The next big thing
Fashion is all about next season and, with 2007 drawing to a close, it’s time to see who’s going to set 2008 ablaze. The answer, of course, is Ferdi Abuel, the soft-spoken designer who took over the reigns of his own career only this year, having worked for other labels beforehand. The year 2007 meant freedom for the designer, who set up shop early this year and only began dabbling in more “adventurous” styles. “I always focused on wearability,” says Abuel, “but since I’ve set up my workspace, I started a kind of playground where I can take more chances in my craft without losing sense of the wearability of the clothes.”
Abuel, who says that the idea of becoming a designer occurred to him when he “saw Richard Avedon’s photo ‘Dovima with Elephants,’” recently conceived a capsule collection of clothes that are, at turns, surprising and inventive. On a floor-grazing, pleated jersey number, he fastened a piece of fish leather that somehow shares a resemblance with suede. A flowing jersey frock in gunmetal is secured with a metallic belt, square links cut from the same fish leather with a bright sheen, bestowing it a sleek, almost unruffled silhouette. He turned a simple romantic white shift into a mod statement with a metallic gray breastplate. Abuel isn’t above the little details either. In the same dress, he trimmed it in the same gray fabric found on the breastplate, this time lining it across the hem and around the edges of the sleeves.
Though his clothes mark him as part Halston enthusiast, part Biba devotee, Abuel’s references are far from prosaic. For this YStyle cover (his first), he turned to art — granted, a hackneyed theme but still revelatory as far as Abuel is concerned. “I was reading a book on Salvador Dali and was particularly drawn to the portraits he did for his wife Gala,” he says. “I wanted to evoke the same quiet tension and tranquility I felt looking at the paintings but I didn’t want an obvious surrealist theme; I wanted to portray a subtle Dali-esque touch with the shapes and cuts and with the overall feel of the clothes.”
Despite his influences, Abuel likes to keep it simple. “I’m more about streamlined, minimal, humble and modern silhouettes.”
No doubt, 2007 was just the beginning for a talented young designer like Abuel. What is he looking forward to in the coming year? “More creative collaborations and more projects for the Young Designers Guild,” he says of which he is a member. “And,” he adds with a laugh, “I hear Madonna’s upcoming tour will hit
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To contact the designer, call 434-3190 or 0917-8288845 or e-mail f_y_abuel@yahoo.com.
