On Wednesday evening, the fashion world gathered to celebrate a new chapter for the brand Omer Asim, helmed by co-creative directors Omer Asim and Maya Antoun. Over the past decade, this duo has carefully built an archive of garments, objects, and ephemera, capturing the essence of their brand through a defined visual language and strong brand identity. Their journey, negotiating the transience between Sudan and London, is reflected in their distinctive approach to garment and object making. This event, in collaboration with Rouge, showcased their dedication to exploring art, culture, and spirituality as fundamental underpinnings of their design practice.
The brand's evolution is rooted in Three Fundamental Pillars: the “Pleats,” the iconic “Gilet,” and the “One Piece,” which is a dress ingeniously designed to return to its original length of fabric when unstitched. This concept, based on the 4.5-meter fabric of the Sudanese Toub, embodies Omer Asim's innovative approach to fashion, blending tradition with modernity. Through the deconstruction of Sudanese objects and the reclamation of cultural identity, Omer Asim confronts historical marginalization by focusing on materiality and the making process. Their Copper collection, created over a decade, challenges conventional crafting and material value, pushing the boundaries of traditional fashion.
Rouge's collaboration with Omer Asim and Maya Antoun was a highlight of the evening. The performance art piece interpreted their unique use of fabric and its relationship to the body, embarking on a transformative journey of creativity, expression, and collaboration. The event encapsulated Omer Asim's ethos of crafting garments that are both minimal and detailed, balanced with monastic drapery and precision tailoring. This silent aesthetic, defined by modern shapes and primal elements, speaks to the urban nomad who moves with articulate intent, embodying a regressive future.
Omer Asim’s background in architecture, psychoanalysis, and his training under Maurice Sedwell of Savile Row and Vivienne Westwood, coupled with Maya Antoun's expertise in jewelry design and craft-based projects in Sudan and Congo, enriches their work. Their practice straddles art, craft, and fashion, with a strong emphasis on the process and the space before object completion. By continually interrogating the contextuality of their collections as contemporary cultural artifacts, Omer Asim's creations stand as atemporal pieces that transcend the fleeting nature of modern fashion, grounding them in a profound exploration of identity and materiality.
