Expo 2020 Dubai unveils Hammour House community art project 

Hammour House will bring together fishermen, scientists, artists, school students and a number of institutions to showcase a selection of on-site installations. (Supplied)
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Updated 23 September 2021
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Expo 2020 Dubai unveils Hammour House community art project 

DUBAI: Expo 2020 Dubai on Thursday unveiled its community art project, titled Hammour House, at a preview attended by Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al-Nahayan, the UAE’s Minister of Tolerance and the coexistence and commissioner general of the event.

Hammour House will bring together fishermen, scientists, artists, school students and a number of institutions to showcase a selection of on-site installations.

Sheikh Al-Nahayan said at the event: “Hammour House embodies Expo 2020’s theme, ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future,’ which links creativity and engagement, and aims to bring the whole community together to build awareness, and enable action towards addressing our biggest challenges from the viewpoint of the arts.”

The art project is also expected to examine the coral reefs of the UAE and its inhabitants, particularly the orange-spotted grouper, known locally as hammour.

During the highly-anticipated six-month event, which starts on Oct. 1, the project will showcase a tapestry depicting marine life, created by school students using natural dyes. It will also feature Hammour Fish, a sculpture made from ghost nets – which are fishing nets lost or abandoned in the sea – by Australian artist Sue Ryan.

The program is said to include daily knitting experiences, workshops led by UAE-based artists and musical evenings. 

Visitors will get the opportunity to contribute to coral reef sculptures, made from recycled materials, which will be showcased on-site at Expo 2020.

According to a statement, one of Hammour House’s inspirations is the “One Thousand and One Nights” story of “Abdullah the Fisherman” and “Abdullah the Merman,” where the fisherman develops a friendship with the merman and learns about underwater life. 

He later begins to appreciate that fish are not only a source of food, but also organisms subject to complex systems and hierarchies similar to those found on land.


Mona Tougaard wears bridal look at Dior’s Paris show

Updated 27 January 2026
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Mona Tougaard wears bridal look at Dior’s Paris show

  • Rihanna and Brigitte Macron among attendees at show
  • Design part of new director Jonathan Anderson’s vision

DUBAI/ PARIS: Model Mona Tougaard reportedly turned heads in a bridal-inspired look on the Christian Dior runway during the recent Paris Haute Couture Week.

The runway star, who has Danish, Turkish, Somali and Ethiopian ancestry, wore a sculptural white gown with a one-shoulder silhouette and layered petal-like appliques cascading from the bodice to the full skirt.

The asymmetrical bodice featured draped detailing across the torso, while the skirt flared into a voluminous, floor-length shape.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Dior Official (@dior)

The look was finished with oversized floral statement earrings that echoed the dress’s petal motif.

The floral elements echoed the wider vision of Dior’s new creative director Jonathan Anderson, who drew inspiration from nature and his love of ceramics for his first Haute Couture collection since being appointed to the role.

The 41-year-old faces the rare challenge of overseeing all three fashion lines at the house — women’s and men’s ready-to-wear and Haute Couture — becoming the first designer to do so since Christian Dior himself.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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Just days after presenting his latest men’s collection during Paris Men’s Fashion Week, the Northern Irish designer returned with his first couture offering.

The collection featured floral motifs on fabrics or as accessories, while sculptural bulbous dresses were inspired by the work of Kenya-born ceramicist Magdelene Odundo.

“When you copy nature, you always learn something,” Anderson declared in his show notes, which compared Haute Couture to a living ecosystem that is “evolving, adapting, enduring.”

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Dior Official (@dior)

Other noteworthy pieces included dresses with spherical birdcage-inspired silhouettes, while other models wore vest tops with their dresses gathered around their waists.

The front row at the Rodin Museum reflected the scale of anticipation surrounding Anderson’s couture debut. France’s first lady Brigitte Macron arrived early, while Lauren Sanchez Bezos swept in shortly after.

Actor Parker Posey twirled briefly in a trench-style dress, playing to the room before settling in.

Then the space fell into a collective pause as celebrities and editors alike waited for Rihanna. When the pop star finally took her seat, the lights dropped and the show began.

Before the show, Anderson admitted in an interview with the Business of Fashion website that he previously thought couture was “irrelevant,” adding that he never really “understood the glamour behind it.”

“Now, I feel like I’m doing a Ph.D. in couture,” he explained.