RAD NEWS

VOGUE NL FEATURE UNISEX RAD HOURANI

2013-05-16T06:55:24-04:00

PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARCO VAN RIJT - STYLED BY SONNY GROO - MODEL WEARING RAD HOURANI UNISEX HAUTE COUTURE COLLECTION #10 IN VOGUE Nederland

"I've never followed rules in my life '

Designer Rad Hourani writes HISTORY with its timeless couture collections aimed at women and men, thus Hourani themselves asexual and aseasonal are. This is HIS YEARS.
- Text Georgette King

In an Amsterdam studio, Rad Hourani wears a spotless white vest, it is tight and reminiscent of a Star Trek uniform. "You like it?," He asks with a lilting, dark brown voice. He always wears his own architectural design, including self-designed high-heeled shoes. "The heel gives the silhouette elegance. I never wanted to walk on flats but my heels are now slightly lower, because I have problems with my hip. This is fixed. Lol! "While he giggles he turns his head away beautifully.

Quirky Hourani is one of a kind. As a personality and as a fashion designer. Trends? not interested in at all. Color in his collection? He does not see where it is needed. Mode? He has nothing.

With aesthetics though, he loves graphic and symmetrical, black and white. Whether he is in everyday life as well as pronounced? "Yes. There is no gray area. I love honesty, of strong but sensitive. 'You wonder whether his outspoken attitude does not work regularly against him in the fashion world, where compliance is often seen as a good feature. Certainly, "My whole life, I never followed rules, what matters is individualism, I follow my vision." Laughs: "It has 130 outlets brought me so far in 30 countries. I just do what I feel is right. "

Hourani has never followed a training mode even with his Unisex haute couture, . He explains that he designs as an architect. His sketches - "they look like houses' - are converted with his patterns maker in perfectly fitting clothes. In 2006, the talented designer from Montreal moved to Paris. Because he can not be 'severe' personality underlined, finding the right clothes he makes his own wardrobe that opens into a unisex collection, presented in Paris in 2007. He is currently working on a first retrospective of his work for a cultural center in Montreal, and of course his second couture collection. Through the influential Sidney Toledano, CEO of Christian Dior, he ends up last January at the couture calendar. "That was the first time in fashion history that unisex haute couture was shown." Each piece can be worn by both a man and a woman. Hourani's clientele is also quite varied. Actor and musician Jared Leto wears his designs, like stylist Patti Wilson, actress Elisa Sednaoui and model Crystal Renn. "But an older woman standing in my designs feel timeless and powerful."

And then Hourani, it's time for his portrait. He fumbles a bit of a zipper in his neck, the jacket fits perfectly around his tight body. He looks approvingly in the mirror and asks again: "You like it?" -

Rad Hourani, 5 Years or Unisex. Photography, fashion and videos in the Phi Centre in Montreal, Canada, from November 1 this year. At the same time get a book and a DVD out.

UNISEX NEW ARRIVAL

2013-05-15T09:38:26-04:00

AVAILABLE ON OUR UNISEX ESHOP AND AT OUR UNISEX GALLERY 75 RUE CHARLOT 75003 PARIS FRANCE

A RADICAL UNISEX / SHOP THE LOOK

2013-05-13T20:42:38-04:00

A UNISEX LIMITED EDITION COLLECTION AVAILABLE AT OUR ESHOP

JACQUES GREENE IN RAD HOURANI / TATE MODERN LONDON

2013-05-13T20:37:42-04:00

CREATIVE DIRECTOR MELISSA MATOS PUT TOGETHER A PHYSICAL COMPUTING, PROJECTION MAPPING, INTERACTIVE WEARABLES AND ELECTRONIC SOUNDSCAPES TO CREATE AN IMMERSIVE 360 DEGREE RESPONSIVE ENVIRONMENT WHERE JACQUES GREENE IS WEARING CUSTOM MADE RAD HOURANI UNISEX HAUTE COUTURE ENSEMBLE DURING HIS LIVE PERFORMANCE AT THE TATE MODERN MUSEUM IN LONDON.

THE RAD #6 UNISEX GROUPS

2013-05-09T10:19:06-04:00

RAD BY RAD HOURANI READY TO WEAR UNISEX COLLECTION #6 AVAILABLE NOW ON ESHOP

UNISEX RAD #6

2013-04-29T10:54:44-04:00

PHOTOGRAPHED BY MARCO VAN RIJT - STYLED BY JEANPAUL PAULA - HAIR & MAKE UP BY YANN BOUSSAND - MODELS LUKA AT SUCCESS & RIJNTJE VAN WIJK AT IMG PARIS - SHOP THE COLLECTION

RH UNISEX HC #10 - MKR MAGAZINE

2013-04-29T10:50:13-04:00

RH

2013-04-29T10:47:47-04:00

RAD #6 IN I.T POST MAGAZINE

2013-04-18T17:05:27-04:00

MODELS WEARING RAD BY RAD HOURANI READY TO WEAR UNISEX COLLECTION #6 - PHOTOGRAPHED BY RAD HOURANI

RH FEATURE IN FLAUNT MAGAZINE

2013-04-18T14:54:00-04:00

CRYSTAL RENN BY RAD HOURANI IN UNISEX COLLECTION #6

2013-04-05T13:04:11-04:00

RAD #07 UNISEX OUTFIT 02

2013-03-25T14:03:37-04:00

RH UNISEX HC #10 - DASH MAGAZINE

2013-03-20T12:13:54-04:00

Last July, Rad Hourani impressed the fashion world with an iconoclastic unisex Haute Couture collection. This season, he was invited back and chose to present his 22 unisex looks to a select crowd at the Canadian Cultural Centre in Paris. The moulded white walls, parquet and crystal chandelier provided a luxurious yet intimate décor for the défilé. Showcasing garments that were neither gender nor season-specific, the collection was an unprecedented statement in the annals of Haute Couture.

