Bonjour my fellow fashionistas and wonderful world travellers! Oh, how I have missed you all!
This week, I bring you a sprinkling of my usual magic dust from…the desert of all places! How very apt! And how very accustomed I am to this kind of landscape. Anyway, make yourselves comfortable, pour yourselves a nice cup of Chai Tea, and I’ll guide you through my journey of sand, sun, and the gorgeous sandals I bought last year, tailor-made in France at a little boutique in Paris during fashion week (https://luc8k.com/blogs/generalnews/sophie-giraffe-message-wildlife-conservation)
Arriving in Style: Qatar Airways Business Class to Doha
After a very comfortable flight on Qatar Airways (their business class service is highly recommended and has the full ‘Sophie Stamp of Approval’ I might add.) So, it goes without saying that your favourite globe-trotting Giraffe arrived in Doha looking fresh as a daisy as always, my darlings.
I was treated very respectfully by the wonderful ground crew, who ensured that my collection of my exquisite, truly bespoke LUC8K Weekender, Tote, and Shopper bags (and my good self, of course) were escorted through the VIP Arrivals lounge the way all dignified Global Giraffe Ambassadors should be - jet-lagged, neck craned, and captured in all my glory by both the local and international paparazzi - who all seemed to marvel at my incredible height and natural born sassiness! It was a truly memorable greeting.
Urs Fischer's Lamp Bear at Hamad International Airport
The last thing I then expected to be greeted by was a giant yellow teddy bear! And no - I wasn’t hallucinating after a long flight and a few complimentary pre-during-and post-flight glasses of my favourite bubbly - it was the stunning Urs Fischer’s Lamp Bear proudly displayed at Hamad International Airport! I found it to be both comforting and yet a tad unhinged if I’m honest - the perfect preparation for a city that absolutely thrives and delights in that exciting and sometimes dizzying tension between tradition and tomorrow. I was expecting a wonderful clash of cultures, and I must say, Doha didn’t disappoint one tiny, little bit…
However…my dear friends and fellow custodians and lovers of Mother Earth, before we get too excited and venture any further, I simply must address the rather large elephant in the room. No, I didn’t bring my childhood friend Eva from back home along for the journey…Doha hosting Art Basel is certainly a significant cultural development. It highlights Qatar’s growing role on the global arts stage, while also inevitably drawing attention to ongoing concerns regarding human rights in the country. Recognizing artistic ambition matters, but so does ensuring that culture flourishes in an environment where fundamental rights are respected.
Art Basel Doha and Qatar's Elephant in the Room
International organisations have heavily criticised the region for its treatment of women. Strict social norms and freedom of expression are shaped and enforced by its rulers. Big oil money also casts a long, dark shadow over this wonderful global event. All these massively important things deserve scrutiny, not silence. Art shouldn’t get a free pass just because it wears nice shoes and attracts the rich and famous. We should always call it out for what it is, and it is greenwashing, plain and simple. *Big heavy Sophie sigh*
But - please bare with moi - Art also won’t have the power to move, shape and inspire the world if it doesn’t travel and embrace everyone, everywhere, no matter where they are. Art shapes peoples’ lives. Shifts perceptions. Brings joy. Makes the world pause, stop, and think. It brings beauty, life and creativity beyond words, shapes and colors. Beyond boundaries. Beyond possibilities. It makes us feel. Love. Think. It has the power to change and improve lives, old, young, rich, and poor. It brings hope, even in places where there is none.
Doha has plenty of hope. It has more than that, actually. Throughout its history, Qatar has been a trading crossroads for centuries, and long before it discovered oil, precious pearls once paid the bills here. The Gulf was a network of merchants, sailors, poets, and craftspeople from far and wide, swapping worldly wares and enchanting stories of travel for exotic spices. Culture wasn’t imported here, but it flowed freely like the nasty black stuff that leaves a stain on this beautiful planet of ours.
So, my feeling is this; by Doha hosting a global art fair in this context isn’t cultural cosplay as such, it’s simply a continuation of exchange - albeit one with a much bigger carbon footprint and an exquisite VIP lounge.
Sustainability in Qatar: Msheireb Downtown & the National Museum
Speaking of footprints (or hoof prints in my case) let’s talk about sustainability in the region. Let’s just say that Qatar has a rather complicated relationship with it (hello, hydrocarbons), but there are some visible efforts worth acknowledging.
