In Nas Yannaw Part Deux

So this is going to turn into a regular thing, because there are so many trends in the fashion world that are marketed exclusively for crazy people. And this craziness is becoming very mainstream. And i will document it.I really liked the idea of happy sorbet foxtails hanging from the versatile messenger bags of fresh-faced, pastel-coloured hippie youths at the Vuitton SS show. Then i find out that the messenger bag is $3,730. Oh wonderful Vuitton, you've surpassed yourselves. You've taken a messenger bag to the height of ridicule. So what next, some dumb gimmick the price of a croc Birkin? No no then i see the foxtails (which are to be purchased separately) for wait for it.... $1,120. You read that right. Over one THOUSAND dollars for a stupid fox tail. Are you effing KIDDING me???? You know, you know right that i could get a legit furrier to make one malyon marra a7la for 15kd right? As in min 9ijy, i'm not exaggerating. I could call up Francesca (the woman -of Fendi training- who handles my family's fur-related needs) and get her to make me one asap for nothing.Saving the best for last... how would you like this crocodile-topped, tassel-choked, telephone-wire alien-backpacker mashup for $54,000? I could buy a large plot of land in Oman with that! Yaaay. FREAKS.

Do you think that even "in the old days" if you went up to the King of Baghdad or whatever and said hey man, would you buy these simple woolen pantaloons from me for a box of gold? The king (despite his limitless wealth and no accountability) would moost probably tell this guy to get lost. Today, we walk into Vuitton and see those same pantaloons (ooh ethnic) and will buy them, completely convinced that the the LOUIS VUITTON label on the back justifies the price. What a monstrous joke! Sta8farallah these are products for retards (and i don't say that lightly) who are so lost in their evaluation of money that they have no problem just basically putting their cash into Arnault's pocket as he laughs down from the throne of his Aspirational Empire.

4th Kuwait National Islamic Arts Convention in Masjid Al Kabeer

Quraan on a bracelet! Imagine he did this by hand!

Turkish prints

Palestinian Calligraphy

Chinese Islamic Calligraphy!

More Chinese!

Srai

An exhibit of Maroccan tilework. I was impressed by what they could do. To see their workshop or view their catalog, call Abdulrahman Sh3oo Al Magrabi (97538542)

Algerian enameled pottery.

The Hagia Sophia rising as if out of a sea in this wonderful example of marbelization.

A perfectly elegant example of Palestinian Calligraphy. It was easily distinguished by its passionate nationalism.

My mother and I went to the 4th Kuwait National Islamic Arts Convention at Al Masjid Al Kabeer in the Deera that other day (it ended on the 15th of Jan). So much better than i expected! Although the number of exhibitors was small, they were all interesting and fresh. From an Iranian man who is going to be in the Guinness Book of World Records for smallest full Qur'an etched on precious metals to a young Kuwaiti interior designer (Srai) with workshops in Florence and Egypt where she produces everything from brass and copper traditional chandeliers to beautifully carved wooden bedframes.

Accessories Part Deux

I have no idea if Yara is still reading my blog (or 7aneen or Pa7nass or Chika or Eleventhst or anyone for that matter :sss) i know its my fault. But remember that Accessories post i did a long time ago? I meant to continue so here it is...

This is a David Szeto necklace i got quite a while ago from Othman, i thought the slick, ropy black fabric with the bright coral pieces was so exciting! The Cherry necklace is, like my gun necklace, from Girlprops. The box for my Chanel earrings (which i never wore 7aram) is to confuse you. :)

Isn't this so Midas? As in the king, not the furniture store. It was so OTT i just had to have it, it makes me look like the Arabian-Nights-Pop-Culture version of Sailor Moon. I got it a few years back from Cream in Saifi, Beirut.

Two Topshop, Liberty(ish)-fabric-covered bangles, My mother's real pearl necklace (which i don't think she realizes i took), a White House Black Market three-tier faux pearl necklace i got in Maui in 2005 and a Marie Antoinette pocket mirror i bought from a museum shop, most probably from the Louvre.