The first model stepped out in an oversized blazer and crisp ankle trousers. She wore white socks with sandals, a combination reminiscent of Japanese geisha. Displaying a meticulous balance of tone, the pristine-white looks transitioned into pitch-black ones, making way for a series of half-white and half-black outfits. Though the passing from light to dark was dramatic, the shapes created by the garments’ layering emitted a harmonious sense of yin and yang. In contrast to his first collection, where most jackets were belted around the waist, the lack of visible fastenings in this second collection gave each look a bundled effect and a sense of futuristic drapery.

Despite the many innovations, Hourani remained loyal to his aesthetic. From floor-length coats by way of elongated tuxedo blazers to sleeveless tops, the collection was aseasonal. RAD aficionados were pleased to find the iconic lapel-less jackets, worn with long tops peeking out from underneath. His signature unisex heels also appeared in a new low-top version. Even under the bright lights of Haute Couture, he continues to flout the gender binary in fashion.

A master tailor and leather smith, Hourani has frequently demonstrated the versatility of the colour black with his singularly sleek outfits. This expertise was evident everywhere in this collection. The line-up closed with dark leather-heavy ensembles, which harked back to the designer’s first collections.

Returning for the finale, the models marched out single file sporting identical masks moulded in the designer’s image: the RADical face of Haute Couture.

RAD #07 UNISEX OUTFIT 01

2013-03-19T19:27:23-04:00

SSENSE INTERVIEW RH

2013-03-15T13:34:15-04:00

Rad Hourani is the first unisex designer ever invited by La Chambre Syndicale de La Haute Couture in Paris to show a couture collection. In 2006, he relocated to Paris to devote himself completely to designing. Since then, Hourani has built up two successful lines: RAD by Rad Hourani (ready-to-wear) and Rad Hourani (haute couture). And yet, for all these accomplishments, Hourani is gentle and generous; never dragooning or demanding. He's an observer who listens intently and responds with sensitivity and the quiet confidence of an artist who believes in his work.

Every piece is designed and drawn exclusively by Hourani himself. Agnostic with respect to a wearer’s gender, he knows precisely how a perfectly constructed garment will feel in use. For him, design is synaesthesis: when he sketches a design on the page he feels it on his body. Although he prefers and respects silence, his speaking voice is warm, simultaneously intellectual and sensual, enveloping the listener in his point of view. SSENSE caught up with him just weeks after showing his collection at Paris’ Haute Couture Fashion Week. In the process, we discovered why his designs transcend the typical — the man himself is extraordinary.

There’s a poster that you pinned up backstage at a RAD by Rad Hourani show in 2011. It was for the models to see before they walked out, and it read: “Walk straight ahead look straight ahead don’t stop don’t pose sharp turns be confident love yourself.”

Yup! Absolutely!

Those are such pretty words, it’s like a poem, but it seems like it could also be read as a mantra, or a dictum.

Yes, absolutely. It is a way of living, a way of being. I think what I do is about complete lifestyle. In that lifestyle this is the way I like to be. What you like in these words is a reflection of my life.

Are you a workaholic?

I am really obsessed with what I do and I really love what I do. But, for me, I don’t see it as a problem. I am definitely an extreme person. When I love, I really love, and when I work I really work, and when I concentrate on something, I give everything. I don’t look at it as a job. I am doing it because this is my life, this is who I am. That is why I’ve refused many offers from backers and things like that, because I don’t want to be controlled.

Did you come by that attitude on your own or was it something that you were taught?

I always knew what I wanted. Of course my tastes have changed, and I’ve definitely evolved, but I think I’ve always been sure of what I want. It’s something that you can learn from experience, from life, but it’s not something that someone can program in your head. It has to come from you. I’m sure I’ve felt fear too. For instance, I built up a career, five years of styling, and one day I just completely stopped and went to design. Of course I had some fear in me. We’re all fragile, and insecure, and vulnerable, too.

Have you ever felt like you’ve wasted time?

No. I don’t think I ever wasted time. Without everything that I loved before I wouldn’t be where I am today. In that sense I never wasted my time. I don’t regret anything that I have done or that has happened to me. I think everything was perfectly at the right stage and right moment. And it had to to be the way it was.

Do you have any obsessions at the moment?

Well, recently I am a godfather to two kids.

Congratulations. How do you find being a Godfather?

Just to be with a baby, it gives you so much life and light. The baby is always observing and always present — there is nothing in their mind that is programmed. That is something that I really love, because what I do is about erasing rules. And to see a baby! How pure and powerful that can be, just to restart again from zero and to observe all the time and be present all the time.

Do you remember yourself as child?

I was very particular. I never wanted to wear what other kids were wearing. I never wanted to do what other kids were doing. And I was a very quiet child. When there was a lot of people together I would leave the gang and go sit by myself…because maybe I did not like the noise or something like that.

Was it always in your nature to want to erase the rules?

I was questioning things since I was a kid. I remember one night at my grandparents house — I was really a kid, a child — and I was looking at the sky and the stars and questioning what is up there…kind of asking myself how we are, how we function…what are these stars and what is this planet that I am on. I remember that moment was so…not intense, but…it was almost as if there was a light coming out of my head, that moment was really strong.