After savouring a very strong and potent Karak-Tea, I found myself trotting and wandering around Msheireb Downtown Doha, which is designed to be one of the world’s most sustainable city districts. Here, the priority is given to walking, not driving, and its shaded streets hide a myriad of energy saving efforts to improve efficiency. For example, The National Museum of Qatar, Jean Nouvel’s desert-rose dreamscape, uses smart-design methods that help to reduce the punishing heat without the need for so many energysapping air-con units. The museum is a beautiful place that unapologetically inspires and educates visitors from all over the world about Qatar’s history and story.
For me, progress doesn’t always erase the past nor the present for that matter, but it can signal intent, and that’s always a good thing I suppose.
What to Wear in Qatar: A Fashion Guide for Art Fair Season
Now, my darlings, I get the sense that you are intrigued about the local fashion styles, and how I managed to look good whilst hot-hoofing it in a place with strict modesty norms? I was a tad apprehensive about adhering to Qatar’s strict dress codes to be honest, but being a six-foot-something giraffe, I’ve had plenty of experience adapting my look as I travel around the world - and as usual, I managed to pull it off in typical Sophie style!
You see, it’s all about layers, my darlings. Loose silhouettes, covered shoulders, longer hems. Not a burqa, yet not an act of rebellion either - just respect for my hosts with room to breathe. Fashion, like diplomacy, is about reading the room. And honestly? The local style is impeccable!
There is exquisite tailoring on display wherever you look and wherever you go, and - just like the way we do things at LUC8K - you can sense and witness an obsessive attention to detail everywhere. Men in crisp, white thobes. Women in beautiful abayas that move and flow like ink in water. I loved the minimalistic style on display, and I found it to be almost poetic. Structured, yet refined. Practical, yet wonderful.
Inside Art Basel Doha: Local and Global Art Worth Seeing
It’s never easy for me to NOT stand out, but in Qatar, your favourite long-necked style guru had no problems fitting right in. And after a series of understandable yet awkward-for-agiraffe security checks, I finally entered the fair. At these events, no matter where they are, I always gravitate towards work that doesn’t try to behave itself. In Doha, I was more intrigued than ever before to see what controversial wonders I could find, because I simply adore Art that asks uncomfortable questions.
As you no doubt know, it is standard practice at Art Basel for local Artists from the region to sit beautifully and confidently beside global names, and I really do think that matters. Representation to me, isn’t charity; it’s accuracy, and I’m pleased to report that the same philosophy was applied here in Doha.
Wondering outside the main halls, I found Richard Serra’s monumental steel sculptures - East-West/West-East - and they slice the desert horizon with quiet authority. They don’t explain themselves, because they don’t need to - and neither does the land.
Young Qatari Creatives Shaping the Future of Art
I was lucky enough and honoured to meet and greet so many young Qatari creatives who are fiercely global and deeply rooted. They inspired me tremendously as they spoke about sustainability without buzzwords, about identity without apology. And of course, they all dream of change. They want more platforms, more openness, more honesty and transparency. Hosting a fair like this gives them leverage. Eyes are watching now. The world is watching, and that’s what matters.
Hosting Art Basel in Doha won’t magically change things. It won’t fix human-rights issues overnight. But culture has a way of creating pressure. soft, persistent, impossible to fully control. When artists, collectors, critics, and the merely curious descend on a place like this, conversations happen in the gaps. Visibility increases. Expectations shift. It’s not justice, but it’s friction. And friction, as any giraffe knows, is how you start a fire.
Why Art Basel Doha Matters
So yes, let us question the money, the rules, and the narratives being spun and sold alongside the wonderful art on display from all over the world. But it would be a real shame to dismiss Doha as undeserving of this honour and privilege to host such a huge, creatively important global event.
As we all know only too well, history is messy. Progress is uneven, and sometimes, the most interesting conversations happen precisely where they’re hardest to have.
I could spend an entire month here, but as I leave Doha, my LUC8K Weekender - heavier with catalogues, contradictions, and a small yet meaningful piece of art for my other half - I’m reminded that art doesn’t belong to the comfortable. It belongs to the curious. To those willing to stand in the heat and look closely. And if a giraffe can do that in sensible yet stylish sandals, with my long legs covered from head to hoof, then so can you.
With love, as always,
Sophie xxx