Do You Labubu?
Fur or against? However you feel about these fuzzy little critters, one thing's for sure… fashion's gone delulu for Labubus. Not sure where to wear them? Our June 2025 issue offers some serious styling inspiration…
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The National
3 hours ago
- The National
Controversial game simulating US–Iran War sees 95% price cut as real-world tension rises
Battlefield 3, a video game that simulates a fictional war between the United States and Iran, has been steeply discounted, even as real-world tension rises between the two countries. The game, developed by DICE studios and published by Electronic Arts, was originally released in 2011. It went on sale for 95 per cent off globally on Thursday via the popular digital storefront Steam. While the game has often gone on discount since its release, the timing of the latest sale has raised eyebrows in the gaming community, with fans questioning the move. 'They saw an opportunity to make some money,' said one X user, with another adding: 'Life imitates art.' According to the independent database SteamDB, player counts have risen nearly 250 per cent since the day before the sale. In the game, Iran is presented as a country hijacked by extremists, leading to a US military invasion, with key sequences depicting combat across the country. The game garnered controversy upon release, with Iran banning its sale and strictly cracking down on the distribution of pirated copies. Iranian gamers also protested the release of the game, calling for an apology from its developers. There is no indication that the current discount was deliberately timed to current events, as the publisher is offering summer discounts on many of its library titles. 'It's probably a coincidence and not nefarious,' added another X user. The National has reached out to game publisher Electronic Arts for comment. The combat simulator Call of Duty series, published by Activision Blizzard, garnered controversy for its depiction of conflict in real-world countries. In 2019, the first Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, which imagined a conflict between the US and Russia received sizeable backlash for what users called 'anti-Russian propaganda'. The Call of Duty: Modern Warfare sequels have since avoided depicting Iran as a stage for war, instead setting conflicts in fictional countries such as Urzikstan. This is not the first time that a video game has seen a spike in popularity in the wake of real-world happenings. In early 2020 in the early days of Covid-19, the pandemic-themed game Plague Inc shot to the top of the Apple App Store across the world, prompting China, one of the game's settings, to declare the release 'illegal' in February of that year. Ndemic Creations, the developers of the strategy simulation game in which players evolve a deadly pathogen to infect and eliminate the human population, issued a public statement urging people not to use the game as a source of real-world medical information. The firm later donated $250,000 to the World Health Organisation and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations towards relief efforts.
Khaleej Times
6 hours ago
- Khaleej Times
Why do men love to wear black ? Dubai-based fashion influencer on why it's time to choose patterns
Unapologetic. Unbridled. Uncensored. A thought spun into reality using the threads of dreams. That is fashion. You don't need to be practical to be fashionable, but you do need to know (and embrace) yourself. To face your biases and come out the other side, having broken those barriers in the name of style and self-representation. For 45-year-old radio jockey Lokesh Dharmani, the evolution of expression came naturally. 'One of my fondest memories of childhood is of a birthday party of a friend. I must have been like six or seven at that point in time. Everyone was wearing different kinds of clothes. I was wearing a sweater, jeans and all that. And I was also wearing my school belt over the sweater. That was unusual. I think I either saw [Bollywood actors] Govinda or Mithun Chakraborty sport that kind of style and even at that age, I wanted to replicate it,' he recalls, adding that what happened next cemented his desire for experimentation. 'My parents were so chill. They didn't say anything - and I think because my parents never stopped me from expressing myself when it came to fashion, it just like kind of blossomed,' he adds. Today, not only does he sport his own designs, but also has a brand called fbylokesh that's displayed on the racks of NV Couture by Naisha Vasandani in Dubai's Meena Bazaar. The result isn't some tame idea of playfulness but a sharp take on energetic expression that can – like art – bloom into pattern or transmutate into colours and silhouettes that draw the eye. It's also a revolt against the anchor of chauvinism that has typically grounded men's fashion. 'We live in a world where men are giving a unidimensional definition of masculinity, and trapping young boys into submitting to a very unidimensional idea of fashion or of being a man. If you are a man…you have to wear blacks and beiges. If you wear any colour, you're like a woman. And that's 'bad',' he says. As he questions the underlying misogyny that layers these restrictive ideals, he calls for more icons in the spotlight to light the way. Admitting that there are idols who spark conversations – 'Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh is a shining example in our pop culture who pushes men to experiment and try different colours and different things' – he stresses that there's lots more work to be done. 'I remember 12 years ago, when I wore red pants to the office,' he says. 'When I entered the office, everyone kind of turned heads and made a comment. Then there's this friend of mine who he looked at me and said, 'this is so ostentatious, only you can put it off…it takes a lot of guts.' Months later, when he saw his friend walking around in red trousers, it made him realise the only way to see change was to claim it himself. The times are a-changing no doubt; remember Harry Styles' dress wearing stage or when Zayn Malik and Gigi Hadid swapped outfits for a Vogue shoot? While there are outliers even in fashion, the arena of the exceptional, Dharmani calls for more examples normalising colour, pattern, and basically, dressing up. Currently, two lines of thought coexist, he explains – there are those who experiment and those who shut down any idea of dabbling because they're so bothered about their idea of masculinity. As someone firmly from the former camp, Dharmani, whose Instagram handle is @lokeshdharmani, calls for flexibility, even when it comes to closet staples. 'When it comes to accessories, it completely depends on what you're wearing. So, for example, if I'm wearing, loose white pants, then then a thin-soled shoe will not really work. I need to have a thick-soled shoes because otherwise the pants won't fall well. There's no, there's no hard and fast rule as such. 'I recently got majorly into rings. I keep experimenting with different kinds of rings, oxidised, some different faces and figures. I like bracelets. I also like to have bracelets that speak to my personality. I also love brooches,' he says, offering up mediums of individual expression. The golden rule is to pay attention to 'what's trending, what's fashionable, what's in' while bearing in mind the occasion and then cross checking the vibe against your own. There will, of course, be nay-sayers. But, says Dharmani, 'I've thought about it so many times… my love for colours, my love for clothes, my love for fashion, or any kind of aesthetics, it supersedes any kind of judgement. Secondly, there has been a lot of judgement around the way I dress up and all that, but it has never been in my face. I don't think so anyone has ever dared cross the line with me, because I'm a very no-nonsense person. On the contrary, people have always come to me and said, 'you really inspire us to experiment'. And the last thing, is I think a big shout out has to go to my family. They understood that I had a certain sense of expression, and they never told me it was 'wrong' to express myself.' They allowed him to dream; to spin outfits based on those splashes of inspiration, to mood board his favourite hues. The result: an aesthetic that supersedes conformity and gives rise to the new Dubai dude: Fashion-forward and fierce.
The National
6 hours ago
- The National
Meet the voice of Elio: Yonas Kibreab shares his Pixar journey
Emerging star on connecting with the character, exploring the imaginative Communiverse and the emotional depth of Pixar storytelling
