Despite living in a country carved from the desert, most of us are blissfully unaware of the constant ebb and flow of the omnipresent dunes, which prompted our choice of location for this month's fashion shoot. The abandoned old town of Al Madam in Sharjah, once lived in and now forgotten, is testament to what happens in this region when the people leave.
Barely a village – just a scattering of single story houses watched over by a small masjid – it has been almost entirely reclaimed by the sand. With no doors or windows to hold back the persistent creep, rooms are filled, sometimes almost to the ceiling, with banked drifts, which lean against walls and slide across floors.
We tasked international photographer Ezra Patchett to capture its eerie beauty, and he used the warm glow of the sand and the textures of the buried homes to capture our model, Anna, wearing the latest pieces by the likes of Bottega Veneta, Hermes and Givenchy, to name but a few.
Photographer: Ezra Patchett
Stylist: Sarah Maisey
Model: Anna at Mikas
Hair and make-up: Sharon Drugan
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Read more:
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Ferragamo's Paul Andrew on following in the footsteps of a design legend
At Dh10,558 per kilogram, is this India's most expensive tea?
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Other workplace saving schemes
- The UAE government announced a retirement savings plan for private and free zone sector employees in 2023.
- Dubai’s savings retirement scheme for foreign employees working in the emirate’s government and public sector came into effect in 2022.
- National Bonds unveiled a Golden Pension Scheme in 2022 to help private-sector foreign employees with their financial planning.
- In April 2021, Hayah Insurance unveiled a workplace savings plan to help UAE employees save for their retirement.
- Lunate, an Abu Dhabi-based investment manager, has launched a fund that will allow UAE private companies to offer employees investment returns on end-of-service benefits.
Emergency
Director: Kangana Ranaut
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry
Rating: 2/5
Sinopharm vaccine explained
The Sinopharm vaccine was created using techniques that have been around for decades.
“This is an inactivated vaccine. Simply what it means is that the virus is taken, cultured and inactivated," said Dr Nawal Al Kaabi, chair of the UAE's National Covid-19 Clinical Management Committee.
"What is left is a skeleton of the virus so it looks like a virus, but it is not live."
This is then injected into the body.
"The body will recognise it and form antibodies but because it is inactive, we will need more than one dose. The body will not develop immunity with one dose," she said.
"You have to be exposed more than one time to what we call the antigen."
The vaccine should offer protection for at least months, but no one knows how long beyond that.
Dr Al Kaabi said early vaccine volunteers in China were given shots last spring and still have antibodies today.
“Since it is inactivated, it will not last forever," she said.
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