Do you have memories of being a little kid with your parents?

When I was a child my mom used to get her dresses made in an atelier. I would go with her every time. And she would be standing there with these patternmakers around her and sewers around her and she would tell them, ‘I want to make the neck lower or higher’ or ‘I want the epaulettes smaller or shorter’. We would go to the fabric stores all the time and when she’d come in, the salespeople would say ‘Ah, Madame Hourani, we received this new silk or this new crepe that you really like’. So the words of the fabrics were always in my head. I think I was always influenced by that. I am not doing the same kind of design but I think these moments really influenced me in an indirect way.

That sounds so romantic. Do you remember what those dresses looked like?

She has lots of black dresses, she likes blue dresses, she likes silk. There was this nice dress I always liked: it was a very straight black dress, to the knee, and it had a big shoulder. All the rest of the dress was black and the neck was kind of a round shape that had a gold line around it. It was one of my favorite dresses she made. It is not my style of dress today, but it’s something that I liked when I was a kid.

Let’s talk about your ready-to-wear and haute couture lines.

Rad Hourani is now the official haute couture line and RAD by Rad Hourani is the ready-to-wear line, and I think both of them complete each other in a way. First of all, everything I create, I create what I feel like wearing, so I feel all of my collection is basically made for myself.

I am the only designer. I completely design everything from A to Z, with no exception. It’s not an assistant that draws it for me and puts it out there. And this is something interesting to talk about because I never talk about it in other interviews: I think it’s important to understand that my creations come from how I feel about something. My hand will draw something that I am feeling on my body at the same time. For example, if I think of a shape, when I draw it I think of myself wearing it right away, and it’s almost like the pencil is moving on the paper but the paper is my body in a way.

Most of my designs are symmetrical and they are very graphic, 90 degree angles, very rectangular. I’m not attracted to round shapes or shapes that make the body look short. I like shapes that can be adapted to any kind of style. Since the beginning I took a year to understand a mans body and womens body. My designs have always been unisex and unisex design means each garment can be worn on men or women.

That's another way that you are erasing rules.

I’m trying to erase everything that is learned, in a way. When someone looks at my garment I am not interested in being put in a category of 60s, 70s or 90s. It is absolutely not and I don’t have any vintage reference in my clothes.

What did you study about the body and what did you understand about the male body or the female body?

For me my study was mostly about, a male body needs to have this part covered or that part not covered or this part comfortable for movement...I studied the body in terms of a physical comfort more than in an aesthetic way — it’s not about beauty necessarily. Its more about physical comfort and physical movement...When people wear my clothes they say 'I feel protected, I feel powerful, I feel comfortable, I feel confident, I feel timeless.'

Everyone wants to know about your plans for the future, but is it fair to say that you can't dictate what the future will look like?

It’s exactly that! I never thought five years ago that I will be an invited member in Haute Couture, so in the next five years I don’t know where I am going to be. But I know that I will continue to do what I love the most, and give it everything I can give it. I’ll keep on loving every part of it.

SHOP THE RAD #6 UNISEX COLLECTION ON SSENSE

RH IN L'OFFICIEL HOMMES NL FEATURE

2013-03-13T11:55:09-04:00

RH UNISEX HAUTE COUTURE #10 VIDEO

2013-02-28T06:30:10-05:00

RH UNISEX HC #10 - MODELS.COM

2013-02-27T05:50:00-05:00

PHOTOS BY MARCO VAN RIJT - CLICK FOR MORE ON MODELS.COM

RH UNISEX HC #10

2013-02-27T05:39:33-05:00

RH UNISEX HC IN OPEN LAB MAGAZINE

2013-02-21T18:52:15-05:00

Photographer: Raff Grosso - Stylist: Mariaelena Morelli - Make-up: Alice Coloriti using Laura Mercier - Hair: Daniela Magginetti @MKS Milano using L’Oréal Professionnel - Stylist Assistant: Matteo Carraturo - Model: Tom Heukels @Elite

RH UNISEX FEATURE - OPEN LAB MAGAZINE

2013-02-21T17:36:26-05:00

The connotations attached to haute couture are usually summed up in three words: elitist,
feminine and expensive.This narrow view of one of fashion’s oldest institutions, dating back
to 1868, is what has led to the growing speculation of its very demise. Can haute couture survive
the onslaught of mass market clothing and its minuscule prices? Who is haute couture’s client
today? And, perhaps most importantly, does anyone outside of the fashion industry even care
if the tradition dies? For these reasons and so many more, the governing body which oversees
couture fashion week in Paris, the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture, has begun a campaign
to redefine its image. In November 2012, the organisation made a move that few saw coming: it
invited Rad Hourani, a designer of unisex, aseasonal collections to be the eleventh designer
officially allowed to show during its fashion week; an incredible move that placed this
five-year old label next to fashion powerhouses such as Christian Dior, Chanel and Givenchy.

Rad Hourani was born in Jordan in 1982 to a Jordanian father and Syrian mother. At the age
of sixteen, his family relocated to Montreal, Canada, where he completed his high school
studies. Following graduation, Hourani started working as a model scout, eventually switching
gears to work as a full-time stylist. His experience as a stylist would prove highly
influential on the design aesthetic his namesake brand would come to be known by. Hourani
explains that, “I have always been driven by aesthetic in general and not just fashion.
I believe that looking for the exact thing to wear was the first step into designing my
collection. When I was a stylist, I was looking for something very specific that did not
exist: genderless, timeless, seasonless, and ageless”. Once satisfied by his experience
behind the scenes in the fashion industry, Hourani decided to up the ante by moving to
Paris in 2005. The move was prompted by gut instinct and could not have been better timed.

