug with iced water and lemon or lime slices and encourage people to help themselves.
· Have some background music on to help create a bit of ambience and fill any initial lulls in conversations.
· The meal certainly doesn’t need to be ready the moment your guests step through the door, but if there’s a nibble or two that can be passed around it will ward off hunger pangs and buy you a bit more time in the kitchen.
· You absolutely don’t have to make every element of the brunch from scratch. Take inspiration from our ideas for ready-made extras and by all means pick up a store-bought dessert.
MEDIEVIL (1998)
Developer: SCE Studio Cambridge
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Console: PlayStation, PlayStation 4 and 5
Rating: 3.5/5
MATCH INFO
Mainz 0
RB Leipzig 5 (Werner 11', 48', 75', Poulsen 23', Sabitzer 36')
Man of the Match: Timo Werner (RB Leipzig)
