The Six: Dior heads to Dubai with a closet-full of gorgeous gowns

The pieces were inspired by Dubai. (AFP)
Updated 19 March 2019
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The Six: Dior heads to Dubai with a closet-full of gorgeous gowns

Under a large circus-style tent, Dior showcased its latest haute couture collection to a crowd of Mideast-based fashionistas in Dubai’s Safa Park on Monday night.

The 15-piece collection was created with the city in mind. “When you think about Dubai, you think of a place that in a sense is very Mediterranean. So, we use more color (and) different shapes,” creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri told AFP.

Playful fashion

An accordion-style minidress in metallic rainbow colors was paired with an eye-catching glitter skullcap by celebrated milliner Stephen Jones.


Body suit

The haute couture collection included details like a “tattooed” body suit that conjured up images of Victorian-era circus performers.

Candy stripes

This candy-striped minidress brings to mind the vintage sweets of yesteryear and was paired with glittery, chunky-heeled boots.


Flying high

A sweetheart neckline edged with accordion-style pleating and silver, diamond-shaped embroidery take this look from red carpet ready to a gown more suited to a fashionable trapeze artist.


Glamour on the run

According to designer Maria Grazia Chiuri, this dip-dyed gown was purposefully crinkled in order to pay tribute to the on-the-move lifestyle of circus performers.


Show-stopper

This pleated, metallic dress was a show-stopper with its fish-like shades and billowing cape.

 


Director Kaouther Ben Hania rejects Berlin honor over Gaza

Updated 20 February 2026
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Director Kaouther Ben Hania rejects Berlin honor over Gaza

DUBAI: Kaouther Ben Hania, the Tunisian filmmaker behind “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” refused to accept an award at a Berlin ceremony this week after an Israeli general was recognized at the same event.

The director was due to receive the Most Valuable Film award at the Cinema for Peace gala, held alongside the Berlinale, but chose to leave the prize behind.

On stage, Ben Hania said the moment carried a sense of responsibility rather than celebration. She used her remarks to demand justice and accountability for Hind Rajab, a five-year-old Palestinian girl killed by Israeli soldiers in Gaza in 2024, along with two paramedics who were shot while trying to reach her.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by @artists4ceasefire

“Justice means accountability. Without accountability, there is no peace,” Ben Hania said.

“The Israeli army killed Hind Rajab; killed her family; killed the two paramedics who came to save her, with the complicity of the world’s most powerful governments and institutions,” she said.

“I refuse to let their deaths become a backdrop for a polite speech about peace. Not while the structures that enabled them remain untouched.”

Ben Hania said she would accept the honor “with joy” only when peace is treated as a legal and moral duty, grounded in accountability for genocide.