In 2007, at the impressively young age of 25, Hourani launched his eponymous line as a
way to design his ideal personal wardrobe; he admits that he had no intention of filling
a gap in the market or catering to commercial concerns. But like it or not, Hourani’s
penchant for strong, clean and almost reference-less designs struck a chord with some of
the greater fashion powers that be. Instantly picked up by retail barometers of cool such
as Seven New York and Luisa Via Roma, it took only a few seasons for Hourani’s popularity
to soar. He is quick to describe his vision as utopian, a label that certainly seems
apt when comparing his work with contemporaries. According to Hourani, “what we wear is a
reflection of who we are, but I am not interested in fashion. My interest is in the world
and the people that live on this planet and I hope that my life will serve to communicate
a message that can evolve our society and the way we live. My message is not just about
clothes or art or film, it is about a complete lifestyle and a way of being”. Sticking true
to his quest, Hourani launched Rad by Rad Hourani in New York; a more affordable, lower
price point label that aimed to carry his unisex, aseason wardrobe to a larger audience.

With his debut on the official haute couture calendar this January, claims to the beginning
of an evolution can certainly be made. It is as if the history of fashion has finally
caught a glimpse of its future. Hourani approaches his new membership with great weight;
“we live in a very fast society today where everything is about fast production and copying,
where we don’t have the time to digest. For me, I think that haute couture is to attribute
respect to all the craftsmanship that goes into making a luxurious collection. It
is about ‘Le savoir faire’. It feels right for me to do it today. I like to create my own
rules and not to follow any rules just to be part of an industry. I do what makes sense to
me and it always work out very well.” While the effects of his appointment may not be felt
immediately, Hourani’s role in the future of haute couture, and also in the larger world
of fashion, is cemented. Perhaps if we had it his way, we’d have better things to discuss
than the rising or lowering of hemlines. Hourani wants us to imagine. Or at least to try.

TEXT BY Megan Wray Schertler FOR OPEN LAB MAGAZINE

RH UNISEX HAUTE COUTURE LOOKS + FACES

2013-02-01T17:57:29-05:00

RH INTERVIEW IN BULLETT

2013-01-31T08:33:21-05:00

When Rad Hourani tells me his favorite author is Ayn Rand, I wince. The last mouth I’d heard that come from was 2012 Republican vice-presidential nominee Paul Ryan’s.

“What’s unique about what’s happening today in government, in the world, in America, is that it’s as if we’re living in an Ayn Rand novel,” Paul Ryan said some years ago, before he backpedaled on his Rand idolatry when her atheism seemed to affront his Evangelical voter base. Ayn Rand, to me, means capitalism as morality, selfishness as virtue, fiscal conservatism, and all that that’s recently come to be parcelled with, i.e. the Republican pain in my uterus. Of course, I’ve never read Rand.

And that’s precisely the point. Rad Hourani aims for first principles. He aims to strip away the chaos of received knowledge, of prejudice, to create from a clean slate. In that way, he is like Howard Roark, the protagonist of Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead, her first major novel, the least political, and (in his defense) the only one that Rad has read. “My work, done my way,” is Howard Roark’s motto. He is an individualistic architect with a progressive vision of design who would rather strive in obscurity than compromise his principles.

“The book is about people being individuals. And it’s about making your life, making what you are and what you do…” Rad pauses to rephrase, “Don’t do it for the existence of others. Don’t live in the eyes of others. If we were to all live in our own eyes, that would create a much more advanced society, in terms of food, architecture, medicine, all human endeavor. You know what I mean?” Rad waits for me to respond. My anti-Rand prejudice runs too fierce, but I am convinced of the purity of Rad’s interpretation. I want to tell him that I want to know everything he means. Instead it’s, “Let’s go back to your upbringing.”

Rad Hourani was born in Jordan in 1982 to a Jordanian-Canadian father and a Syrian mother. His father had grown up in Canada and, when Rad’s older brother, the eldest, finished high school, his father wanted him to move to Canada to study at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. The family would follow—mother, father, Rad, and his five siblings (the one elder brother, one younger brother, and three younger sisters) all moved to Montreal. Rad was sixteen at the time.

Shortly after graduating high school in Montreal, Rad started scouting for a modelling agency. From there—from within the small Montreal fashion community and based off of Rad’s intuitive refinement and personal taste, which he exudes necessarily, like the rest of us breathe—he started to receive styling requests. He shifted to full-time styling and soon, at twenty-two, which brings us to 2005, was drawn to Paris to continue the pursuit. In Paris, Rad found himself shopping exhaustively without ever finding the clothes he was looking for. “Sometimes, the fit would be too tight or too short. Or the neck was too low or too high or the fabric was not right for the cut.” He knew precisely what he wanted. And so he started sketching.

