Have you ever fallen in love with something that you’ve seen come down a runway, only to later develop an extreme urge to have it? Well worry no more. Seeing that the virtual shelves of our favorite online stores are constantly being restocked with the latest in all (most) of your runway delights, I’ve decided to keep track.

Show: Dior Homme Fall 2009
Item: Two Tone High Neck Shirt
Price: $502.54 | £310.00 | €346.10
Features: “Black and white two tone high neck shirt. The high neck is white on the underside and is visible when the neck is folded over. A zip fastening sits at the top of the neck and down the left shoulder. Long sleeves. The hemline falls to the hips.”
Where to Buy: Brownsfashion.com

Item: Black Contrast Mid Boot
Price: $965.00 $669.00 Now Sold Out
Features: “Leather plain toe lace up mid boot with contrast welt on thick rubber sole.”
Where to Buy: Barneys.com

It seems as if it were only the other day that were we looking at a self portrait of designer Rad Hourani impersonating the great Karl Lagerfeld. Well speed time up a few years later, the designer best known for creating a view of what a unisex not too distant future may look like, gives a bit of insight into his world.

Displaying a Spring 2010 collection that could arguably be Lagerfeld’s latest competion (or fresh blood), showing his stance on the future of fashion bloggers, and why he’s not out to replace Helmut Lang or Ann Demeulemeester, all in a feature by Marta Represa, shot by photographer Eric Sposito. Which may make you re-think the uses of a chunky-heeled boot (or maybe not).

You say you have no technical design background, so what drove you towards Fashion in the first place?

Rad Hourani: I’ve always been attracted by aesthetics: images, elegance and people with great style have always fascinated me. Fashion has been a part of my life ever since my childhood, when I used to see my mother’s new dresses, until I started working as a model scout and stylist. It was then that I started transforming clothes, but I was more interested in getting to know myself than in the fashion industry… And I could never really find the kind of clothes that perfectly expressed my personality. So I started creating unisex, straight-lined, limitless clothes. I wanted something timeless, something that was different from all the trends and the drama that we usually see in fashion.

After only five collections you are considered one of the biggest rising talents. What is it about your collections that catches the eye?

Rad Hourani: I think it’s mainly about being in the right place at the right time. People are ready for my work and for a new kind of unisex fashion. I don’t intend to start a revolution, I simply want to stick to what I do and be honest with myself. I just want to make clothes for broad-minded, elegant and nonchalant people while spontaneously constructing my own aesthetic universe.

Your new line RAD is available since November in stores. How is it different from the main line?

Rad Hourani: When I decided to start up RAD, I was thinking of affordable basics that reflected my creativity and that were adaptable to every style. The collection is composed mainly of comfortable, wearable basics in cotton and jersey. Creating RAD seemed like a natural step to take after my main line. I’m not sure though whether I should call it a second line… It’s just a collection meant for people that understand my universe.

You say your clothes come from no place, no time and no tradition. Hasn’t your historic background influenced your designs?

Rad Hourani: It hasn’t! I don’t like flags or nations. I believe in a modern tradition. The people I dress are witty and aware, and they have no limits. My clothes must reflect that. I don’t like clothes that refer to the past, or that subscribe to a tag or a trend. I’m all about vertical and horizontal lines, about a universal language.

You don’t really follow trends that change from season to season. What inspires you to shape up a collection?

Rad Hourani: Inspiration can come from anywhere: a word, the streets, architecture, a person… My brain analyzes everything I see throughout the day, but it’s in the moments of silence and calm that creation takes place. For me it starts by asking to myself what do I want to wear, and from there I begin to develop the collection by drawing lines and choosing fabrics. I find it very important to be unique and not to copy other people’s work. It doesn’t bother me to be compared to people like Helmut Lang or Ann Demeulemeester, but I wouldn’t imitate their work.

In what way are your designs non-conformist?

Rad Hourani: My designs are genderless, which is really not a mainstream concept. My clothes are meant for people that don’t follow the established codes of tradition, religion, trends… I aim to dress all kinds of people with a personal point of view on life, interesting, different, stylish people.

There is a unisex feel to all your collections. Is this a new form of sexuality?

