May 21, 2009
Rad agrees: “I am a night person, so it comes naturally. I like blacks, dark blues, greys. I am a dark person-not a pessimistic person, though!” What other myths might we dispel? For one, that Rad’s aesthetic is comparable to any of the following luminaries: Rick Owens (“I’m not Gothic! He rules that domain”); Margiela (“I am not a conceptual designer”), or Gareth Pugh (“I’m slick and modern, not sci-fi”). And while his clothing’s visual impact is stark and futuristic and his colors monochromatic, he doesn’t consider himself a minimalist. “What looks minimalist is actually very complex, very detailed. I take the idea of purity, but I love to embellish it. I liked to build refined layers and regard clothing like sculpture. What influences that? It’s usually architecture. It can be a line, a texture, a shape,” says Rad.
But what about the shape of a woman’s body? For Hourani, a woman’s curves are of little interest. “My clothing is asexual,” he says. “A man or a woman can wear these garments interchangeably. Gender is irrelevant.” He’s bold: Who dares to say this in New York, the fashion city that launched a thousand lines of flirty cocktail dresses?
Fall/Winter 2009 looks
It’s a specific type of client that looks to such a robotic ideal. Hourani describes his customer as “Someone like you or me [LAUGHS]. Someone who similarly appreciates the geometry of clothing and who understands there’s a sensuality to the clothing itself without relying on the human form.”
It’s also for someone who “loathes trends,” which repel Hourani. The designer hopes that the recession will inaugurate a type universal catharsis for creative people. “It’s time to re-evaluate our priorities again. It’s time for making wise decisions-I really just want to see trends die.”
Hourani knows brilliant marketing when he sees it, and talks a lot about the line between “art and commerce.” Make no mistake, “Rad by Rad Hourani.” a diffusion line, will happen in the near future-it’s designer “for the people who already enjoy my aesthetic, but can’t afford it.” And Hourani won’t be selling it just anywhere: “I often turn away buyers, or remove my lines from boutiques if I feel it isn’t working out; it’s very important that my designs appear in a specific context, and it needs to feel very organic”.
-Interviewmagazine
