Michæl From Archives- REMIX Magazine Rad Hourani Feature

REMIX Magazine (U.S.) Summer 2012 Ethan Hawke cover styled by: Emily Barnes.

*Below is a profile focused on Rad Hourani for the Summer 2012 issue distilling the DNA of the designer and his brand in celebration of his five year anniversary.

(Text)

 Creating what he calls 'the classics of tomorrow' with seamless, post-modern lines, which unfold, fold, and deconstruct to reconstruct new forms of geometrical shapes, Rad Hourani is celebrating the fifth anniversary of his vision. 

The first luxe label to transcend the idea of unisex by presenting a singular point-of-view which can be applied to all aspects of our lives, not only defies self-imposed limitations, but has come to confront the 24-hour cycle in which brands have become wasteful, and season-obsessed. The sense of mutation and state of constant flux created by Houreani's idea of a world that we could live and shape by ourselves,' can be traced to the creases of his first collection presented in Paris in 2007, following through to New York in 2009. 

Since then two collections with one concept have been birthed. While continuing to communicate a global image that crosses all boundaries of artistic disciplines, as it does of gender, race, seasons, stereotypes, rules, religion, and age with the name sake line, Rad Hourani; functioning as a laboratory, experimenting with new shapes, and fabrics, the RAD by Rad Hourani collection concentrates on styles, and silhouettes of the same signature looks offered in different materials, and a more casual transformable fit. 

The anti-conformist language that we have come to call Rad Hourani goes beyond seasons, garments, trends, and engenders a contemporary model of a sustainable production cycle with season-less collections, which are instead referred to by numbers. Working as a self-educated and self-motivated artistic creator who is aware of the mutation of the world around him, Hourani shares his idea of timeless style, translated through his videos, photography, graphic work, and continued artistic collaborations. Transcending a certain convention found in fashion, Hourani unveils the veracities in the values of freedom. 

Michæl From Archives - A.F.VANDEVORST AUTUMN / WINTER 2013

A still from Dirk Braeckman for the A.F.VANDEVORST Autumn / Winter 2013 show invitation. 

*Below is the official Dirk Braeckman + A.F.VANDEVORST film collaboration text followed by the official collection text I created for the A.F.VANDEVORST Autumn / Winter 2013 collection.

A.F.VANDEVORST + Dirk Braeckman

Autumn / Winter 2013

A.F. Vandevorst designers An Vandevorst, and Filip Arickx present their collection for Autumn / Winter 2013 through a new format. Refreshing the regular structure of the runway, the collection is presented through something truer to the brand identity: an interactive symbiosis between art, fashion, film, and photography, expanding into a greater interaction with a larger audience.

As a prelude to the collection, Belgian photographer and director, Dirk Braeckman has created a six-minute film with contemporary dancer and choreographer, Lisbeth Gruwez, as both the director and designers share a non-linear vision shown through a richness and variety of tones of grey.

Aside from a comparable use with color as seen through a grey filter, A.F. Vandevorst dress their dancer in their visualization of a traditional Bulgarian animal headpiece. Costuming the contemporary choreographer gives an illusion of being undercover while adding disorder of boundaries with a completely covered face, losing conception of where the front is in comparison to the back; further drawing upon the like confusion the director creates:  front and back, and up and down as illustrated in his work with film.

After distilling the DNA of the designers and the director, a dropped curtain will give way to a more familiar format of a collection being presented in Paris; all the while exposed to an audience left standing in wonder.

A still from the Dirk Braeckman + A.F.VANDEVORST Autumn / Winter 2013 film collaboration.

A.F.VANDEVORST

Autumn / Winter 2013

After radiating the beauty of the Belle Époque, last seasons’ love, and inner joy in dressing now gives way to new measurements, draping and volumes for Autumn / Winter 2013.

Inspired by Maria Dueñas’ The Time in Between, the tale of a young classically trained couturier living in 1930s Madrid who seeks refuge in Morocco from political conflict bringing turmoil to her native Spanish soil; she eventually returns to her homeland, doubling in espionage and transmitting messages by sewing them into false seams in fictitious patterns. Like Dueñas’ leading lady, the A.F. Vandevorst explorer knows that there is another world waiting for her, and that perhaps fortune favors the brave. An expat, she parts from her varied past to find an unpredictable future, and uncover uncertain dreams, while still tailored but prepared for strife. Abandoning her hats under which she once hid, she is guarded on her excursion by long locks and bangs veiling her face to create an almost faceless silhouette.