This is the street vendor magnet bracelet again with my Marni flower-power charm bracelet i got as a birthday present in the 8th grade and a bunch of wooden Spanish bracelets my aunt discarded on me.

My Korean-shop-in-the-Marais rose bangle again, along with the Soug il Mbarikiya Indian sparklers and the one in the foreground i bought in Villa Moda Mbarikiya (WHY DID THEY CLOSE IT WAS THEIR BEST STORE????!!! :(((((( ) and is by a designer with an Armenian-souding name i forgot sorry. It looks amazing on! It turns anything into a superstar spectacular!

Eid Feet Reinvented

When it was Eid, did your mother stuff you into these huge frilly dresses with matching jackets, bags, shoes, tights, headbands (which had to be clipped on they were so heavy with fruits btw) and weigh you down with these giant, obtrusive gold necklaces? Well, when i was a kid, mine did. I have no idea why she took it upon herself to decide that making me wear tights PLUS these short frilly socks was acceptable but anyways, i love looking at those pictures today. So funny. Since i'm feeling nostalgic nowadays, i rediscovered these dusty rose Marni shoes i bought over 7 years ago and wore them with these fab frilly lace socks. The result? I love it! Next time, i'm arranging a full Eid outfit remastered for 2010! Side note: everyone is hating on the mid-heel nowadays and i'm determined to bring it back!

I (HEART) GOATS

CUUUUTEATTACK! OMG they are so smaall!

When i grow up i dont want to be famous, i dont want to be star, i want to have GOATS! I want to be surrounded by cute happy jumping goats which i can play with eternally, laughing in the sunshine. If my sweet baby cashmere goats happen to be accompanied by cute Mongolian children i will certainly not object.

Noughties Regrets

This is my 2010 post. I welcome this new decade with open arms and great hopes that the fashion world will conquer lands of style it hasn't trodden before and whatever but at the moment i am feeling insanely nostalgic for the good old Noughties. The Nineties are when i grew up but the Noughties are when i came into my own; they nurtured my obsession with all things fashion and shaped so much of my life accordingly.

So here's a list some of items i regret not buying

or wish i could have bought in the past decade. I cant remember the rest right now. Oh, except the tartan Louis Vuitton 2004 coat with a caramel fur collar that Lily Cole opened the autumn/winter show with.

This velour and croc or alligator-trimmed jewel of a bag is one of my favorite bags that have ever existed (Louis Vuitton 2004 a/w is one of their best collections ever IMO). Look at it, its so perfect, so tight, so legit, so elegant, so fab, so so so so...

Remember the Louis Vuitton tortoise-shell heel platforms with holes in them that everyone thought were mad ugly at first? Sensational! I'd throw every future shoe out the window for these beautiful artifacts! So decadent, sublime! Dont you love how they perfectly capture the Dubaigeist of the time? Those were really the boom years, when everything was big big bigger, it was a time of excess, a time where all you could look was up. The future seemed to be a steep and never-ending trajectory! Fashion was flooded with super-luxe materials: gold, tortoise shell, summer furs, bling on everything! Capitalism rushed to accommodate the new bourgeoisie within its Peter Marino-designed mega-boutiques, pushing those flush with new cash to spend spend spend, and those without to go credit credit credit! I loved the contrast of the Emirates desert landscape with such overt extravagance!

I regret that when i went to Paris to visit J in the eleventh grade i didn't buy this plastic Chanel "naked" bag. It would look so great stuffed with these fab Liberty wash bags. I could have had a different color bag with super prints every day. :(

These stacked heel leather, open-toe Fuschia Miu Miu lace-up boots from their Resort 2008

collection are one of my fave shoes of all time (if anyone knows where to find them PLEASE tell me!). First tried them on in Roma (but i already bought one pair of Miu Mius there so my aunt said no) and then London where my mother said they made me look like "banat il lail" crossed with a boxer and refused categorically to indulge my desperation. And now i cant find them anywhere, anywhere!!! Not even a legit picture!

