Shops around the Prophet’s Mosque are witnessing big sales during Ramadan as hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from around the world rush to buy souvenirs and rare collections from Madinah.
Several kiosks and stalls have been sprung up in the area with an eye on the huge influx of pilgrims during the peak of the Umrah season.
They display wide variety of items and souvenirs, including rosaries, prayer rugs, henna, perfumes, incense, abayas, pictures of the Prophet’s Mosque and historic places, and copies and CDs of the Holy Qur’an and its translations.
Many elderly men were seen searching for and buying silver rings adorned with precious stones.
Almost all the pilgrims are buying various types of Madinah dates that are famous worldwide.
On a tour of several shops in the area, Arab News saw many pilgrims buying souvenirs and special rosaries and abayas available in Madinah.
Nabeela, a Syrian pilgrim, said she bought rosaries after realizing that these are the best gifts that she can take to her family members and relatives back home.
Echoing the same view, Jouda from Pakistan said the beautiful and light Madinah rosaries are the precious gifts that she bought from the holy city.
On the other hand, Sofia Akhtar, also a Pakistani pilgrim, preferred rosaries made of amber and a prayer rug with inscriptions of the Holy Kaaba and the Green Dome of the Prophet’s Mosque to gold ornaments.
Inayat Ahmad, an Egyptian woman pilgrim, said that she was keen to buy traditional toys of Madinah that are popular in her country like small birds and pistols.
She said: “I take these home because they fascinate my sons as well as children in our neighborhood.
“A few years ago they used to get them from some of our relatives who brought them from Madinah.”
Pilgrims eager to buy Madinah souvenirs
Pilgrims eager to buy Madinah souvenirs
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.
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.
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.”
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.
