Rad Hourani is a futurist. The world he designs for—and inhabits; not just the president, but a client, too, as they say—is a utopian one where gender difference is minimized and a rigorously small number of building blocks make up even the most complicated looks. He s an advocate of unisex dressing, and sends his men and women out in matching gear (this season, right down to identical gray tights and a banded, chunky high heel, made in collaboration with Aldo). The 26 looks Hourani showed all boil down to a manageable six discrete pieces, including two jackets, a pocketed chemise, and a paneled pant. Wear them backward, wear them forward, wear them on top of one another, and voilà: Choose your own adventure.
"Choose your own adventure"—that can sound a bit like a sci-fi action movie, and there are seasons when Hourani seems to have pulled his looks from one, too. That aesthetic has its fans, but it can come off a little machine-made. You lose the cloth-ness of the clothes, somehow. This Fall however, Hourani worked with fabrics he calls "classical": wool flannel, boiled wool, standard wool, jersey, crepe. Even the PVC he returns to time and again was here thinner and more matte than in days gone by; it had an appealing crinkle to it, not unlike crushed chiffon. The combinations Hourani created—with the help of his longtime consultant, über-stylist Patti Wilson—emphasized drape. "I like the idea of showing what you can do with my clothes in a drapey way," he explained backstage. "They re very straight, always, but I like the idea that you can make them your own." Make no mistake, the pieces and the looks here are still very edgy; there s no de-Radding RAD. But this was a stronger show than last season s for the softening.