“Everything happened really organically. I never sought a client for a styling job. With design, I never called a magazine or a buyer to come and see my clothes. Everything just happened,” he tells me. What’s everything? The wardrobe he started sketching turned into a collection, which lead to the launch of his namesake label in 2007. “After I launched that collection in Paris, it was like a tornado hit… All these different things came.” Like, the launch of a second, ready-to-wear line, RAD by Rad Hourani; the opening of a gallery in Paris; photography, art direction, filmmaking, travel; a scent called Ascent; and, most recently, an invitation into the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture and his first Couture collection, the first unisex Couture show in history, which debuted yesterday in Paris to great acclaim. Rad Hourani clothes are currently sold in 130 stores across 30 countries. He has a dedicated legion of Houranians, rad customers who “get” his (initiate the press standard adjectives) minimalist, austere, monotonal, architectural, asexual luxury creations.

That was the necessary diachronic biography; names and numbers that amount to something of the man. But Rad Hourani’s vision, his ethic and effect, is more synchronic. The clothes he makes are asexual and aseasonal. They aim at what he consistently refers to as “timelessness.” This timelessness is a philosophical trial, an attempt at some sort of essentialism or humanism in presentation. He makes garments devoid of informational connotation, like gender or age-appropriateness or socio-political coding, but full of aesthetic communiqué. Rad Hourani clothes say, “I have a sense of beauty, symmetry, and poise, but if you care to know anymore, you’ll have to actually engage with me, the wearer.” His is a uniform designed—and this is important—to facilitate the individuality of the wearer. Made for whomever, for whenever, wherever, and however they choose be.

The vision is utopic. Rad’s clothes have that Starfleet vibe. Pristinity. Utility. “They come from no place, no time, no tradition, yet they could be home anywhere, anytime.” Made for him, her, zhe, whatever—gender is an illusion. Everything he makes is unisex.

“I never wanted to fit into a category or norm,” Rad explains. He was born questioning:

Why do we limit things or why do we put things into categories, be it race, religion, age, gender? I want my message to be about living your life with no limits. No categorizing. Always question. Who says you can or can’t wear a skirt? Who says you can or can’t wear heels? Who says you have to look like a certain way? Who says this religion is right or this religion is wrong?

At one point, I suggest he sounds like such-and-such Modernist philosopher. “I love that!” he exclaims. “I don’t know what you mean though.” Neither do I, entirely. I’m trying to fit Rad into molds I’ve been taught. Whereas Rad creates his own molds.

“I created my own pattern of two body shapes and I made it my standard,” he shows me. It took one year of work, studying female and male bodies from what we call a zero to plus-size, testing different patterns on different bodies, until he developed one unisex canvas. All Rad Hourani clothes start from this pattern.

This unique canvas exemplifies Rad’s technical facility (always best at math and art in grade school). He has the kind of logical mind that can look at a structure and figure out how it’s made. Or look at a flat sheet of paper and figure, from it, a pattern for a collarless tuxedo jacket with invisible stitching and hidden pockets that falls from the shoulders in a line that is just so. Thus the shadowing adjective architectural.

The one word you shouldn’t use in reference to Rad is fashion:

I want to make something clear, but it’s something that people are not always going to understand—I really have no interest in fashion. I think that fashion is a self-perpetuating trend machine. Fashion is about trends, selling, advertising, and I’m not interested in that. I’m interested in a language that communicates, not just to fashion people or art people, but to the whole world.

Yes, Rad makes clothes (also films, photographs, and installations) but he is far from fashion industry standard: he doesn’t abide by the standardized calendar, and his products, which don’t change much season to season, are made to order (absolutely no waste) in his own small factory in Montreal. It would be easy for someone with his success to run off a line of ‘Made in China’ t-shirts and basics—call it B by Rad Hourani—and make a quick buck. But he has no interest. That would compromise his principles.

FULL ARTICLE BY FIONA DUNCAN IN BULLETT MAGAZINE

24H PARIS BY RAD HOURANI - BULLETT MAGAZINE

2013-01-31T08:15:17-05:00

PHOTOGRAPHED BY RAD HOURANI - ART DIRECTION & STYLING BY MELISSA MATOS - HAIR BY RAMONA ESCHBACH FOR ORIBE - MAKE UP BY YACINE DIALLO AT ART LIST - PRODUCTION BY ERICK FAULKNER - ALL MODELS WEARING RAD HOURANI : BERNARD AT ROCK MEN - RIJNTJE AT IMG - FAYCAL AT SUCCESS - PAUL AT SUCCESS - ALEXANDER AT NEW MADISON - MME VIVIANE FAUNY CAMERLO - BABY FELIX CABOUAT - ARLENE RONZE AT IMG - Michele & Stephanie: BULLETT MAGAZINE

THE BIRTH OF UNISEX COUTURE : RAD HOURANI

2013-01-30T07:09:39-05:00

Rad Hourani, who showed on the final day of couture shows in Paris, introduced an androgynous collection suitable for men or women. He talks to Misty White Sidell.

On the last day of Paris’s spring 2013 haute couture presentations, a procession of boys and girls paraded down a narrow runway, swathed in an array of monochromatic, androgynous looks. The show’s boxy shapes, angular faces, and identical black bowl-cut wigs made it nearly impossible to tell the girls from the boys. But that was the point. The show was the work of designer Rad Hourani—the world’s first creator of unisex couture.

Hourani, age 30, is a Paris transplant by way of Montréal. Born in Jordan, his self-taught outlook on fashion is very different from his couture contemporaries—many of which presented sweet confectionary collections these past few days—a stark contrast to Hourani’s simplistic, sometimes even severe look. “Haute couture for me is about luxury and paying respect to all of the workmanship. It’s a respect for a design and luxury and quality, like an homage to art or things that have a value in society,” Hourani told The Daily Beast by phone last week.

