Category: Fashion

The Kanye West, Yeezy Season 1 collection is launching worldwide on October 29th and Kuwait will be included as part of the launch. Like with the Yeezy Boosts, Harvey Nichols will be carrying the Yeezy Season 1 collection exclusively in Kuwait. I’ve got my eye on two pieces which I’m hoping (a) I will be able to pull off and (b) will be worth the price. I’ve seen some price lists floating around the web and most of the pieces looks pretty expensive. According to my contact at Harvey there will be no shoes released with this collection, the only accessory will be bags. They’re also just releasing menswear so tough lucky ladies. If you’re interested, the pieces are launching this Thursday, October 29th at 10AM at Harvey Nichols in Avenues. I’m assuming they’re going to sellout pretty quick.

One interesting tidbit I learned from my contact is that they will be releasing the white Yeezy Boosts sometime November/December. According to rumors online, Adidas might be releasing a new colorway for the Yeezy’s next month but no official announcement has been made yet. In fact, Adidas are expected to make a Yeezy Boost announcement tomorrow so it could be in regards to these white boosts.

I’m going to be hosting my first event tonight at the Avenues. A couple of weeks back I was approached by the brand ECCO telling me they were launching their Soft 7 series and if I would be interested co-hosting the launch with Monstariam. I told them it sounded cool but I needed to see the shoes first because if they were ugly I wouldn’t be able to do it. So they emailed me pictures of the shoes (pictured above) and they actually looked good so I agreed to do it.

They let me and Mo choose the DJ so we’re getting my favorite guy Empty1/4 to take care of the music. We also got to put together a small list of invitees mostly made up of interesting people we know like musicians, artists, athletes and actresses (no Instagram celebrities). On top of all this I’m actually getting paid to host this event. So basically they’re paying me to wear sneakers, hangout with interesting people and listen to good music. I should seriously start considering hosting more events.

If you’re interested in dropping by and saying hello, we’ll be at the Ecco store in Avenues Phase II from 7PM onwards. Monstariam will also be customizing sneakers on the spot for anyone that buys a pair.

I just found out and was able to confirm that Bloomingdale’s, the American chain of luxury department stores is coming to Kuwait end of 2016. They’ll be opening up at 360 Mall although I have no idea where in 360 exactly. Sadly Bloomingdale’s in Kuwait will only be catering to women and not men.

Thanks Khaled

For Sunday night’s MTV Video Music Awards, Britney Spears donned an attention-grabbing, mostly sheer minidress. Not to be outdone was Nicki Minaj, who flaunted an equally eye-popping gown that landed the star on many a best-dressed list.

No, these gold body-hugging looks weren’t by red-carpet faves Atelier Versace or Givenchy. They were by a nearly unknown brand called LaBourjoisie, leaving fans asking: Who is that?

LaBourjoisie turns out is a local based brand run by 35 year old Lebanese designer Antoine Salameh. His shop in Shaab is dressing A-list celebrities located on the other side of the world. Just writing that sounded so weird, it’s insane. [Link]

Thanks James

For the sneaker heads in Kuwait you’re probably already aware that Kanye’s third release with Adidas will be launching world wide this coming Saturday August 22nd. If you weren’t aware, the previous grey 350’s were surprisingly released at Harvey Nichols in Kuwait and now they’re also part of the world wide release of the “Pirate Black” edition (). But don’t get your hopes up. Like all the stores world wide, Harvey is also getting a very limited quantity of around 12 pairs. To make matters even more difficult, Alshaya has a no raffle policy so unlike most of the stores around the world, Harvey Nichols won’t be holding a raffle on the Yeezys. Instead, like what some stores around the world do (Colette as an example), “VIP” customers will be given a chance to own a pair while the rest will be up for grabs on a first come first served basis.

I’m still trying to get a pair for myself but as of yesterday Harvey Nichols still hadn’t received the shipment yet so they will most likely be releasing them after the August 22nd world wide release date. I even heard September 21st as a local launch date although I find that hard to believe. Once I get a confirmation on a local launch date I’ll post it here but your best bet might be to check their instagram account daily just to be safe.

FYI, the previous grey release of the Yeezy Boost 350 are now selling for on the grey market while the Yeezy Boost 750 are selling for $2,250+.

Update: They’re launching tomorrow morning (Sunday, August 23rd) at Harvey Nichols. First come first serve, doors open at 10AM and there are around 12 pairs only. Good luck not getting trampled.

Update2: I just realized because this is Kuwait, everyone will probably send their drivers from 6AM to wait in line.

Abercrombie & Fitch at The Avenues opened up for businesses yesterday. As expected, all the employees are pretty hot even with their clothes on and based on their instagram account they seem to be having fun in Kuwait. Fingers crossed they end up on Tinder. Here is a link to their instagram account@abercrombie_the_avenues

Even though Abercrombie & Fitch still haven’t opened up their first store at The Avenues yet, they’re already getting ready to open their second location at 360 Mall. I wonder if the fake A&F store in Olympia Tower is still open?

