RAMI AL ALI COUTURE – Spring/Summer 2017

RAMI AL ALI : A VERY REAL & PRESENT THREAT

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February 8, 2017

By Marcellous L. Jones

Photos by Dominique Maitre

Paris, France – The Syrian born couturier Rami al Ali has returned to Paris where he has delighted us with yet another unique couture collection that leaves us breathless. Opting for a more intimate presentation at the famed Ritz Hotel this season, he demonstrates why one must consider him as not only one of the most talented and skilled couturiers in the business today, but also as one of the biggest threats to the haute couture establishment. This is beyond evidenced by the beauty of his new body of work.

In his Spring/Summer 2017 collection, Rami al Ali is inspired by the Japanese Sakura flower or by the fragility of what is more commonly known as the cherry blossom. According to the house, “The collection offers an array of traditional and visual statements. Rami al Ali sets the blooming flower as a backdrop to convey the ephemerality inherent in life, and one’s transition through the years. Employing a stunning display of colours and exhibiting the house’s mastery in materials, the collection sheds light to the luminosity of youth and the movement of such attributes as vigor and maturity with the passage of time.”

In pulling his theme together, Rami al Ali also took inspiration from the traditional Japanese kimono. He uses it as the principal motivational force in the shape. We see the influence of its elongating straight cut and large sleeves as the genesis. Each look is cut in multiple layers of soft tulle, satin and lame. The soft color palette is of shades of beige, with touches of creole pink, silver grey and sakura prints.

From there we see the couturier embellishing each piece in the tens of thousands of small cherry blossoms, which are reinterpreted as both embroideries and as appliqués. Each has been sewn by hand in his atelier onto the fronts of the dresses. However most remarkably we find them embellishing the bust, the hips, the inner sleeves, the necklines, etc. And when the blossoms do not appear as appliqués or embroideries, they are still present as motifs that have been laser cut into the materials.

What is most appreciated in the collection? One would be hard pressed to determine one single element above all else. Obviously, Rami al Ali is at his best when creating soft, structures and sculptural like pieces. However all things considered, it is his talent for tricking one into thinking that he draped pieces have been cut and sewn together at a table. The harmony that he brings to these opposing forces is incredible.

WHY IS RAMI AL ALI SUCH A THREAT?

All roads for international recognition in haute couture start and end in Paris. To be perfectly honest Rami al Ali is quite simply put, “too talented for his own good” at this point.

This writer found himself to be among the lucky to discover the work of the couturier Rami al Ali upon his very first presentation in Paris several years ago. Since that time and as my admiration for his work has grown, so simultaneously have his own knowledge, technique and draping skills grown and to seemingly exponential proportions. With such overwhelmingly powerful weapons as these at this command, it is no wonder why is potentionally one of the two biggest threats to the official haute couture establishment. After all when you look at the quality of his work, his technique and his fresh ideas, it is easy to realize that not many houses are capable of creating the emotion that Rami al Ali inspires through his work.

Haute couture represents the very best of what a designer or couturier can do. At the top of the haute couture food chain NOBODY LIKES COMPETITION!