When Rad Hourani’s clothes hit the runway last season for the second time, the names that people were whispering included those of fashion royalty like Helmut Lang and Ann Demeulemeester or at least that’s what Style.com said when they named him one of their Top 10 New Faces for the Spring Summer 2008 collections.
This young versatile artist ex fashion stylist, videomaker and photographer turned into fashion designer from Montreal has no formal fashion training at all. “Everything I know about fashion design, video making or photography, I learned it on my own”, he said. What is even more remarkable is Hourani’s focused vision in his collection, his videos and even his personal style. “I do my best to stay focused on my own aesthetics more than on the market, and I hope maybe naively that you will never be able to stick a label on a specific piece or collection and gasp ‘this is soooooo 2007’. Its rather a quest for something timeless and anonymous”, Hourani explains. Montreal designer refuses to be bound by borders: not for gender, not for season and certainly not for geography. Though it’s still early days, this clarity has already paid off. Hourani, twenty-five, was born in Jordan and arrived in Montreal when he was sixteen. He styled for publications such as FQ and the Montreal Gazette and worked with top Canadian photographer Max Abadian. Two years ago he left Montreal for Paris, to further develop his styling career and start his own line.
When did you first become aware of fashion? When I was a child, my mother would take me every week to her dressmaker so we could choose the fabrics and designs for her next outfit. I started giving my opinions on it pretty early.
Tell me what is your fashion background. I never went to design school. I never went to any school, for that matter… I am lucky enough to be extremely curious about anything and everything I know about fashion design, video making or photography, I learned it on my own. I graduated from high school and started working in a clothing store. Shortly after I started scouting for a modeling agency, then one thing led to another and I ended up working full time as a stylist. It was a bit like a 5 years training for what I’m doing now. I guess my influences are the gathering of my own personal experiences and observations along the years; not something somebody told me to do or think. In that extend, my collection might be more personal.
Your f irst two collections are based in monochromatic looks. Why? Long and layered silhouettes, straight, sharp, black, slick and geometric shapes that, by the use of noble, fluid materials, come alive through the movement of the wearer. It is apparently simple but refined in details. I design from a very virgin point of view, trying to elude classical ready-to-wear rules that made us believe that women and men deserve different approaches. My pieces are timeless and freed from any gender differentiations. Given the nature of the fashion calendar, I have to present my collections on a bi-yearly basis, but I design them with the idea that they could be worn by anyone, at any time. Therefore I do not start every new season with a specific theme or concept, but rather try to establish continuity from one to the next. There is no specific process I think. I just carry a mental notebook where I make notes at any time of the day. I get inspired by someone on the street, by a book or by a discussion. Then I put it into a few straight lines...
Your second collection was based in black, white and red designs. What does the colors black, red and white represent to you? It’s to mix Adam and Eve, the male and female, “no gender” to present a human with feeling. I’m attached to the notion of purity. And by choosing simple stark lines, I strive to blur gender boundaries. I expect to reach people who do not define themselves primarily as men or women, who go beyond the classical demographical criteria. People who appreciate a certain sobriety yet who want to look effortlessly glamorous at all times...
You always define your clothing as asexual. Do you consider yourself an asexual person? I must say that I think a great deal about myself when designing. Of course I didn’t create a brand just for my own sake, but I believe that using what I would like to wear as a starting point to the design process is the most truthful and straightforward approach. That allows me to stay focused on my own aesthetic statement and also assess my commitment to wearability, functionality, and comfort. I wear my own clothes because I want to feel how someone else would feel in them.
Do you always wear black? Of course, black is mysterious, chic, slick, modern, simple and eternal.
How did your mum dress you when you were young? She dressed me the same way she dressed my brother and I hated it. I was very picky with cloths as a child; I didn’t want to wear what the other children were wearing. It was not easy at all.
What designers your wardrobe is made of? Rad Hourani.
Why did you move to Paris from Montreal? How was the jump to Europe? The plan of launching my own label had been in the back of my head for a long time but I just didn’t feel ready for it five years ago. Fashion styling is great to learn how to use clothes. If you have designing ambitions, it’s a great way to analyze how things are constructed and marketed especially for someone who never went to fashion school like me. It was probably longer than a scholarship but I feel I learned way more and I got the bonus of meeting a lot of great people who are supporting me today.
Do you think that Paris is always going to be the capital of the fashion industry? All cities and no cities. Beauty is everywhere, yet perfection is nowhere. I feel like I’m from nowhere and everywhere. It’s a great mental observation, it’s very inspiring!
Tell me about photography. How did you decide you wanted to be behind the lens? It is very important as it contributes to create a coherent image for my brand. I do pretty much everything myself. It all participates in my aesthetic statement and in getting my message across. It is a whole, a vision and an esthetic I am trying to apply in all areas of my work, from clothing design to graphic, video filming and editing. I like the strength of a sharp black line, and that’s what you find back in everything I do.
How did you start you project of the 15 videoportraits of models like Julia Dunstall? 20 is my contribution to the 20th anniversary of Mode models agency in Canada, which is owned by my very good friend Kelly Streit. He’s one of the most talented scouts in the world. He scouted Heather Marks, Julia Dunstall, Meghan Collison and much more. There are 15 videos, all directed and edited during 2006-2007, while I was preparing my first collection.
Do you consider yourself a versatile artist? I am behind the camera, with a single person in front of me. I usually start with a general idea or mood, not an overwhelming concept… The rest is developed very spontaneously at that moment through my interaction with the subject and all comes together when I edit the sequences. My films are related to my fashion however I don’t conceive them as promotional pieces for my brand but as a different way of conveying the same underlying aesthetics and sensibility.
Are they other disciplines that you would like to explore? Film directing and many other projects. I would say architecture too, I love crisp and clean lines. I am interested in the dialogue between form and function and I would like to establish something perennial.
Fashion designer, photographer and video artist. Do you have any free time? What do you like to do when you are not working on your projects? I cannot separate “life” from “work”. My work is my life and vice versa. I am a perfectionist, I won’t stop until I am dead!