"Find your style and express yourself," says the designer Hatem Alakeel.
"Find your style and express yourself," says the designer Hatem Alakeel.

'We demonstrate how elegant traditional can be'



I've had a passion for fashion since I was a kid. I always wanted to dress in a certain way. I always had something very specific in my head about how I should be dressed and how men should be dressed. My style is simple, but with a bit of an edge. Toby started about a year ago. Before that I was designing traditional wear, just for fun, for myself. Friends started asking, "Can I get one too?" and before long I said, "Why not turn this into a business?"

I worked in marketing for six years before that and saw that there was a need in the Middle Eastern market for something that was modernised. We're not breaking tradition - we still provide the regular khandoura, dishdasha or thobe, but we give it a different touch, so the customer has options. My whole concept is being able to give the Middle Easterner who wears dishdasha or thobes the option of expressing themselves in their attire.

We have four lines. The Bohemian line focuses on trends in embroidery - we have one that has Andy Warhol embroidery on it, which attracted a lot of expatriates (I get quite a lot of expatriate Europeans buying online, and the Muslim community like to wear the more fashionable kandura on Friday). Then I have the Trend line, which is basically a way to satisfy the fashionisto cravings. I see what's interesting in fashion, then incorporate it into a thobe.

Then there is a sport line. Sportswear is very comfortable, attractive, fun - the kids love it. We have one with a number seven on the back, which is our lucky number. The fourth line is the classic look: readapting the shirt into a thobe. You could wear this in the office. It's wearable, it's classic, it's West meets East. This is what I'm all about. I'm Saudi Arabian, but I grew up in Europe and the States, so I am both Middle Eastern and western in my mentality.

I sketch a design, and then I do a three-dimensional version. I love taking fabric and playing with it on the mannequin. I pin it or play with it. Sketching is good, but when you see it live, it's different. I have a weakness for luxurious fabrics. They're expensive, but my customers notice that I have the best quality fabrics. I bring 80 per cent out from Italy, and I don't compromise on that. At first, people said, "OK, what are you wearing?" But eventually they really started to appreciate it. I opened my boutique in Jeddah over a year and a half ago now. For the first five months, I was in the boutique to get first-hand feedback from the customer. To be honest, it was really quite positive. There were a couple of pessimists or people who were more traditional - they'd say, "I might not wear them myself but I'd bring my kids."

What we're doing is embracing tradition. If anything, we are trying to demonstrate to the rest of the world how elegant and cool traditional can be. It's a way for us to demonstrate our culture to the world. In Saudi, we are very much a conformist society. But 50 per cent of the population is between 15 and 35. They are kids who want to see change, want involvement. They watch satellite and know what's happening in the rest of the world. It's not about dictating to them: we have four lines; find your style and express yourself.

I always found the whole English duke thing very elegant, with the cravat, the polo players. They have a certain air about them, very refined and sophisticated. So I wanted to combine that with the khandoura, and give it an extra touch. Today I'm wearing a classic shirting with a scarf that goes with the fabric. It went very well in the boutique. It's Italian cotton. You can wash it five, six, seven times and it will stay the same.

I have them made in my own workshop. I recruit my own tailors. I'm very hands on. Getting the tailors is a question of training - having a systematic programme, where everyone learns what they're doing, and then you're fine. I took a couple of fashion courses and I read a lot on stitching - how a shirt should fall, what the quality is like. I like my shirts not to be too tight, which detracts from the look of the thobe, or too loose, where you don't see the cut at all. At the same time, it's important that the stitching is done in a certain way. You really notice the difference. Attention to detail is vital.

With my thobe, I wear anything from trainers to classic shoes to loafers, depending on the mood and what style I want to communicate that day. I love Puma, Gucci, Prada, Skechers - right across the board. I also wear the madas sandals, a traditional sandal from back home, made out of leather. There are local brands, but I think there are quite a few international designers starting to catch on, too.

My watch is Cartier. I have other watches, but I'm a Cartier man. It has a French sensibility and is very classic but it has a bit of an edge to it. I like the French style of watchmaking. Toby thobes and accessories are available at www.urtoby.com and will be sold in Villa Moda menswear when it launches at DIFC.

How to protect yourself when air quality drops

Install an air filter in your home.

Close your windows and turn on the AC.

Shower or bath after being outside.

Wear a face mask.

Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.

If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.

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Paatal Lok season two

Directors: Avinash Arun, Prosit Roy 

Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong

Rating: 4.5/5

COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Haltia.ai%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202023%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECo-founders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Arto%20Bendiken%20and%20Talal%20Thabet%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%2C%20UAE%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20AI%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2041%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20About%20%241.7%20million%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Self%2C%20family%20and%20friends%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs

Engine: 3.8-litre V6

Power: 295hp at 6,000rpm

Torque: 355Nm at 5,200rpm

Transmission: 8-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 10.7L/100km

Price: Dh179,999-plus

On sale: now 

Gertrude Bell's life in focus

A feature film

At one point, two feature films were in the works, but only German director Werner Herzog’s project starring Nicole Kidman would be made. While there were high hopes he would do a worthy job of directing the biopic, when Queen of the Desert arrived in 2015 it was a disappointment. Critics panned the film, in which Herzog largely glossed over Bell’s political work in favour of her ill-fated romances.

A documentary

A project that did do justice to Bell arrived the next year: Sabine Krayenbuhl and Zeva Oelbaum’s Letters from Baghdad: The Extraordinary Life and Times of Gertrude Bell. Drawing on more than 1,000 pieces of archival footage, 1,700 documents and 1,600 letters, the filmmakers painstakingly pieced together a compelling narrative that managed to convey both the depth of Bell’s experience and her tortured love life.

Books, letters and archives

Two biographies have been written about Bell, and both are worth reading: Georgina Howell’s 2006 book Queen of the Desert and Janet Wallach’s 1996 effort Desert Queen. Bell published several books documenting her travels and there are also several volumes of her letters, although they are hard to find in print. Original documents are housed at the Gertrude Bell Archive at the University of Newcastle, which has an online catalogue.
 

Western Region Asia Cup Qualifier

Results

UAE beat Saudi Arabia by 12 runs

Kuwait beat Iran by eight wickets

Oman beat Maldives by 10 wickets

Bahrain beat Qatar by six wickets

Semi-finals

UAE v Qatar

Bahrain v Kuwait

 

The Year Earth Changed

Directed by:Tom Beard

Narrated by: Sir David Attenborough

Stars: 4

Neil Thomson – THE BIO

Family: I am happily married to my wife Liz and we have two children together.

Favourite music: Rock music. I started at a young age due to my father’s influence. He played in an Indian rock band The Flintstones who were once asked by Apple Records to fly over to England to perform there.

Favourite book: I constantly find myself reading The Bible.

Favourite film: The Greatest Showman.

Favourite holiday destination: I love visiting Melbourne as I have family there and it’s a wonderful place. New York at Christmas is also magical.

Favourite food: I went to boarding school so I like any cuisine really.