Thanks Hamza

Back in March I launched a new fashion section on the blog, an ambitious plan to try and get some of the local fashion brands to collaborate on the section but things didn’t work out the way I had envisioned them. Some brands were more active than others, the quality of posts varied and truthfully most of the content just felt like adverts. So, a couple of months back I decided to revamp the section and it’s now my fashion section.

I’m not a “fashionista” and don’t want to be one either but I do think I have great taste in sneakers and good taste in clothes. So mark248am1.wpenginepowered.com/fashion is now all about what I’ve bought and what I’ve got my eye on. I’ll also be providing links and prices to everything except for the sneakers. Most of the sneakers I post about are limited releases and I already have an extremely difficult time getting them before they sell out so I won’t be sharing any of my sneaker sources. In any case check out the revamped section and let me know what you think. [Link]

Sun & Sand Sports, the largest sporting goods retailer in the Middle East will be opening their first store in Kuwait next month. The store is located in Salmiya behind Zahra Complex and I passed by yesterday and managed to get a sneak peek at the place. Sun & Sand Sports will be composed of two floors, the lower floor for men and the top floor for women, kids and sports equipment. One thing I was curious to see was if their Nike collection would be different from the main Nike store since Sun & Sand are actually the exclusive distributors for Nike in the Middle East. But since everything was covered in plastic sheets I couldn’t get a good look. They’re hoping to open the store October 1st if everything goes according to plan, here is the location on [Google Maps]

Looks like Abercrombie & Fitch will finally be opening up at the Avenues based on the photo above taken by @danderma.

The picture also gave me an idea, I should print the In-N-Out logo on an A4 sheet of paper and go stick it randomly outside an under construction shop at the Avenues. That would stir up some fun.

via Frankom

Lillywhites, UK’s oldest and the world’s largest sports store is going to be opening soon in Kuwait. They will be replacing all the current Go Sport locations in Kuwait including the huge Avenues location which is currently undergoing a major facelift in preparation for the opening sometime next month. If the brand sounds familiar it could be because you’ve seen their store in London which has been at Piccadilly Circus since 1863.

Full disclosure: I’m currently involved in this project but was only able to post about it now

Last month I posted about a new multibrand store that’s opening in Hawalli called eFashion. What grabbed my attention was their teaser image on Facebook which had multiple brands that weren’t officially available in Kuwait yet like A&F, Hollister and Under Armor. I didn’t really understand how they were getting all these brands but I assumed it was just old stock. That comment irked the team behind the project which is why they invited me to pass by the store and get a sneak peek.

eFashion is a new project by Eureka electronics and it’s going to be located in their new eMall building located in Hawalli opposite Sultan Center. eMall is what Eureka are calling the building which houses Eureka electronics, eToy family amusement center, eFashion which I am going to talk about now and a bunch of restaurants including Zaatar w Zeit, Cafe Supreme, Nestle Cafe, Mrs Fields, Chiquita Fruit Bar and opening soon the popular Turkish bakery Simit Sarayi and the Lebanese restaurant Villa Fayrouz. There’s also an eSocial Cafe that is opening in a couple of months where all the tables will consist of Microsoft Surface multimedia tables.

eFashion is located on the second mezzanine floor of eMall. Once you step out of the elevator you will walk out into the cosmetics department which separates the sports wear on the left hand side and casual wear on the right. We walked into the sportswear section first where I was met with the familiar Nike section followed by other sections like Puma, Adidas, Umbro, Speedo and more.

What I wanted to pass by was the Under Armor section since it’s a brand everyone wants but nobody had carried until now. I asked them how they were able to get the brand to Kuwait and turns out that Under Armor will officially be coming to Kuwait in around 10 months time but until they do, eFashion will be stocking up on their gear.

Once we were done with the sportswear section we headed into the casual wear section which was divided into three parts, men, women and kids. I walked around the whole area which was still being put together and noticed many brands including A&F, Hollister, Tommy Hilfiger, Polo Ralph Lauren, Ralph Lauren RLX‎, Lacoste and more. Thats when I brought up the question on how they were able to bring these brands to Kuwait when some of the brands don’t exist at all or even when some of them already do. Specifically I wanted to know how they were able to get A&F and Hollister. According to the person I spoke, the A&F and Hollister clothing is brought in from the US with some strict restrictions by the company which I am guessing is a very limited range of products. You won’t find everything on the A&F website in their store for example and the section is fairly small consisting of one corner and a few tables in front of it. But they’re official A&F products which is all some people will care about. Other brands like Lacoste for example, the line they’re importing is different from what you will find at the Lacoste store in Kuwait.