Hourani, who also designs a unisex ready-to-wear collection called RAD by Rad Hourani, is best known in fashion circles for his neutral outlook on gender. “I don’t understand why a man has certain things he’s allowed to wear and women have skirts, and flower prints and high heels,” he said. “I don’t understand who made these rules.” Instead of attending a typical design school, he learned his craft by trial and error, taking a full year to conceptualize a pattern that would fit both men and women. But his emphasis really lies more in the “grey zone” than alluding to gender role reversal. “I think the aesthetic I’m creating is not a man going to a woman’s wardrobe, or a woman wearing men’s clothes. It’s a completely unisex vision.”

Since launching his collection in 2007, Hourani’s designs have spread to 130 stores in 30 countries. And yes, his clothes are even designed to fit women with womanly assets. “I have many woman clients with large chest sizes,” he attested. His template look, seen on Thursday’s runway, is anchored within a pair of broadly cut shoulders and an angular upper-body that typically pipes down into a slim-cut leg. The results are often cut in black and white with leather accents, and are sometimes topped by sweepingly long, almost clinical-type coats and vests. For his Spring 2013 couture collection, Hourani dressed each model in identical wigs and adorned their feet in a one-gender-fits-all approach to footwear—choosing slightly wedged sandals and elevated block-heeled booties for both boys and girls.

However, Thursday wasn’t Hourani’s first time to the couture rodeo—he presented his first couture collection off of the official calendar in July. In France, the world of haute couture is a highly guarded craft that’s overseen by a government-affiliated body, the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture. In July, Hourani’s work had not yet been recognized by the committee, but after receiving a recommendation from Christian Dior’s CEO, Sidney Toledano, he’s is now an officially invited member. That makes Thursday’s show the world’s first unisex couture collection ever shown. “It’s entirely different,” Hourani says of his newly-minted status, “It’s a huge thing for my career, not anyone can just show and say they are couture.”

But more than that, being deemed an official couturier breathes new enthusiasm into Hourani’s unisex vision. “It’s something that’s never been done in high end besides maybe a unisex t-shirt,” he explained. “It’s a language I’m very dedicated to, I think it’s something very important in our society. Unisex isn’t just a garment reference—it implies that age doesn’t exist, religion doest exist, and so on. There are no boundaries.”

FULL ARTICLE FROM THE DAILY BEAST

ASCENT - RAD HOURANI 6S PERFUME - AVAILABLE ONLINE

2013-01-30T07:05:44-05:00

RH on reaching the top as an haute couture designer

2013-01-30T06:45:41-05:00

Blame it on our complacent, laid-back nature, but despite all our talent, only a precious handful of Canadian designers have ever managed to make on the international fashion stage. And not one has ever been invited to show on the official Paris Haute Couture calendar. So when 30-year-old Rad Hourani, a Jordanian-born former stylist, became the first Canadian to present a collection sanctioned by the mighty Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture in Paris last week, industry enthusiasts were both proud and elated.

I first met Hourani when he was in his early 20s. His sartorial sensibility bowled me over — boldly avant-garde yet exceedingly elegant. A few years later, in 2007, Hourani moved to Paris to start his own label.

It was a gutsy move, as Hourani had no formal design training. But what he did have in spades was vision, courage, tenacity, and passion. Within five years, he not only managed to create a successful niche business for himself, with his edgy, mostly black unisex clothing, but he also tried his hand at an “unofficial” couture collection last season that was very well received by a host of international clients. This season, with a coveted invitation to show on the official couture calendar, Hourani served up a modern, black-and-white unisex story that was brave, unapologetic and highly sophisticated. I chatted with the designer at the Canadian Cultural Centre, just after his dramatic presentation, about what it takes to realize a dream.

Q: Your work is like nothing we have ever seen at couture. Which is ideal. We want something unique. But it really is such a departure. Did it make you insecure that maybe you wouldn’t be accepted?

A: Never! From the beginning, I started with a high-end unisex line. It wasn’t something that existed before. I never do something for the eyes of others. Do you know the book by Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead? For me, the personality of Howard Roark is the way I see the world. Many people said to me, “You have to read this book. It’s you! You’re in it.” And when I read it, I felt this is exactly what I’m talking about. If you have a vision, you don’t compromise and you don’t exist for the eyes of others. You don’t do things thinking about what others will think.

Q: But surely this is an extremely costly exercise, even to produce just one of these garments. There’s so much work that goes into it. How do you manage to create a whole collection of this magnitude?

A: Last season, when I did the off-calendar collection as a test, I was extremely surprised when we had so many clients ordering these haute couture pieces. We had royal families, celebrities, artists — from everywhere. And they ordered almost the whole collection! This wasn’t something I thought would happen — that someone would pay $25,000 for a jacket, or $10,000 for a pant.

Q: But they do.

A: Yeah. And they wear it, and they send us notes like, “I feel amazing. I feel powerful. I feel timeless, luxurious . . .” Many of them flew in today for the show, too.

Q: From where?

A: Some of them flew from the Middle East, some of them from the U.S. and Canada.

Q: So you know now you have a market.

A: Exactly. But that’s my answer to your question about it being so expensive. If that didn’t happen, I don’t know if I would be doing it again.

Q: Do you feel that this, in a way, is announcing a new age of couture? Because what’s going on here is really so far from being traditional.

A: For me, couture is not just about feathers and pearls. I think couture is about paying respect to the savoir faire and all of the luxurious quality that goes into a garment and the vision that goes into it. And I think couture doesn’t mean you just wear it at night. I think it’s important to me that I create something I can wear 24 hours a day. I have my own language, and maybe that’s why you see it as new.

