ILHAM'S INSPIRATION: February 2011

Friday, February 25, 2011

Wafi Sound & Light Spectacular Captured by my I Phone

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Marinella Casali welcome on board!

A very warm welcome to an amazing designer I met in Italy this summer! Marinella Casali

With Marinella breezing through her personal favourite sketch book and explaining trends, inspirations and her exquisite designs flowing through her thought process, I was amazed at her talent and vision of the Fashion Industry. Her deep ‘Io parlo solo Intaliano’ accent got me swaying my head from her to the translator trying to grasp what transpired in Marinella’s mind and her flow of ideas. Her specialty and knowledge of how to blend comfort with fashion, fabric fusion, the cut and the details, particularly caught my attention. We at El Ilhaam, are excited to have Marinella Casali on board www.elilhaam.com To view the designs please log on to http://bit.ly/elilhaam58

Marinella Casali

Images are not to be downloaded, reproduced, or used/modified in any way without the express

written consent of Ilham Abbas / Ilhaam Group. Articles, text, or design of this web site is not to be

reproduced in any form without the express written consent of Ilham Abbas / Ilhaam Group.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Ilham Abbas"World of Luxury"- Interview by Marie Claire Feb

Ilham Abbas Interview -Marie Claire Feb Issue 2011

Images are not to be downloaded, reproduced, or used/modified in any way without the express

written consent of Ilham Abbas / Ilhaam Group. Articles, text, or design of this web site is not to be

reproduced in any form without the express written consent of Ilham Abbas / Ilhaam Group.

Friday, February 11, 2011

5 Roles for Managing Teams in the Creative Industries

1. Create the Ideal Destination “The Vision” & Launch Passionately

As a leader you should believe in your vision and demonstrate to your team how to achieve more than what they thought it’s possible. Your team will give you their best when they are emotionally charged and inspired. You must have faith in yourself and the fact you are capable of fulfilling your dream that’s when your team will see the path to success.

2. Start With “What If” & “Why”

To endorse Innovation & set it as part of the organization’s culture is tough but you can start by applying the language of “what if” scenarios. Encourage your people to challenge theories and come up with solutions, exploring opportunities along the way.

3. Connect Your Team’s Personal Objective to Practical Business Achievements

A key indicator of your own success as a leader is the success of your people. Talented employees are central to the success of your organization, thus present guidance on how to align both company’s strategy to their personal growth as a leader. Empower, set goals and provide them resources to fulfill their mission.

4. Promote Teamwork

Teamwork is vital for competing in today's competitive world. It all sums up in Michael Jordan's quote, “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships. “ Involve all members of the organization to participate and create an ideal platform to cross exchange ideas and support each other. Encourage taking risks but also give them the sense of responsibility and to see failures as learning opportunities.

5. Bring Laughter, Fun & Energy to Your Business

Spending long hours of your day should never be dull & tedious on the contrary you need all the energy flowing if you want to end up working with an enthusiastic team. Make your meetings and gatherings fun and loosen up.

Images are not to be downloaded, reproduced, or used/modified in any way without the express

written consent of Ilham Abbas / Ilhaam Group. Articles, text, or design of this web site is not to be

reproduced in any form without the express written consent of Ilham Abbas / Ilhaam Group.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Elie Tahari's Trunk Show Spring Summer 2011 at Bloomingdales Dubai

Images are not to be downloaded, reproduced, or used/modified in any way without the express

written consent of Ilham Abbas / Ilhaam Group. Articles, text, or design of this web site is not to be

reproduced in any form without the express written consent of Ilham Abbas / Ilhaam Group.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Tourism - the Vibrant Sector of Dubai

After reading the Interview of Gerald Lawless, Executive Chairman Jumeirah Group’s in Al Bayan Newspaper today, I decided to give out some "Valuable Statistics" for those working in the luxury and lifestyle sectors in Dubai.