We started talking about prices and I mentioned Sears which I had also mentioned in my previous post on eFashion. According to them, unlike Sears all their products are current to the season and they also have full size runs of all the items they’re stocking. Price-wise they will also be similar to US prices, so if you find something on the A&F website for example that’s $40, it should cost you around $40 at the store as well.

eMall is currently open but the eFashion floor will be opening in ten days time on August 15th. If you don’t know where eMall is located, here it is on [Google Maps]

Yesterday while on the Eureka Facebook page I noticed they posted about a new store opening called eFashion. My guess it belongs to them but what caught my attention was the graphic above showing the various brands they are planning on carrying.

A lot of the brands are already available in Kuwait but then you have ones like A&F, Hollister and Under Armor that aren’t. Also the combination of luxury brands like Burberry and Givenchy being sold along with brands like Old Navy and Columbia is a bit odd.

The store is opening in around a months time across from Sultan Center Hawalli and once it does things will be a lot clearer. Most likely it’s probably going to be similar to Sears selling really old stock for cheap prices.

Until late last year, my hair cut was pretty simple, I’d just get it shaved with a machine at the small barbershop under my building and that was it. Then one day, I decided I wanted to grow my hair, I didn’t have a plan or anything in mind, I just hadn’t changed my haircut in 14 years and decided I would grow it. A few months passed by and I was in Lebanon with a friend and he decided to take me to his barber called Bob. Bob was really talented and worked on my hair as if it was a sculpture. I hadn’t seen anyone work in the same way he did and by the time he was done I couldn’t believe my hair could look that good. Fast forward a few weeks and I’m in Kuwait, my hair has grown and I’m looking for someone to cut it. I considered flying to Lebanon for a weekend but didn’t think it would be feasible to fly out twice a month for a haircut, I needed someone locally.

I asked my friends and got two recommendations, the first guy I called was on his annual leave so I ended up going to the second barber who ended up butchering my hair. He cut it too short and killed any style that my hair had, it was depressing but the worst part is, a month later I headed back to the same friggin’ guy! Even though he sucked at least I knew what to expect and to me that was a safer bet then going to someone else and possibly ending up with something even worse. My second hair cut sucked even more than the first one since he ended up cutting my hair even shorter. So when one of my contacts called me and told me about a new barbershop she was helping launch, I thought maybe its time I try someone else.

The new barbershop is called His Essentials and is located on the ground floor of Dar Al Awadi. When I got there I was contemplating if I should take my camera inside with me or leave it in the car. I wasn’t expecting much of the place honestly so didn’t think I would take any pictures but in the end decided I would take it in just in case. Once I walked in the place looked pretty cool. It wasn’t very big but the curvy design of the store gives you the impression of a very long hallway that would lead you somewhere, a cool illusion that makes the place look bigger than it actually is. I told the receptionist I had an appointment and he lead me to my barber and his station. I explained to the barber the story of my hair, how the other barber messed it up twice and also showed him photos of when I had first gotten it cut in Lebanon. He told me not worry about it and that he would get my hair looking good again. Right away my barber started noticing where the other barber went wrong. He highlighted the areas the previous barber had cut too short and he then proceeded to tell me how he would fix my hair by not cutting some parts at all and letting them grow. Thats when I started feeling comfortable and I knew I was in good hands. Once he was done I looked at my hair, it was still long and it was starting to get its style back and I loved it. Although not as good as Bob I was happy I had found a good barber locally that would at least not butcher Bob’s work.

Before I left the shop I got a small tour of all the various brands they sold which they’re importing to Kuwait themselves including: Baxter of California, Eshave, Balla Powder, Brooklyn Grooming, Beardition, Emerald Bay Tan and California Tan.

I know from my friends that it’s very difficult to find beard products locally and they had a whole bunch including beard shampoos, conditioners, oils and even little cool beard combs. I ended up paying around KD32 for a royal haircut, a beard trim, a Baxter deodorant and an Emerald Bay tanning lotion. When it comes to haircuts and shaves they have two options for each. The royal haircut costs KD15 and includes washing your hair twice, a head massage, a hair mask and oil while the classic haircut is your regular haircut and costs KD8. The regular beard trim/shave costs KD5 but they also have a royal shave for KD10 and that involves 8 various stages of products as well as cold and hot towels. I’d personally get a classic haircut next time since I think KD15 is just too much to pay for a haircut.

If you’re interested to check out the place their phone number is 22322336 and you can check their instagram account for their opening hours [Here]

Weekly roundup from 248AM Fashion:

Nike X Roundel by London Underground
Rad Hourani Unisex Couture Collection #11
The Fashion Dose
When I Wore Sacoor Brothers
White Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Diver
All that is Balenciaga
Ann Demeulemeester In Book Deal With Rizzoli

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