SCV: What influences your dialectic?
Omar: I’ve always been inspired by sculpture. The idea of the three dimensional, the crevices, the light and dark, the sun hitting off at sharp angles. I’m into the idea that the size of the thing can be it’s own self compartmentalized unit.
SCV: And attitude?
Omar: I’ve always loved the distorted images of Egon Schiele . The eroticism, the twisted distorted images. I have always been provoked by the intensity of his work. It’s all about deconstruction, from form down to emotion.
SCV: If one could ascribe a motto what would yours be?
Omar: Live the life you want. Live the life you imagine.
SCV: How does this affect the way you put your clothes together?
Omar: It makes you conscious of what the customer is aspiring to. How they seek to represent themselves, identify with themselves, and you to them. Take the idea of the ‘hipster,’ or the ‘hood’it’s all about an identity. To be precise it’s the derivative of that identity that intrigues me.
The references to kitsch, intellectual, attitude, and irony. It’s what’s happening at anyone moment and really what’s going to be prevalent going forward into the future.
SCV: Is this what one means trend forecasting?
Omar: It’s a very subjective art. It’s a very intuitive process, but in the end one can begin to associate the reference points and desires of their particular audience.
SCV: What are these reference points you speak of?
Omar: They’re the commonalities. It’s watching how a twenty year old will dress like a ninety year old and how the twenty year old is dressed like a ninety year old. It all informs you how the people are judging the times, their amalgamated experiences.
SCV: So what is fashion really all about?
Omar: Lifestyle. The aspiration towards a certain lifestyle, and in some ways an affirmation of ones reality, beliefs and value system.
SCV: So if I choose to wear your design what am I reaffirming?
Omar: That you have aesthetics. That you take pride in something well thought out. That you’re comfortable been casual, loose, but also at the same time– quite complex and prone to articulation.
(He now clicks on his computer and begins going through reams of visual images.)
See these images, I deconstructed every one of them. This is my joy. To really redefine and apply a referential sensibility. But here’s the thing, it takes hours, hours and hours. It’s a real commitment. In today’s design world so much is done off the cuff and is pre manufactured. In a way one’s identity and ethic has been devalued.
SCV: So the idea of the pre packaged, fast easy to go feast doesn’t work for you?
Omar: It is what it is. Fast, and standing for nothing. What’s at stake is the dollar signs, not the aesthetics. Nothing is absorbed. It is consumed then and there with not even a thought in your mind. It’s complete disassociation. There’s nothing to reflect or enjoy. It’s a culture in transit.
