In a region in which few designers have the talent to achieve international success, Saudi Arabian wonder Mohammed Ashi is surprising many all around the globe with his avant-garde stitchery and deconstructed splendour.
“My work represents the vision of artists and designers in the Middle East who try to escape from their world into a fantasy where they can find their sensibility and express their imagination,” explains Saudi designer Mohammed Mahmoud Ashi. Yet instead of turning inward to flee reality, Ashi graciously invites others to experience his unique utopian vision. Ashi’s design approach is not limited to the garments’ surfaces or sensual aspects. He aims to convey full stories and nuanced dramas with developed and distinct characters through his use of fabric, colour and form. Ashi introduces his exceptional aesthetic, via the narrative of his collections, to an intimate group of like-minded clients and an increasing number of ardent fans.
Ashi’s astute ability to articulate an otherworldly vision was developed after training in France and then joining the atelier of Lebanese designer Elie Saab during his mid-twenties. With Saab’s support, he developed both haute couture and ready-to-wear collections for the spring/summer 2006 season while acting as the Lebanese designer’s chief accessories designer. Then, later in the same year Ashi was announced the winner of Future TV’s 2006 “Project Fashion” reality competition. For the show, he sent his models down the program’s red and white brocade catwalk in comfortable and convertible everydaywear, which demonstrated his uncommon ability to fold, drape and layer soft, malleable material into rich, flattering forms. Although these pieces were more streamlined than the majority of his work, they demonstrated his delicate and subtle sense of colour.
“The combination of soft colours and stiff textures always appeals to me,” says Ashi. “I feel that the body transforms material and creates other dimensions. When you wear certain textures, you become transformed. But strong colours can wash out the skin. I like to keep to colours that don’t outshine a beautiful face.”
Yet, the real shine from within his work is mental, not physical. Ashi’s talents are expressed in his thoughtful and fantastical storylines that inspire his couture and exclusive prêt-a-porter lines. For his eponymous collections, Ashi focuses on luscious fabrics and shapes suited for rarefied atmospheres. However, Ashi’s interest in opulence is not tied to status or showy stunts. His definition of luxury is more organic and intimate. “Luxury is something desirable that can be found anywhere,” he explains. “It does not need to be expensive. A beautiful flower arrangement in a glass vase can be as much of a luxury as a vintage Chanel bag, an old vintage can, a silver spoon on an airplane or a feather pillow. These are all luxuries. The simplest things in life can sometimes be a luxury.”
Ashi is apparently influenced by a range of references when developing his own work. As he says, “I would being lying if I said that I am not influenced by the international approach to fashion. But other designers do not necessarily influence me, at least not directly. Rather, I am more inspired by international personalities than just international designers. For example, Daphne Guinness, The Sartorialist blog by Scott Schuman and street pictures of everyday fashionistas all inspire me.”
For his first women’s prêt-a-porter fashion show, during Beirut’s fall/winter 2009 Fashion Week, Ashi’s creativity centred on the character of a blind boy attempting to abstractly understand the world through his remaining senses. The author of the blog Confashions from Kuwait reported, “The collection is inspired by the gloomy and romantic image of blind young boy whose inability to see the world around him only enhances his ability to feel its powerful forces, the fable of both a simple child's innocence and a complex look at faith and humanity.” The clothes were graceful and billowing confections of gauze, chiffon, silk and other highly tactile fabrics which Ashi presented in buttery browns, milky coffee hues, sweet taupes, muted creams and ethereal flesh tones.
Ashi explains the link between his source material and the collection’s sensuality - “I took my inspiration from an Iranian movie. Each season, I research movies. I watch a lot of films to guide my collections. I then mostly take a shot from a movie that particularly appeals to me and build my collections around it. For this particular collection, the image that struck me was of a boy trying to reach for a bird that has just fallen from a tree. The collection’s textures were inspired by that shot. I used stiff gauze fabrics to represent the blind boy’s emotions and his responses to the world appearing through, but not in, colour. But because I needed to use colour too, I only struck with particularly soft colours. These delicate hues symbolised the bright side of his life - the love of the people around him.”
A year after his exposure on Project Fashion, he was awarded the prestigious ‘Arab Designer of the Year’. Ashi recently presented his spring/summer 2010 collection during Los Angeles’ fashion week. Included in this collection were feminine versions of classic tuxedos, an ivory mini-dress made from tight folds of silk with a gold-leaf bow on the breast and tulip-shaped skirts constructed from layers of delicate gathered silk bows.
Ashi’s work suits the opulent LA sensibility but also reflects a particularly luxurious Middle Eastern mentality. As he explains, “The Ashi Studio is a private fashion house, which we have been running for the past two years. We enjoy a closed circle of customers who are among the global couture customers whose numbers may be internationally decreasing with time, but who remain highly stylised and up-to-date with the most avant-garde fashion accessories. They’re highly demanding but highly rewarding to work with.”
As he explains, “The one constant for me is that I always aim to create a modern and architectural silhouette. Each season I experiment with new volumes and shapes that are unlikely to be seen in the fashion industry and it is hard to combine that with the chic look that I always aim to achieve.” Yet by balancing between pragmatic concerns and imaginative heights, Ashi succeeds with genuine style.