Occupancy

·         Jumeirah Group Occupancy rate in Dubai reached 90% in 4^th Quarter of
           2010
·         Current Occupancy is 100% for beach hotels & 80% for Emirates Towers
           in Dubai
·         17% increase in 5 star rooms in Dubai

Visitor by Nationality

· GCC is 20-25% of total Jumeirah Hotels visitors

· European Markets are the main market

· New visitors from Far East especially from China

Seasons

· Winter is the main season because of the climate

· Summer is improving due to strong government promotions, Airlines
and events such as Dubai Summer Surprises

Future Trends

· Increase in conferences and exhibitions led to increase in hall &
smaller conference room bookings during such events & its on the rise

· China Market Shows major growth forecasted to reach 100 million
tourist by 2020 by World Tourism Organization.

·         According to Gerald Lawless' personal opinion, the beach hotels will
        be more in demand due to its leisure and business facilities, and
        affordable rates

· Jumeirah Group to open six new hotels in 2011, one in
Dubai and the rest in Abu Dhabi, Shanghai, Kuwait, & Azerbaijan

In Arabic you can read the full Interview in Al Bayan Newspaper http://bit.ly/h9xMm1

Images are not to be downloaded, reproduced, or used/modified in any way without the express

written consent of Ilham Abbas / Ilhaam Group. Articles, text, or design of this web site is not to be

reproduced in any form without the express written consent of Ilham Abbas / Ilhaam Group.

Time To Evaluate Your Luxury Brand

Looking into in the luxury sector I couldn’t stop to notice how the whole cycle of brand management requires re-evaluation. I believe several factors today play a significant role in the global luxury goods segment. Such humongous ongoing process involves a whole cycle-study from brand equity to brand evaluation, consolidation, e-commerce, m-commerce, and Private equity financing. Also competition has increased due to the change in wealthy consumer base, buying traditions, and couture designers designing for mass fashion brands, mass brands being fast at delivering new trends etc.

Additionally High quality Independent manufacturers and design studios are also providing the new entrants the same high quality finish similar to the more established brands thus lowering the comparison between the Luxury brands and new designers’ products.

More so, consumers in certain parts of the world interpret luxury differently. At present, Luxury is in its fully developed stage in the European Markets who approach and adapt fashion to their day to day lifestyle. Moving across to Japan as an emerging market, the grid gradually leans towards French brands mainly. The rest of Asia and Africa, the Luxury sector is still in its early introductory phase. Since the US market as well, is in the embryo stage, the consumers view luxury as a means to lifestyle. Coming to the Middle Eastern market, the grid takes a dramatic twist with growth in Luxury & Lifestyle at its full-bloom, this is basically attributed to the influence of the Western fashion and status symbol of wealth.

The perception and psychology of the older notion of Fashion has drastically changed with the doorway to the internet. Today Websites & portals bolster sales as any other retail outlet. The Online customer Service is constantly pampering buyers, sellers, resellers etc., with various and easily accessible options online.

So how can you strengthen your brand, well I believe the whole wins over the sum and the luxury brand today has to focus on “TOTAL BRAND EXPERIENCE” to remain strong in the face of competition where the consumer receives the whole benefit of the purchase from being associated with the brand rather than only an image.

Images are not to be downloaded, reproduced, or used/modified in any way without the express

written consent of Ilham Abbas / Ilhaam Group. Articles, text, or design of this web site is not to be

reproduced in any form without the express written consent of Ilham Abbas / Ilhaam Group.

Friday, February 4, 2011

My Weekly in a Video

While hearing Raghib Allama's song "Sinin Jayyah" I started to write my weekly! The combination was pretty intense! so I decided to change the way I communicate and try adding some entertainment instead of a write-up, for which, I have to confess “Zero experience”!!!
Just for fun took some of my weekly I Phone videos and added Raghib's music, nothing to do with the images except it was the source of my inspiration for my 1^st weekly home video.

Images are not to be downloaded, reproduced, or used/modified in any way without the express

written consent of Ilham Abbas / Ilhaam Group. Articles, text, or design of this web site is not to be

reproduced in any form without the express written consent of Ilham Abbas / Ilhaam Group.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Panorama Magazine "Women of Style" , an Interview with Ilham Abbas.

Panorama Magazine "Women of Style"

Images are not to be downloaded, reproduced, or used/modified in any way without the express written consent of Ilham Abbas / Ilhaam Group. Articles, text, or design of this web site is not to be reproduced in any form without the express written consent of Ilham Abbas / Ilhaam Group.