Here comes the man boy

I have been a fan of Omar Kashoura ever since I stumbled across his designs on the racks inside The Shop at Bluebird and walked away with a black cardigan which is always admired and is frequently a conversation starter. Since graduating from the London College of Fashion in 2004 Kashoura has won many more plaudits than just little old me, including the top prize at New York's Gen Art Style International Menswear Award in 2005 and working for Preen and Unconditional. Despite a great deal of attention in his brand, Kashoura decided to go back to school and complete a masters and Spring/Summer 09 sees the release of Omar Kashoura's first collection since graduating from his masters at Central Saint Martins.

This collection, as with each season, evolved from a poem written by Kashoura. The latest collection explores the ideas of the 'ManBoy' and the encapsulating poem can be read below.

CLOTHES………….introduced to conceal modesty.

… Necessary to hide defects and used to reduce everyone to a decent insignificance of physique, to improve the imaginings of the male body.

Dazzled by the confusion of knowing how to look,

Extreme

EXTREME

From the 70/80’s super extreme to the recent heroin chic,

‘ ..Here comes the man boy.. ‘

The new man of narcissism, glowing, sweating and grinning, an exploding signifier of the so called post modern condition

He is a reaction,

a narcissist yet modest, a man, but still a boy.

A body that is perfectly formed, whilst exhibiting manliness in its strongest form.

Modern………yet historical………and futuristic all at the same time.

We are a visual and stylistic culture.

Men are visual commodities

Hair cuts,

The cut of jeans

Ways of walking and being.

Points of comparison between men, not just as aggressive competitors but as stylists in the same club.

Encourage more

Men and others, visually and as objects of consumer desire.

The body in the gaze becomes an public object, it is a surface, a shape, a volume. With the ever powering campaigns and advertising the moving body must be on display and available for inspection. Whether in visual representation or personal form.

…..He is educated

aware of his identity and thus able to move beyond the sphere of unreflecting immediacy,

to raise the question of the purpose and function he serves in human existence as a whole.

Truest manliness will be achieved by freedom rather than a slavish subservience to convention.

A raw material sculpted through clothes.

3D

Designs used to heighten anatomical maleness + Experience pleasures around the body .

...A reassertion of masculinity over femininity

Within this collection structured tailoring sits alongside figure hugging jersey and bias cut silhouettes producing a collection strong in shape, pattern, fit whilst being soft of fabric. The intricate detailed finishes and fastening put the typical Kashoura seal of approval and design into each garment, including lopped shirt collars and petersham back buttons through to some of my favourite shirt bib accessories. For me this is a collection which demonstrates that the boy Omar Kashoura is becoming a Man.