One day, i switched on my laptop. Lets see whats new. I stumbled upon Miu Miu Resort. I started hyperventilating. My world began to spin. My heart started beating "like a drum like a drum dum dum dum". I surveyed the beautiful, sweet, elegant roundedness, the perfect fit, the glovelike splendour, the breath of fresh air, the minty, boxer/baseball-player contrast, clean happiness in front of me. Come on, the pictures speak for themselves. One horrible, tear-jerking problem: WHICH ONE???

Update: Just called both New York Miu Miu stores and none of the shop attendants knew anything about when the boots were going to arrive nor did they have any info. They just kept telling me that the open-toe ones are in. Which open-toe ones? I cant find any pictures online!

Miu Miu resort 2010

Qu'est-ce que c'est?

Nice Mattel! Introducing.. AFGHO-Barbie, every little girl's dream! Let me play with her.. oh no, sorry, no hair! Hahaha. Its some doll created to raise money for Save the Children or something at auction. I think. Found it on Daslu's blog.

Heart-Stopping Trend Flash: CHANDELIER Shoes!!

Oh Scream. I love it, i love it Miuccia I love it i love it i love it! In all its silliness, in all its "what the hell are you wearing?", in all its glamorama over-the-top, apocalyptic tackiness i love it!

Took this photo from Jak and Jill. Would you look at those clunkers! Giant plastic buildings in Lucite and clear emerald glory, fastened to your foot with a nerdtastic plastic and velcro combination, draped with an emperor's load of dangly, crowded, smotheringly fabulous whack of chandelier crystals. Ooooh what will i dooo????

Another Prada marvel. (It makes your ankles look extra-elegant) The perfect width of clear plastic hugging the foot paired with a simple, perfectly redpink bow so simple and sweet, then turn your foot... BAM! Clock the crystals biaaatch!

Prada S/S '10

#9: THE WELLIES IN AVENUES

Khalaw the Minx, Khalaw the kil kil kil bnaya bil Kwait shayla jan6a either Birkin, Chanel 2.55 (tara lawa3taw chabdy bas!) willa Alexander Wang Coco, bes laazim a3ali8 3ala habbat the WELLIES (aka. RAIN BOOTS) in Avenues! 9ij askhaf habba shayfatha ib 7ayati (wana 3aysha bil Kwait (technically), ya3ni there is no shortage of habbat sakheefa). I don't even go to Avenues, i only go when im' dragged along by my Avenues-loving cousin S for fattening restaurants and Pinkberry (medium regular with mango, granola and raspberry). And i have already seen malyon wa7da labsa rain boots! Shsalfatkom? Ya3ni wellies are for the RAIN or MUD, itha kinna ib Glasto, then it would be fine. When you are walking in a mega-mall with marble floors and the weather outside is perfect with not a cloud in the sky and you live in a flipping desert, you dont really need to be wearing rubber on your feet! And the two women i saw wearing Chanel rubber wellies that other day were obviously just wearing them 'cause they were Chanel. Sorry, lame! And Hunter, okay fahamna, you love Kate Moss-and-you're-a-hipster-trying-to-stick-it-to-Kuwait-like-yeah. Then what?

My Advice?

BUUUURN.

