Ariana Grande making a splash with her fashion outings is nothing unusual in the world of fashion. From her wardrobe collections to her shoe cabinets, the American singer is true to her name of being a fashion icon. This time around it was a pair of very unique shoes that made the cut for the fashion headlines. Ariana’s recent photo dump on a wholesome experience surrounded by the most adorable goats on a farm was where her comic balloon pumps from the shelves of the Spanish luxury brand, Loewe made “farmtastic” entry. The medium concealer-hued pumps featured leather lining, with 90mm bobine heels that give the shoes its distinctive appeal. Their satin finish featuring hand embroidery is made with intricately clustered latex balloons and costs approx Rs 16 Lakh. The pair of quirky shoes may have been the hero of the outfit but comfort too followed for the singer when she paired her luxury pair with a knitted beige sweater and light-blue denim jeans for a relaxed afternoon.

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Loewe’s creative director Jonathan Anderson, launched the first comic balloon pumps during the brand’s spring 2023 ready-to-wear show at the Paris Fashion Week in September this year. Apart from the medium concealer pair, the shoe company also harbours another colour variation of the stilettos.

American actress and model Kaia Gerber slipped into this Loewe creation during the I-D magazine photoshoot. She turned muse to designer Victoria Beckham, wearing a black mini dress from Victoria’s spring/summer 2023 collection paired with the yellow comic balloon shoes to complement her OOTD.

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#VBMuse @KaiaGerber wears look 34 from the #VictoriaBeckham Spring Summer 2023 collection for the Spring 2023 issue of @i_D. pic.twitter.com/0zSln8WPmP

— Victoria Beckham (@victoriabeckham) February 21, 2023

Another woman to have put on these balloon-inspired shoes is entrepreneur and socialite Natasha Poonawalla. Known for her avant-garde fashion sense, Natasha wore the Anthurium Red balloon embellished heels for a friend’s birthday party in New York City. Needless to mention, it created quite a stir on the internet. 

Traces of Loewe’s specially crafted balloon-themed footwear can be found in the company’s previous creations too. The brand houses leather balloon sandals with exquisitely buckled straps that float atop the pair, lending the shoes a surreal feel. In terms of fashion, the Spanish luxury brand takes up creative challenges graciously, gaining notoriety for its out-of-the-box footwear.

Also Read: You Can’t Trespass Natasha Poonawalla’s Piercing Black Leather Dress At Coachella Even If You Tried

Rishi Sunak on Wednesday completed a year as Britain’s first Indian-origin Prime Minister, having taken charge at 10 Downing Street amid the turmoil of predecessor Liz Truss’ short-lived premiership and several domestic and global challenges.

The 43-year-old faced off with Opposition Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer in the House of Commons as his office was keen to portray it as just another working day, without any anniversary celebrations planned.

In a video posted on social media, Mr Sunak indicated a similar sentiment.

“We’ve achieved a lot in the year since I became PM. But be in no doubt, there’s so much more to do,” said Mr Sunak.

We’ve achieved a lot in the year since I became PM.

But be in no doubt, there’s so much more to do ? pic.twitter.com/0i60S4RVst

— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) October 25, 2023

“I know this year has been tough. And there is still work to be done to help hardworking families across the country, but I’m proud of the steps we’ve made,” he added.

The governing Conservative Party chairman, Greg Hands, praised the party leader on his one-year milestone.

“When Rishi Sunak became Prime Minister a year ago today, he took immediate action to support families with the cost of living, paying half their energy bills. Since then we have made good progress towards halving inflation, growing the economy, reducing debt, cutting NHS waiting lists, and stopping the boats,” said Hands.

“But for the last 30 years, the Prime Minister recognises that there has been too much short-term political decision making, politicians taking the easy way out, ducking the hard choices, rather than fixing the underlying problems. The Prime Minister has proven he is the only person who is determined to change that,” he said.

Besides external challenges posed by the Israel-Hamas conflict and the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Mr Sunak faces a heavy domestic in-tray of inflation and cost of living pressures as the UK prepares for a general election next year.

There is an anti-incumbency factor playing against the Conservatives, which trail between 15 and 20 points behind Labour in opinion polls — a gap that hasn’t moved much during Sunak’s year in office.

In September 2022, he lost a Conservative leadership contest to Liz Truss, who took over as prime minister from the scandal-hit Boris Johnson. Then, Truss announced a mini budget that included billions in uncosted tax cuts and spooked the financial markets, leading to her hasty exit. His party chose Sunak to replace her, and was named Britain’s third Prime Minister of the year and the first of Indian heritage on Diwali day in October 2022.

He set five goals for his government, including halving inflation, which peaked at 11.1 per cent in late 2022, getting the economy growing, reducing a healthcare backlog and curbing the number of migrants reaching Britain across the English Channel in small boats.

There has been some progress – inflation was 6.7 per cent in September and the economy is growing, albeit only by about 0.5 per cent on the year. But the other areas remain dogged with issues. 

The foreign ministers of Turkey and Qatar accused the international community of “double standards” today in its reaction to the escalating conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

Qatar’s top diplomat Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said the two governments — both Western allies — “reaffirm our complete rejection of responding to the crisis with double standards when it comes to human life”.

“It is not permissible to condemn the killing of civilians in one context and justify it in another.” Al-Thani, who also serves as Qatar’s prime minister, said.

Israel launched its assault on Gaza in response to an unprecedented cross-border attack by Hamas group on October 7.

Gunmen from the Palestinian group poured into Israel from Gaza, killing more than 1,400 people and taking 222 hostages, according to Israeli authorities.

Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry says 6,546 people have been killed in the war so far, many of them children.

Western governments, including Britain, France and the United States, have offered their full support to Israel, asserting its right to defend itself following Hamas’s deadly rampage.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said: “The failure of some American and north European countries to condemn and prevent the destruction and disaster in Gaza constitutes a very serious double standard and plays a destabilising role.

“The operation in Gaza should be stopped as soon as possible. Humanitarian corridors should be opened,” he added.

Both Turkey and Qatar have been strong supporters of the Palestinian cause and have open channels of communication with Hamas, the Islamist rulers of Gaza.

The wealthy Gulf emirate, which hosts the largest US military base in the Middle East, also hosts Hamas’s political office and is the main residence of the Islamists’ self-exiled leader Ismail Haniyeh.

It has used its channels with Hamas, established with US blessing, to play a lead role in the release of four of the more than 200 hostages held by the group in Gaza.

The Qatari minister said the only way to restore peace in and around Gaza was to keep channels of communication open.

He said Doha and Ankara would continue to coordinate with each other and regional partners to de-escalate the conflict.

He condemned criticism of Qatar’s position, saying that such comments “undermine existing efforts, risk lives and cannot be understood except in the context of political blackmail”.