Simply Abu Dhabi XXXI

RAMI KAdI L ebanese designer Rami Kadi devoted his new Fall Winter 2018-19 haute couture collection to Ometeotl, the Aztec god of duality. He combined and played with the theme of masculine and feminine. Fabrics, cuts and forms are mixed, creating a genderless new vision. Men’s tailoring is combined with feminine dresses, and men’s dressing simplicity is embellished with intricate beading or embroidery enhancing the spirit of haute couture. Man meets woman and woman meets man. The use of technology as an old artisanal technique lends a fresh, new appeal to clothes and the silhouette. For example, short dresses with laser- cut 3d effect holographic sequins, aluminium foil, bullet metal and plastic treated as silk and taffeta are key in this bold and daring collection. Aluminium, suede, leather, metal and plastic and crystals are combined in pastel colours and metal shades with accessories that range from hats, boots and sunglasses. ‘Ometeotl was thought of as being simultaneously male and female, with the names Ometecuhtli and Omecihuatl. Neither was particularly represented in Aztec art, though, perhaps in part because they could be conceived more as abstract concepts than anthropomorphic beings. They represented the creative energy or essence from which the power of all other gods flowed. They existed above and beyond all the cares of the world, with no interest in what actually happens,’ declared Rami Kadi, whose collection is a statement of his love of diversity and equality through genders. Shouldn’t haute couture, in fact, have no boundaries?