Q: Like any creative person, I’m sure you are vulnerable to some degree. You’re an artist after all, and as secure as you must be on some levels, we all have our demons. Was there any aspect about today’s presentation that had you feeling nervous?

A: Never. I think I have lots of guts. And I’m very persevering. And very focused. I’m never insecure about what I do in terms of whether it’s going to work or not. Look at my last show — I didn’t know if a client would buy it or anything. I think if you really do what you love and you’re really honest about it and you give your best to it — something will always come out of it. You see what I mean? I wouldn’t be here today if I hadn’t been doing it this same way since I started. I never thought I’d be doing haute couture. I never thought all of that could happen. And selling to 130 stores in 30 countries around the world! I think that’s just something that comes from working hard, being true to yourself, having a very precise vision, and giving it your best. It’s not just about making fashion or being talented.

Q: What has this business taught you so far?

A: To respect yourself and to respect your vision and above all, to have your own language, your own way of doing things. Don’t do it to be part of a group because you need to concentrate on your own thing. One day you can be on top and the next day you can be nothing. I think it’s also important to be honest to your client and to people around you.

Q: How are Canadians regarded on the world fashion stage, do you think?

A: I think there are definitely talented people in Canada. But I think it’s important to travel and experiment, and not sit in a comfort zone. I think Canada is an extremely comfortable country — one of the best countries in the world. I think the reason why I am the first one (to be featured in Paris in this way) is because I was never comfortable with comfort. Every time something was comfortable or established I had to break it all and start again. After five years of styling, I was just bored because nothing was challenging anymore. I think that’s a character or personality trait. I think I have it a lot of that in me.

Q: What advice would you give a young person who was trying to pursue their dreams in fashion?

A: Don’t do it just to be part of it. Do it because you have something to bring to this world and be true to yourself. Be an individual and be ready to persevere and to work extremely hard, because it’s not an easy business.

Q: Do you think you’re in this for the long haul?

A: I think so. I love it. I am enjoying it. We’ll see. I think step by step. And I think everything will happen at the right place and right time and that everything will happen for a reason. My vision is to keep on doing it, and to keep on showing, because I have lots of ideas in my head for couture.

Since I was a kid, I never wanted to be like others, or dress like others. I wanted to create my own thing and I think I’m still doing that.

Interview by Jeanne Beker for The Star

L'EXPRESS PARIS - RH UNISEX HAUTE COUTURE - BACKSTAGE

2013-01-30T06:26:30-05:00

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Le petit prince de la haute couture - LE DEVOIR

2013-01-19T11:51:23-05:00

Rad Hourani est à la mode ce que Prince est à la pop : unique, décoiffant, intemporel, inclassable, très libérateur. Il est aussi le premier designer de mode québécois et même canadien à investir le cercle très prisé de la haute couture parisienne. Le 24 janvier prochain, il présentera sa première collection en tant que membre invité officiel, et pour ne rien faire à moitié, ce sera un défilé unisexe prévu au calendrier, du jamais vu. Le spectacle, qui promet d’être épuré, élégant, mystérieux et déstabilisant, aura lieu au Centre culturel canadien à Paris. Petit prince deviendra grand…

Entrer dans l’univers de la haute couture, le secteur professionnel où exercent les créateurs de vêtements de luxe, c’est exceptionnel en soi. Mais le faire à 30 ans, sans aucune formation liée à la couture et en ayant amorcé ses premières collections il y a seulement cinq ans, cela tient de l’exploit ! Rad Hourani ne fait rien comme les autres.

Très réservé sur sa personne, il observe beaucoup et réfléchit avant d’agir. Sa sensibilité à fleur de peau, sa pureté et son énergie nous happent, laissant entrevoir un artiste pour qui la mode n’est pas une fin en soi. Car Rad Hourani, comme beaucoup d’autodidactes, a soif de découvertes. Il crée sans s’enfermer dans des techniques ou des modèles imposés.

Rigoureux, perfectionniste, toujours en questionnement, il explore, expérimente, déconstruit pour mieux reconstruire. Bref, il imagine un monde en évolution et invente un langage approprié pour l’exprimer de toutes les manières possibles. Et loin de lui l’idée de tout miser dans une seule direction. Ses explorations et ses recherches avancent au fil des 14 collections qu’il a déjà réalisées, des 15 pays qu’il a visités, des 500 vols d’avion qu’il a effectués. C’est d’abord une approche nomade qui alimente son art, l’envie d’évoluer et de s’adapter à un environnement en évolution.

Des supports multiples

Sa démarche lui donne aussi l’idée de réaliser des films, de monter des expositions, d’écrire et de mettre en pages des livres, d’effectuer le design de sa boutique, de collaborer avec d’autres artistes, bref de créer sur des supports multiples et d’avancer avec des oeuvres qui s’enrichissent les unes les autres, comme le prolongement logique d’une seule vision en mouvement. À l’opposé d’un homme qui ne suit qu’un seul chemin, lui privilégie instinctivement l’idée ouverte d’un cycle de la vie.

Le travail de Hourani, cet artiste complet, emprunte une esthétique à la fois graphique, photographique et architecturale, jouant avec les lignes pures et reposant sur une vision noir et blanc du monde, avec parfois quelques notes de teintes classiques.

Son art s’exprime en trompe-l’oeil, en symétries ou en reflets infinis, s’amusant à disloquer et à brouiller les limites des choses, tout ça dans le seul but de nous sortir de notre zone de confort bâtie autour d’évidences pour lesquelles on nous a si bien programmés.

