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DUBAI: Bahraini label Noon by Noor presented its Spring/Summer 2026 collection titled “Mirage” at London Fashion Week, with the designers drawing on art and the concept of memories for inspiration.

“Mirage is about the beauty of what you can’t quite hold onto. The shimmer of fabric as it catches the sun, the way a silhouette disappears into light. We wanted the collection to feel like that — delicate, fluid, always changing depending on how you see it,” co-founder Shaikha Noor Al-Khalifa said in a released statement.

Founded in 2008 by Shaikha Noor Al-Khalifa and Shaikha Haya Al-Khalifa, the brand is known for its blend of relaxed tailoring and refined detailing. The designers, who are cousins, both studied fashion in the US and returned to Bahrain to launch their label, which combines masculine tailoring with subtle feminine details.

This color palette for their latest line, which was unveiled at London’s Somerset House over the weekend, boasts white, pale gold, khaki, dark red and cherry blossom pinks. Lightweight fabrics used in the collection blend metallic cotton mixes, cotton silk voiles, linens, silks, viscose silk, challis, silk chiffons and georgette.

“Mirage” also features embellishments in the form of cotton cord, handcrafted knotted belts and tops, printed silks in patterns designed by the brand, trompe l’oeil appliques and pintucks.

One highlight on the runway included a raincoat spliced at the waist with a macrame belt, while dresses were ethereal and flowing.

Production remains largely based in Bahrain, with the brand committed to preserving craftsmanship and creative control locally. In 2024, Noon by Noor opened a boutique at the Ritz-Carlton in Manama, further cementing its presence in the region. 

One of the only Arab labels on the international fashion week schedule — besides Paris Fashion Week — the Bahraini brand previously showed its collections at New York Fashion Week before switching to London.

In February, the Fall/Winter 2025 collection was presented in the British capital with a salon-style display at Somerset House.

The designs were inspired by Bahrain’s architectural landscape, specifically the work of Swiss architect Christian Kerez, whose multi-story car parks in Muharraq have become a cultural hub.

The four car parks were commissioned by the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities as part of a wider preservation and development project in the city, which served as the Bahraini capital until 1932.

MOSCOW: With artists from more than 20 countries and ambitions for a billion-plus viewers, Russia on Saturday revived its Intervision song contest, which Moscow hopes will compete with a “decadent” Eurovision.

First held in the Soviet era and relaunched in February on President Vladimir Putin’s orders, the concert-as-soft-power tool was held at an arena near the Russian capital, with Vietnamese singer Duc Phuc proclaimed the winner with a song inspired by a poem about bamboo.

The performer, who won the Vietnamese version of reality TV series “The Voice” 10 years ago, emotionally thanked the audience “for every second” spent watching the competition, which lasted around four hours.

With Russia banished from Eurovision, the song contest extravaganza born on the other side of the Iron Curtain, over its offensive in Ukraine, the Kremlin has pushed Intervision as a means to lay the anti-Western narratives on thick while striving for new cultural and political alliances.

The contest kicked off with an opening ceremony hitching future-looking technology to nostalgia for the Soviet past, before giant augmented-reality projections of dancing silhouettes in traditional costumes were displayed to represent each contestant.

In a video address to participants, including traditional allies Brazil, India and China, Putin hailed the contest’s “main theme” of “respecting traditional values and different cultures.”

“Today, Intervision is gathering a second wind, while remaining faithful to its traditions,” the veteran strongman added.

Twenty-three countries were originally slated to take part in the contest, including Russia’s old Cold War foe the United States.

But the US representative — Australian pop singer Vasiliki Karagiorgos, known as Vassy — had to pull out at the last minute because of “unprecedented political pressure from the Government of Australia,” the organizers said.

No performers from an EU country took part.

But former Soviet republics Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan dispatched artists to Russia for the spectacle.

Other acts included Cuban singer Zulema Iglesias Salazar with a joyful rumba, Qatar’s Dana Al Meer, who sang at the 2022 World Cup opening ceremony, and Serbia’s Slobodan Trkulja, who dedicated his song “Three Roses” to his three daughters.

Russia’s entrant, Shaman, a singer known for his patriotic concerts, presented a lyrical song before telling the jury he did not want to be named the winner.

“Hospitality is an inalienable part of the Russian soul... and according to the law of hospitality, I don’t have the right to be among those vying to win,” he said.

Besides Putin, the contest’s kick-off drew in Dima Bilan, Eurovision winner in 2008, and Polina Gagarina, the contest’s runner-up in 2015.

American rocker Joe Lynn Turner, formerly of the band Deep Purple, was a member of the jury.

A billion viewers?

Each country’s act sang in their native language — “unlike Eurovision, where most songs are often sung in English,” the organizers were at pains to point out.

In the build-up to the contest, Moscow voiced high hopes for the TV viewership.

The participating countries represented 4.3 billion people — or more than half the planet’s population, according to the organizers.

“If at least one-in-three or at least one-in-four people watch the contest, it’ll be an audience without precedent,” said Konstantin Ernst, director general of the broadcaster Pervy Kanal, ahead of the contest.

The last edition of Eurovision, held in May, drew a record audience of 166 million viewers, according to organizers.

First organized in 1965 in Prague, Intervision was suspended after the anti-Soviet uprising in Czechoslovakia three years later.

It was then revived in Poland in the 1970s and held across various cities of the former Communist bloc.

Another difference from Eurovision? No public vote. An international jury alone decided the winner.

Organizers announced the next edition of Intervision would be held in �������� in 2026.