Pivot Collection by the House of Sukeina
By Isseu Diouf-Campbell
Photos by Rodin Banica
It would be difficult for the average New Yorker to find inspiration in the city’s gloomy train system, but that is exactly what happened to fashion designer Omar Salam, one early morning on his way to the swimming pool.
“I was just standing there waiting for the train and the guy who was removing the posters, ripped off one. While putting a new one, he gave me a window to see what it looked like underneath all these years of ripping off. I took a snapshot of it and didn’t know what it was going to become. At that moment, I guess, something started and would later become the story of a little boy named Kendal. Kendal goes about life knowing that he is a gift to others but he is also aware that others are a gift to him. This is how Pivot, the title of my Fall/Winter 2013 collection came about.”
Omar is the head designer of the house of Sukeina, a brand he named after his late mother and launched in 2008 when he resigned from his full time job to focus on his own brand.
After showing his Spring/Summer 2013 Collection at Harlem’s Fashion Row last September, he hosted his own show on February 10, 2013 at the Helen Mills center in downtown Manhattan.
“It is one thing to show as a group and another to venture out. There is a stock of freedom that you have in doing what you want, how you want it but there is also a load of responsibility that comes with it. We were very happy to show at Harlem’s Fashion Row and very grateful.”
When asked about the challenges of being a young designer trying to make it in New York, Omar responds with a smile, “I don’t almost wish it to be easy because the difficulty is not in vain. It does teach me all the nitty-gritty that hoping, praying or working hard will never teach me, and each mistake plays a role in my growth as a designer.”
The main colors of his latest collection are the colors of the underground black, white and taupe. The collection includes knit skirts and dresses, wide-legged pants, see-through pleated dresses, long and short jackets.
And for women who worry about their waistline, the House of Sukeina jackets might be for you.
“I very early on realized that a waist is never big or small. It depends on what you compare it to. By creating a bustle around the upper back of the jacket, it makes the waistline smaller. It has been quite a trademark so far of the House of Sukeina.”
For more information about Omar Salam and his brand Sukeina, visit sukeinalookbook.com.
Photos of the event