« Le genre masculin, féminin, tout ça n’a pas d’importance, dit-il, pas plus que le lieu dont nous venons, celui dans lequel nous vivons et celui où nous allons. Je me situe ailleurs, loin des carcans, des tendances ou des saisons. »

Voilà pourquoi ses collections portent des numéros et pourquoi ses créations sont faites à partir de patrons unisexes qu’il a lui-même confectionnés, des patrons dont les dessins mis bout à bout ressemblent étrangement aux plans des niveaux d’un bâtiment : « Comme je n’ai pas fait d’études en design de mode, je ne suis prisonnier d’aucune école de pensée, d’aucune technique. C’est ainsi que j’ai développé mes propres silhouettes unisexes et que, pour moi, tout est réalisable. Je pars souvent d’une image qui devient un dessin très graphique et se transforme en une architecture qui sert de patron. Mes patronnistes ne me comprennent pas toujours, mais ils y arrivent, et je travaille aussi avec des couturières exceptionnelles et une équipe en or. »

Il engage 15 employés et possède des ateliers à Montréal et Paris, ainsi qu’un bureau de presse à New York. Ses créations sont vendues dans plus de 30 pays et 130 points de vente.

Derrière ce succès si rapide, il y a beaucoup de recherche, de travail. Rad Hourani propose quelque chose de différent, d’intrigant, d’authentique. Sa vision du monde sans genres, sans frontières, est passionnante, son approche l’est aussi. « Contrairement à beaucoup de créateurs de haute couture, dit-il, je mets un point d’honneur à ce que mes créations restent confortables et portables. Lorsque j’imagine un vêtement, je pense d’abord à ce que j’aimerais sentir sur ma peau. Les vêtements doivent être un prolongement du corps. »

Pour lui, nous sommes des êtres définis par nos sens plus que par des genres et ce qui nous différencie, ce sont les choix que nous faisons et la sensibilité que nous alimentons. Sa vision avant-gardiste interpelle et pousse à aller vers un changement d’attitude face à nous-même et aux autres. À sa manière, il esquisse une autre façon d’exister, beaucoup plus libre.

De Montréal à Paris

En 2007, Rad Hourani ouvre son atelier de prêt-à-porter à Montréal. Cinq ans plus tard, il inaugure sa première Galerie Unisexe Rad Hourani à Paris, qui présente ses expositions photos, des installations vidéo et des pièces de collection prêt-à-porter et haute couture produites en exclusivité pour la galerie. Cet espace est un prolongement direct du travail du créateur : entièrement transformable, avec des portants qui deviennent des bancs, par exemple, c’est un lieu nomade, modulable, qui rejoint toutes ses autres créations.

En devenant un membre de la haute couture, le créateur entre « officiellement » dans l’avant-garde et se donne comme mission de créer des oeuvres qui préfigurent la mode. En France, d’où elle est originaire, la haute couture est une appellation juridiquement protégée. Les maisons de haute couture doivent répondre à un certain nombre de critères : un travail réalisé à la main dans les ateliers de la maison, le nombre d’employés, l’unicité de pièces sur mesure, le nombre de modèles, la participation à un quota de grands défilés, l’utilisation d’une certaine surface de tissu… Enfin, chaque couturier postulant doit obligatoirement être parrainé par une personne influente du milieu.

Pour Rad Hourani, la grande porte s’est ouverte lorsque Sydney Toledano, p.-d.g. de Christian Dior Couture, a décidé de devenir son parrain. Sous l’aile de cet homme d’affaires créatif et visionnaire, Hourani a de beaux jours devant lui : « Rad Hourani a été parrainé par une marque française majeure et élu à l’unanimité par le Comité de direction de la Chambre syndicale de la haute couture, dit M. Didier Grumbach, president de la Fédération française de la couture, du prêt-à-porter des couturiers et des créateurs de mode. « Son travail est rigoureux et singulier ; je pense sincèrement qu’il établira sa marque. »

Le défilé RH#10

Le défilé Haute Couture RH#10 se tiendra le 24 janvier prochain dans un décor classique haussmannien au Centre culturel canadien de Paris et présentera 22 ensembles unisexes portés par des mannequins androgynes qui défileront au son d’une musique composée sur mesure.

Les grandes lignes de cette collection haute couture se composent d’une série d’ensembles trompe-l’oeil : « Je me suis amusé avec les silhouettes une-pièce, dit-il. Elles ont l’air d’avoir plusieurs niveaux, mais c’est un effet de la vue. »

La collection propose une recherche d’épuration, de sophistication dans le noir, le blanc et le détail. Pour appuyer son discours, le couturier se sert de ses tissus fétiches : le cuir, le crêpe, la soie, le cachemire, la laine, le bambou, le tercel et le coton, des matières authentiques au toucher très doux.

En confrontant les contraires, construction-déconstruction, équilibre-déséquilibre et force-fragilité, noir-blanc, Rad Hourani interpelle les mystères de l’âme. Il crée des rêves étranges capables de réveiller l’enfant, ou l’artiste, qui sommeille en chacun de nous. Ses oeuvres évoquent l’abstraction, la pureté et l’innocence qui font du bien.

TEXTE PAR EMMANUELLE VIEIRA

SAVE THE DATE - RH UNISEX HAUTE COUTURE COLLECTION #10 PARIS

2013-01-10T17:25:08-05:00