Rad Hourani: Absolutely! Although I prefer to talk about sensuality. Sexuality is something trivial whilst sensuality lasts forever. I’m talking about a new way of living one’s sensuality, without any sort of society-imposed limits. Everything relates to sex. Why should we tag it and put limits to it?

Most of your fans are young people with an edgy and avant-garde take on fashion. How do you think the industry is changing nowadays?

Rad Hourani: Internet is changing everything. The importance of fashion blogs is increasing as the traditional system of printed magazines and advertisers is menaced. Thanks to Internet we have a much easier access to everything, which paradoxically means we have to be more selective. Hence the future of fashion rests in individuality, quality, focus and timelessness. Throughout Internet, we see who we are, we see ourselves in a sort of mirror; so, in the future, real will be the deal.

Models: Clement Heurtier (Bananas Models) & Adel (Premier Models)
Photographer: Eric Sposito
Styling: Matthieu Pabiot
Hair & Make-up: Veronique Marot at Calliste
Production: Florence Cymerman

Even though there hasn’t been much Spring 2010 in editorials yet, I would still like to revisit this epic editorial.

Numéro Homme #18 features Clément Chabernaud shot by Eric Nehr. Featuring some of the sharpest and coolest clothes from Fall 2009, the editorial leans towards a feeling of loneliness, as if Clément was transported from his modern world into a world filled with nothing but his thoughts and his clothes.

Model: Clément Chabernaud / Wilhelmina
Photographer: Eric Nehr

For many years one trend has stood the test of time: menswear as womenswear.

Starting in the 1920s, Coco Chanel revolutionized the way women dressed, giving them a new freedom to wear things besides petticoats and skirts. Women started to wear pants and other things that were considered manly in that decade of prim and proper fashion.

Since then designers have even further made staples such as jackets even more “manly”. The trend seems to be ever popular now, with many models adopting the trend as a permanent style, many magazines featuring menswear themed editorials almost every month, and it seems that designers can’t get enough of the trend either. Many shows are fully influenced by it, or at least have a few things deducted from menswear.

It seems that the trend has been unstoppable in 2009, and it leaves me wondering one thing: when will it end?! I don’t think that it will come to a halt any time soon, because there is a huge bunch of people loving the it. I for one, however, don’t really care for it. Let’s girls be girls, and boys be boys. But only when it’s done in a ultra cool way à la Isabel Marant or Givenchy, I’ll let it slide.

What do you think?

It’s about time the Spring 2010 collections hit print now, no?

On stands come February, photographer Collier Schorr and Victorinox-designer Pierre-Henri Mattout use the freshest faces out on the market to showcase how this season’s elite-yet-edgy man dresses. Including a cast that features one of the finalists of Vman’s model search last year, AJ Abualrub. Who has be certainly blazing a path down runways and steaming up eds all throughout 09.

Now it is only a matter of time before Prada mesh takes the place of Prada studs in 2010’s coming editorials. Brace yourself.

Models: Paolo Anchisi, AJ Abualrub (Ford NY), Vladimir Ivanov, Giorgios Tsetis (Wilhelmina), Jerome Wyvekens, Steffen Weng (DNA)
Photographer: Collier Schorr
Styling: Pierre-Henri Mattout
Grooming: Kristin Gallegos for La Mer
Photo Assistant: Hibbard Nash
Lighting Director: Toe Tomcho
Production: Monika Condrea (C/S Studio)
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Howdy y’all! No I’m not actually from Texas, but I am from a place that is even more lame, and will stay unmentioned. This post is for you readers to get to know me – the newest contributor to Homme Times.

First and foremost, I am a die-hard women’s fashion lover. I am relatively new to menswear, but I am continuing to learn. Though I’m not new to blogging.

My favorite male models, as of late, are Patrick Kafka and Ryan Koning. Both equally stunning. Currently, my favorite men’s magazines are Numéro Homme and L’Officiel Hommes. Both providing sleek fashion imagery. I love Lanvin and Dior Homme, with or without Heidi Slimane. Both cool, easy to wear, and interesting brands. My dislikes include overly buff male models, the Karl + Baptiste love connection (get married already), and this blog…just kidding.

I look forward to learning so much about the men’s fashion industry and writing for all of you!
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