This is Beirut - culture

The “Open-Top” Bag: Your Accessory Revealing All

Bélinda Ibrahim, 02/11 19:00 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Bags Fashion Culture Fashion Week Designers Open-Top

Just a few seasons ago, no one would have predicted the resurgence of open-top bags. For years, luxury equated elegance with security. Clasps, flaps, discreet zippers, and golden locks were the reassuring hallmarks of high-end handbags. Yet from Paris to Milan and even Copenhagen, a bold new proposition has taken over the runways: the open-top ...

Selena Gomez: When Intimacy Becomes Performance

Bélinda Ibrahim, 02/11 11:46 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Selena Gomez Social Media Culture Instagram

Not long ago, Selena Gomez was, for many, simply Disney’s newest rising star. Classic recipe: a soft voice, a radiant smile, hits perfectly calibrated for global youth. But behind the pop persona, another figure slowly emerged, one that ran counter to celebrity convention: a woman who reveals her fragilities, shares her storms, and speaks to her ...

Egypt Unveils Grand Egyptian Museum Near Ancient Pyramids

This is Beirut, 02/11 10:30 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Egypt Museum Culture Art Giza Egyptian museum

Egypt officially opened on Saturday the Grand Egyptian Museum, a long-awaited, billion-dollar showcase of pharaonic grandeur that Cairo hopes will revive tourism and boost its battered economy. "Today, as we celebrate together the opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum, we are writing a new chapter in the history of the present and the future," ...

Funk Legend George Clinton Brings Psychedelic Energy to Paris Gallery

This is Beirut, 01/11 14:30 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Art Music Paris France Culture Africa

At 84, George Clinton is a funk legend, ubiquitous hip-hop sample source, father of psychedelic Afrofuturism — and now, a painter with a show opening in Paris. Through it all, the self-taught American artist, the force behind the celebrated groups Parliament and Funkadelic, has hewed to his signature vision: “Gotta have that funk.” A life ...

Rachida Dati’s Plan to Protect France’s Cultural Crown Jewel

This is Beirut, 01/11 10:30 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Museum Louvre Security Rachida Dati France Culture

France's culture minister said Friday anti-ramming devices would be set up around The Louvre by year's end, after a high-profile heist at the famed museum reignited debate over its security. The announcement comes after four thieves parked a truck with a moving lift under one of its windows during opening hours on October 19, then used cutting ...

Kim Kardashian: Queen of Visibility

Bélinda Ibrahim, 31/10 19:00 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Kim Kardashian Social Media Instagram Exposure Culture

In the early 2000s, Kim Kardashian lingered on the edges of the celebrity world, known for her influential friends and low-key ventures. Everything changed in 2007 with the launch of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, which transformed family intimacy into a public drama. It was no longer just about appearances; it had become a lifestyle staged as a ...

Lagos Fashion Week Spotlight: Onalaja Puts Nigerian Heritage at the Heart of Fashion

This is Beirut, 31/10 17:00 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Fashion Lagos Heritage Runway Adire Nigeria Culture

Models strutted down the runway, their beaded and sequined dresses evoking the traditional facial scarring still done in some parts of Nigeria. Others donned outfits paying homage to adire, a traditional Yoruba indigo fabric long prized for its craftsmanship. Kanyinsola Onalaja's show kicked off Lagos Fashion Week in style, in what has been a ...

10 Years of Aïshti Foundation

Lea Mehanna, 31/10 17:00 - Reading : less than a minute

Lebanon Culture Arts Beirut Paintings Exhibition

This is Arts steps into the opening of Flesh Flowers, an exhibition celebrating 10 years of the Aïshti Foundation, co-curated by Massimiliano Gioni and Roberta Tenconi. A powerful show bringing together over seventy female artists from around the world, exploring the dialogue between the body, identity, and painting. Featuring special interviews ...

Richard Linklater Says AI Can’t Capture Human Genius in Film

This is Beirut, 31/10 13:00 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

AI Film Broadway Cinema Culture Art

Can great art be made without human genius and all its flaws? It's a vital question at a time when artificial intelligence threatens to subsume Hollywood. Through new movies Nouvelle Vague and Blue Moon, director Richard Linklater offers an answer—delving into the lives of two brilliant, volatile men whose films and plays shaped French New Wave ...

Inside Egypt’s Grand Egyptian Museum: A Monument to History

This is Beirut, 31/10 10:30 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Egypt Museum Culture Art Pyramids Civilization

Near the ancient Pyramids of Giza just outside Cairo, the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) is gearing up for a lavish opening on Saturday after two decades of delays. Massive statues and historic artefacts from the country's ancient civilization will be on display across the 24,000 square meters (258,000 square feet) of permanent exhibition space. Here ...

Universal Music and Udio Partner to Launch Licensed AI Music Platform

This is Beirut, 30/10 16:35 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Nawaf Salam Music Universal AI Copyright Culture

Recording industry giant Universal Music Group said Thursday it had struck a licensing deal with AI music generation startup Udio, in an industry-first tie-up aiming to launch an AI creation platform next year. Universal and Udio said in a statement that their platform, as yet unnamed, "will be powered by new cutting-edge generative AI technology ...

Behind Bars, On Screen: Inside the San Quentin Film Festival

This is Beirut, 30/10 14:00 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Film Festival Prison Hollywood Redemption Culture

Held inside a notorious prison among some of California's most dangerous felons, the San Quentin Film Festival is not your typical Hollywood affair. Red-carpet interviews take place just yards (meters) away from a now dormant execution chamber where hundreds of death-row inmates met grisly ends. Convicted murderers sit alongside famous actors ...

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