As the sun set on Tuesday night, Rome’s forum – built in the 7th-century BC – Foro Romano – came alive once again. Serving as the civic heart of Ancient Rome, the site of law courts and public meetings became the stage for Dolce & Gabbana's Alta Moda show – transforming Via Sacra into a bustling, theatrical thoroughfare.
Presented as a love letter to the Eternal City, the show turned the ruins into a living tableau. Toga-clad senators, gladiators, dancers and poets wandered through the crowd, mingling with guests.
This was one event in the five-day extravaganza that is Alta Moda, where it is often difficult to tell models from clients – a testament to the immersive, over-the-top world Dolce & Gabbana conjures with its couture events.
Clients of Alta Moda are more than customers; they are collectors. Willing to spend undisclosed sums on one-of-a-kind, handcrafted creations, they arrive at these shows wearing gowns and suits from past seasons – many with yards of trailing silk, hand-painted trains, glittering headdresses and armfuls of feathers. Nothing is off limits, and everything is worn with the joy and theatricality it was designed for.
Like all Alta Moda shows, this was a tribute to Italian heritage and craftsmanship. The event was a year in the making, with research unearthing details such as Roman soldiers commissioning personalised armour – inspiring a series of looks built around ornately decorated breastplates, crafted from gilded brass and worn over draped chiffon or vast feathered skirts.
Rome’s architecture provided rich inspiration. The city's Spanish Steps were depicted in delicate applique on a swing coat dress; the Colosseum, visible in the distance, appeared in gold stitching across a coat and on a domed skirt; and the Trevi Fountain splashed across a sequinned coat.
The Pantheon was referenced, as was the mythic statue of the she-wolf suckling Romulus and Remus, which adorned the opening look.
The priestesses of the Temple of Vesta, guardians of the Eternal Flame, inspired four pure white gowns that turned the female form into a living sculpture. Created using innovative techniques, the fabric was moulded into three-dimensional drapery.
Elsewhere, the house’s signature glamour was ever-present. The sensual lace dresses that defined early Dolce & Gabbana were reimagined as translucent evening wear, covered in silvered flowers or smothered in mosaics of gold and silver beading.
Hollywood of the 1950s and 1960s loomed large. Rome, during its cinematic golden age, drew stars such as Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner.
It was the setting for Roman Holiday, Cleopatra, Ben-Hur and La Dolce Vita – and the show tapped into this era with coiled pleats on a strapless dark red midi dress and retro silhouettes reworked with contemporary embellishment.
Like a bridge between centuries, Romanesque beading adorned corsets, hobble dresses and a founded cape, stiff with decoration. The collection moved fluidly between eras – from the marble temples of antiquity to the glamour of Cinecitta – without losing its sense of cohesion.
At a preview, the designers spoke about the brand’s deep Italian pride: “We honour our country by choosing to produce all of our products here in Italy, and we honour the 6,000 employees across Italy. They are the true soul of Dolce & Gabbana.”
Guests including Isabella Rossellini, Cher, Christian Bale and Norwegian Manchester City footballer Erling Haaland watched as this pageant of decadence unfolded. It was a show designed not just for fashion, but also for history, art and theatricality – a total celebration of Rome, past and present.
Miniature Roman statues were recreated in marble powder, fragments of sculpture became brooches and earrings, studded with gems. One transformable necklace was adorned with slices of stone, intricately laser-carved.
Etched into one of the bejewelled necklaces on show was the Latin phrase “veni, vidi, vici”. And that’s exactly what Dolce & Gabbana did. They came, they saw, they conquered.
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sept 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Europe’s rearming plan
- Suspend strict budget rules to allow member countries to step up defence spending
- Create new "instrument" providing €150 billion of loans to member countries for defence investment
- Use the existing EU budget to direct more funds towards defence-related investment
- Engage the bloc's European Investment Bank to drop limits on lending to defence firms
- Create a savings and investments union to help companies access capital
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.”
