DUBAI: Saudi couturier Mohammed Ashi dressed three stars at Sunday night’s Golden Globes in Hollywood, with Mindy Kaling, Kristen Bell and Ari Graynor showing off looks by the Paris-based designer.

Kaling showed off a gold column gown from Ashi Studio, hailing from the label’s Spring/Summer 2024 couture collection.

The first designer from the Gulf to take part in Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week, Ashi also dressed Graynor in a risque look complete with cutouts across the bodice. The all-black gown was plucked from his label’s Fall/Winter 2023 couture collection.

For her part, nominee Bell shimmered in a gold, beaded Ashi Studio gown that boasted a peplum and rounded neckline.

With some of Hollywood's most fashion-forward stars up for awards this year, it's going to be an eventful season. The Golden Globes gets it all started, with stars — and their stylists — marking their territory at one of Hollywood's splashiest events, the Associated Press reported.

“Wicked” star Ariana Grande showed off a pale yellow Givenchy haute couture look. The gown was in crafted in silk with a hand-beaded bodice — a vintage 1966 gown from what the designer calls the Audrey Hepburn era of Givenchy.

Cate Blanchett looked like an awards statue come to life in a glistening gold gown with a ruched top by Louis Vuitton — one that she also wore at the Cannes Film Festival. New gold stones were added to the gown, designed by Nicholas Ghesquière, to freshen the look.

Where Blanchett glistened in gold, Nicole Kidman sparkled in silver, in a daring, one-shoulder backless Balenciaga gown. The “Babygirl” star polished off the look with a chic, voluminous half-ponytail.

Globes host Nikki Glaser zeroed right in on Timothee Chalamet, one of the hottest stars in Hollywood, in her monologue, telling him: “You have the most gorgeous eyelashes on your upper lip.” As for the clothes on his body, Chalamet went more traditional than other recent trips to the carpet, wearing a sleek Tom Ford black suit with embellished jacket, a white shirt and a blue scarf tossed around his neck (or was it a tie?).

Always a winner on the red carpet, actress Zendaya provided yet another high fashion moment at the Golden Globes in a custom Louis Vuitton ballgown paired with Bulgari jewelry.

DUBAI: With three Michelin stars at their flagship restaurant Maison Pic in Valence, France, the president of Pic Group, David Sinapian, and his wife and celebrated chef Anne-Sophie Pic are on a mission to take French culinary genius to the world.

After entering a long-term partnership with French luxury label Dior to open Dior Cafes around the world — starting with two outposts in Japan in December 2024 — Pic and Sinapian have their sights set on the Gulf.

 

 

 

 

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“We have almost reached the potential for development of the catering business in Saudi Arabia, and I believe that the future holds great opportunities for the industry in the Kingdom. It is a no-brainer,” Sinapian told Arab News en Francais recently, three years after the Pic Group hosted a pop-up restaurant in AlUla.

Meanwhile, in the UAE, the group opened La Dame de Pic Dubai at the city’s swanky One&Only Zaabeel hotel in 2024, nabbing a Michelin star in the 2024 guide and being voted the World’s Best New Restaurant 2024 at the fifth annual World Culinary Awards.

“I have witnessed an evolution at a pace that continues to surprise me ... and that’s what characterizes business in the Emirates,” Sinapian said of the famously fast-paced food and beverage industry in the city.

“You can be in fashion one moment and quickly out of it the next, because the market changes, and if you can’t adapt, you’re left behind,” he added.

 

 

 

 

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The Pic Group’s international accolades are the latest in a long list of culinary nods for a brand founded in the late 19th century.  

The precursor to Maison Pic, Cafe-Restaurant du Pin opened its rather more humble doors in 1889, with Pic’s great grandmother cooking ingredients hunted and farmed by her husband. Pic’s grandfather, Andre, then took over the family restaurant and earned it three Michelin stars in 1934.

Over the decades, Maison Pic lost and gained stars with the most recent blow being dealt after Pic’s father Jacques died in 1992 — the restaurant lost its third star in 1995 before Sophie-Anne returned in 1997 to head up the kitchen. After 10 years of creating memorable dishes in the restaurant, she gained back the third star in 2007.

“We began to build an ecosystem together and expand our business by opening other restaurants,” Sinapian told Arab News of the period that followed.

In 2009, they cut the ribbon on Pic au Beau-Rivage Palace in Lausanne, Switzerland.

“I was in charge of building the project in terms of identity, design and team building, while Anne-Sophie began to create a new menu using Swiss products,” Sinapian said, explaining their working relationship.

The Pic name then expanded its activity internationally, with openings in Paris, London, Singapore, Megeve, Hong Kong, and Dubai alongside its projects in Japan.

A new Monsieur Dior restaurant opening in Osaka, Japan, in 2025, will be orchestrated by the French chef.

“Anne-Sophie has had an affinity for Japan for a very long time, and so have I. It’s the love she has for tea, the products, and Japanese refinement,” Sinapian said.