ON ARABS IN ENGLISH: A STUDY OF THE ARAB PEOPLES

Another OnioSHELF post! Hooray! Madry if i made this clear, but i am OBSESSED with finding good books on the Arabian Peninsula (so hard to find) and i love reading about the nahdha (which everyone in the Arab world has miraculously forgotten about. One of my big goals in life is reeducating the Arabs about their history and bringing about a resurgence of intellectualism and literacy (yes im using the word literacy) which lead to political and social advancement in our stagnant, self-pitying region. Im not about to out up my hands and give up on my people. Anyhoo, these are my current must-reads on the Arab world. I shall get cracking after 15 minutes inshallah. I have a feeling Yousef from Some Contrast would like these recommendations! :)

In order from bottom to top:

1) A History of the Arab Peoples-by eminent Oxford historian Albert Hourani. This is supposed to be one of the definitive texts on Arab history in the English Language. Albert Hourani is a huge deal for anyone who studies anything to do with Arabs. This edition above is published by the Folio Society (of which you need to become a member), but you can also get normal ones off Amazon.

2) Being Arab- by the murdered Lebanese-Palestinian journalist Samir Kassir. I just finished this short book today. Absolutely wonderful. Kassir is brutally honest about the condition of the Arab peoples today. I thought it was eye-opening how he called our condition the Arab Malaise (7alat ya2s) and his analysis of political, social and cultural developments in the Arab world since the late 19th century are incredible! Plus he draws heavily on his very wide knowledge of Western philosophy in the text. This explains why i didn't understand it the first time i read it in the 11th grade. A MUST READ for any Arab.

3) The Arabs- by David Lamb. I ordered this book in the US and was just going throughmy mother's library yesterday and discovered that she had the 1987 edition! Cool! This is also one of the first popular books on the Arab people, who we are and what we do sort of thing. It is less academic than numbers 1 and 2 and should make for  a great introductory read.

4) The Arabs- by Peter Mansfield. Same title, different book. I have no idea what to expect. Another from my mother's library.

5) Forty Years in Kuwait- by Violet Dickson. A7is everyone in Kuwait has read this except me. I am so embarrassed.

6) Messages to the World- by Osama Bin Laden. I am SO SO SO excited to read this!!! It is a compilation of all of the documents and speeches that international experts have verified were written or spoken by Osama Bin Laden himself!! I didn't even know this book existed!

7) The Marsh Arabs- by Wilfred Thesiger. Wilfred Thesiger was the same man who wrote the great memoir Arabian Sands about his time in Southern "Arabia" (Ya3ni il shibh il jazeera al 3arabiya). This book is about the distinctive people who used to live in the marshes of southern Iraq (Al Ahwar) before Saddam dried them all up. Its a very sad business indeed. Plus it comes with lots of pictures documenting their livelihood. Excellent!

8) Najd before the Salafi Reform Movement by Uwaidah Al Juhany. Anything i've ever read about Najd or the region that is Saudi Arabia today has been always been either about the time of the prophet or about the time period of the Wahhabi-Saud alliance and collapse of Ottoman rule, never about any time in between! So e-stumbling upon this book on Amazon Mobile, i didn't waste a second one-click-ordering it. Bes 6ab3an with my workload last semester i was lucky if i had time to breathe let alone read anything other than course books so inshallah i get  a chance this break! Exciting!

9) The Geopolitics of Emotion by Dominique Moisi- Found this at the Harvard Book Store, it should be an interesting exploration of the psychological effects of policy-making in the 20th and 21st century. It focuses a lot on the Arab countries. 

10) What Went Wrong? by Bernard Lewis- Bernard Lewis is famous for being a strong critic of the backwardness of modern Arab culture and so i think it would be interesting to see out current pitfalls from his perspective and evaluate them in the context of Samir Kassir's malaise.

11 and 12) Evolution of Accounting Standards in Kuwait by Professor Shuaib al Shuaib and Economic Issues In the Labor Participation of Arab Women in Kuwait by Sulayman Al-Qudsi. I also found these reports in my mother's library and i think they would come in handy. The women one is of particular interest to me. I would like to see if Al-Qudsi has any figures comparing women employed in the private sector as opposed to the public and percentages of women in leadership positions in both because i would like to identify the glass ceilings (they exist!) and whether they are more prevalent in the private sector or the bureaucracy. 

Happy Reading!