AUSTERE, CANADIAN HAUTE COUTURE
Rad Hourani, 30, stays true to unisex, utilitarian vision at haute-couture debut
Montreal designer Rad Hourani’s minimalist but complex ensembles were shown in Paris on Thursday as he became the first Canadian to show on fashion’s official haute-couture calendar. The collection ranged from pure white to all black suits, with some black-and-white combinations, all in Hourani’s unisex style. For the finale, the models donned black masks. The French fashion federation was responsible for Hourani’s invitation to show.
PARIS – It was extravagant yet austere, minimalist but complex, black and white.
Rad Hourani, the first Canadian to be invited by the Fédération française de la couture to show on the official haute-couture calendar, stuck to his singular vision for his showing of 22 couture ensembles Thursday at the Centre Culturel Canadien.
“I feel amazing; it’s all done,’’ an exhausted but calm Hourani said in a round of many interviews after the show. “It’s a bit unreal.” Hourani, 30, has never compromised on his vision, which is utilitarian, unisex and angular, with clothes standing away from the body.
Models, with hair in clipped bobs and nonmakeup makeup — lips the same beige as skin — first emerged in a series of pure white suits, featuring layers upon layers. There were tri-length jackets and sweeping coats, layers on collars and cuffs, and a motif of the collection, rectangular flaps on the backs of jackets. The procession moved to all black, mixed with thick, supple leathers, and then to black and white combinations, some of which created stripes — a major trend of the season, although trend is not part of the Hourani fashion vocabulary.
For a finale, the models donned black masks for a somewhat grim procession.
An eclectic audience — woman in towering black headdress, man in floorlength yellow parka, man with multiple ear piercings and tattoos — included a good handful of Montrealers, including ThierryMaxime Loriot, the curator of the Jean Paul Gaultier show at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts; menswear retailer extraordinaire Michel Brisson; and designer-artist Renata Morales. Also viewing the show was Didier Grumbach, head of the French fashion federation, which was responsible for the prestigious invitation. Haute couture is a protected heritage in France, and each year the federation invites a few designers to be part of the official calendar. This year, Hourani’s fellow invitees included Zuhair Murad (who dressed Jennifer Lopez in barely there white lace on nude for the Golden Globes); Hervé Leroux (better known as Hervé Leger of bandage dress fame) and Béatrice Demulder Ferrant.
“It was a good way for Rad Hourani to express his stylistic repertoire with making any concessions,’’ Grumbach said.
“It was a good start, without hesitation.’’
Clearly, he has a singular style, Grumach continued, noting that the friends and clients in the audience dressed in Hourani’s clothes were elegant.
“It’s a very clear vision. We will see how he evolves, but for a first show it’s a good definition of what he can do.”
Loriot called the show fantastic, with well-done suitings and layers, especially from a self-taught designer.
“There is a future for this kind of couture for men and women,’’ Loriot said.
“Couture — it’s about the time you spend and about the fabrics. You have to see (the garments) close to experience haute couture because it’s like a sculpture or a work of art,’’ he said.
“To create something simple like he did — it’s quite complicated. “We have to be proud.” Brisson, the retailer, was also proud and impressed.
“It was sublime, it was truly magnificent. The looks were all beautiful. There was precision and an extraordinary message,’’ Brisson said.
To Jeanne Beker, the Fashion Television pioneer, the show was bold, strong and unapologetic.
Asked what’s next on his agenda, Hourani said he will continue to work on what he loves most — photography, his gallery, his vision — “to perfect myself,’’ he said.
Since he launched the collection five years ago, he has not shown in Montreal, but in New York and Paris. And while he is not planning a presentation in Montreal, he said he would like to celebrate the fifth anniversary of his readyto-wear line, RAD by Rad Hourani, in Montreal, where the collection is made.
“A big part of me is from Montreal and I want to celebrate there,’’ he said, suggesting he might do an exhibition combining fashion, art and music. (The music for the show was created by Montreal’s Jacques Greene and Mekele.)
“I never compromise,’’ he acknowledged. “I am very hard-headed. When I have an idea, I go for it.”