Beneath her disguise, modesty is once again imposed and she is concealed in infiltrating shades of grey and covered in prints of oversized paisleys. Beneath forest green paisley back-belted military inspired taffeta and jacquard jackets lay matching high-waisted pencil skirts in washed wool, elongating the outline. Plum peplum and taffeta bustier tops are paired with wool jacquard paisley print pants with military pockets. Long black taffeta evening gowns are layered with more masculine grey taffeta pants, and cotton jacquard short-sleeved shirting.

All the while, the wanderer remains warm for winter beneath oversized knit wool coats, airy oversized knit sweaters and is sheltered in pearl grey Carpathian lamb shearling scarves and vests. However, exaggerated in volumes, she treads a lightly traced track in boots enveloping her ankles and confining her feet, making her movement more prim and feminine.

Michæl From Istanbul

Perihan Cer, a shopgirl at Malatya Pazari, finds a moment of stillness in the old Spice Bazaar. Photo by: Michael Schwartz

*As a premiere post, I am sharing an article that not only was I most proud of, but was being optioned for Man Of The World. The article got lost amidst the multitude of minds and for that matter, after months of miscommunication, I take ownership back and am proud to present it as my first post. 

Byzantine art and Ottoman architecture dominate the symbolic skyline of a city that has been conquered, built, and rebuilt from the Greeks, to the Persians, to the Romans, to the Venetians, and ultimately to the Ottomans. Separated by the Bosphorus, it’s a city strategically situated at the split between Europe and Asia; the final destination of what was once the Silk Road.

A place where Sufis still spin, Istanbul, “not Constantinople, is Turkish delight on a moonlit night,” according to The Four Lads song, and is as modern as any metropolis but still secretes (sweat from humidity comparable to cosmopolitans akin to the likes of the Big Apple) scents of Nargile (hookah), and spices that allude to an epilogue of the past.

Sultanahment, the old city, once home to the Hippodrome that held horse and chariot races, still stores its secrets between the Spice Bazaar, and Kapalıçarşı (Grand Bazaar). While loading up on glasses of çay (tea), forced upon by the vendors, and sampling lots of lokum (Turkish delight), it is essential for any chef to stock up on Saffron (an expensive spice, much cheaper to buy in these markets – when you can find the real spice as opposed to the more common color-dyed fakes), Sumak (a dried sweet and sour beet colored ground berry used to mix with meats), Isot (a dried and fermented pepper adding a rich smoky note to anything), and Çörek Otu (Nigella Seeds, which can cure a headache when wrapped in cheesecloth and rubbed against your palm, or used more commonly as a pastry spice to bring a more savory flavor).

Meanwhile, the Grand Bazaar, made up of 61 streets and 3,000 plus shops present any discerning gent the opportunity to purchase more than just ornate oriental rugs, but rather kilim slippers, for example; the underpinning design behind a pair of Dries Van Noten espadrilles.

And though this is a city where you can marvel at Medusa’s head, aside from the multitude of mosques, or follow the Formula One races at Istanbul Park, a traditional 400 year old Turkish bath, off of the maps and on the Anatolian side of the city is vital for a real voyager. 

All photos by: Michael Schwartz; taken with a Canon EOS 20D 

One of the six minarets which make up the interior courtyard of Sultan Ahmet I's Blue Mosque.  Mecca is the only equivalent to boast as many minarets.

It's the blue Iznik tiles which adorn the interior that have dubbed the mosque its unofficial, but most commonly known name.

A forest of 336 columns built in 532 to deliver water to the Great Palace of Emperor Justinian, but closed when the Byzantine emperors relocated the Great Palace. 

The Bascilica Cistern is not only the largest surviving Byzantine cistern in Istanbul, but also plays home to Medusa's head.

A window inside the less crowded and quite quaint Süleymaniye Mosque.

Inside the fourth imperial mosque in Istanbul; designed by the most famous of all Ottoman architects, Mimar Sinan.