Friday, June 3, 2016

Personal Stylist - A Brief Guide to Shopping


Personal Stylist - A Brief Guide to Shopping
 By: Husam (Sam) Salman
June 3rd, 2016

It takes a savvy business mind to building a great wardrobe – it takes an understanding of self-identity, reviewing your current wardrobe and planning on your purchase needs.  Once you have those understood, you’re ready to shop effectively and efficiently. 

We are not only about making great garments; we are about making great shoppers. Sometimes that requires help from an industry expert like a stylist, personal shopper or wardrobe specialist.   
A bartender, for example, should be more than a drink expert or mixologist. They should also be that someone you can rely on for flavor pairing or drink suggestion advise. Designing a garment is not different, a tailor is more than a fitting and sewing expert; he should be masterfully skilled in all things lifestyle and menswear.  He should consider your wardrobe, the colors that work best for your complexion and most of all – fit.

When considering wardrobe upgrades, consider the investment in quality menswear. This is about more than selecting a stylish garment – remember the big picture and be you’re your selections consider developing long-term wardrobe based on texture versatility and color theory.

Thank goodness everyone is made differently – I personally believe this is what fuels innovation.  Due to regional climate variations, skin tones, body types and sizes and preexisting wardrobes – navigating the do’s and don’ts to consider when building your wardrobe.

1. Skin Tone Vs. Fabric Color

Here we are addressing the first hurtle of garment selection. Although staples like white, black, medium grey and navy are neutral tones that work well on all men because they are “safe”, we must take our tertiary selections with more though. 

            “I understand how scarlet can differ from crimson because I know that the smell of an orange is not the smell of a grapefruit… In smell and taste there are variations not broad enough to be fundamental; so I call them shades… The force of association drives me to say that white is exalted and pure, green is exuberant, red is suggests love, or shame, or strength.  Without the color or its equivalent life to me would be dark, barren, a vast blackness.”

~ Helen Keller (1880-1968), blind and deaf from infancy.



Think about your skin tone using the color wheel provided above.  Are you more red or blue, purple or orange?  Once we notate our skin tone we can do many things to accessories our wardrobe effectively.  One thing we can start with is tone on tone.  This is when we incorporate colors that are similar to our skin tone.  Another way is to select opposites as they have a great contrast value and presents itself radiantly on the body. The final option, I will present, are the tertiary colors. Again referencing the wheel graph above, note the radiating lines that stem from each color, the triangle angles are our complementary ‘tertiary’ colors.  

In the age of unbound expression, what once was taboo yesterday according to ‘etiquette of fashion’ has since been abandoned. White shoes…yes, today we wear them both before and after Labor Day – sometimes with our white belts and/or jackets. Remember – it’s always summer somewhere and you never know where you may end up tomorrow. Have pale skin and want to wear those acid wash jeans and washed-out colors…go nuts! That’s kind of hot today! Do you have dark skin and want to wear those saturated colors or hyper prints – I don’t think a soul in the world will tell you otherwise – because that is fashion! 

Finally, when in doubt – wear black.  It’s slimming at times. When worn sparingly it can really punch up a look with a lot of impact by creating a focal point or void in the outfit. 

2. Tone & Weight

After establishing what season our skin tone is and what colors work best for us, we can now shop more freely.  Ask yourself what season this garment will satisfy – most like your shopping options should match your need. Shirting fabrics are typically thicker in winter and lighter in summer usually noted as “Winter Weight” or “Summer Weight”.  It’s also like linen in summer and wool in winter – these are things a good designer naturally incorporates unless innovation or ‘fashion’ otherwise dictate. 



The next thing to consider is tone.  Once we agree on our ‘season’ of our skin-tone and the colors that work best for us. We can now select a lighter or deeper tone for those colors. Don’t be afraid to try that dark grass-green button front shirt for the office if you were just rockin’ that spring-grass tank all summer! Chocolate denim in the winter – Khaki chinos in the spring? Do it! Take a look at the graph above as an example of tone. An aborigine button front dress shirt and you’re thinking about that lavender trimmed cardigan – sounds like you just found a gem!

3. Texture

Texture - Here is an opportunity to find those unique gems of our future wardrobe.  Fabrications today are innovative and tech savvy – it is easy to continuously develop new ‘looks’ as the industry is constantly upgrading itself with these innovative textiles. 

Sometimes it is as fun to pullover a sweater than it is to put on a warm down-jacket. Texture and options in garment type allow for versatility in our daily selection.  





The most fun when assembling an outfit is to mix and match textures.  There are different categories of texture to note when making your selection: Piled fabrics – velvet, corduroy and terry; woven – notably flat to lightly textured like denim, poplin or duck; knit fabrics – range between super soft to highly textured as seen on some sweaters. 

Something for everyone,

Husam (Sam) Salman













Monday, October 14, 2013

Horse of Arabia SS14 Collection - LA Fashion Week - Runway Show

Thursday, October 17, 2013
3
Days
2
Hours
56
Minutes
45
Seconds






WHAT IS FASHION MINGA?Fashion Minga is a collaboration of designers, performers, and tastemakers coming together to celebrate the various components that inspire fashion: music, dance, color, shape and visual elements. “Minga” is an Ecuadorian term for “a community coming together to work for the benefit of all”.  The debut of Fashion Minga took place during the last day of LA’s prestigious Fashion Week:  Friday, October 16, 2009. Fashion Minga welcomes over 2,000 guests, showcases up-and-coming and established designers, features the industry’s hottest dance teams/performers, attracts numerous celebrities and is covered by top media outlets. 

LOCATION:                                                    
Exchange LA

618 S. Spring St.
Los Angeles CA, 90014                                 
                           
TIME: 
Doors Open @ 8:00 PM                                            
Show Begins @9:00 PM

Guests must be 21+
    susang small
     CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE TICKETS
     Fashion Minga is proud to be partnering with
     Susan G. Komen, Los Angeles County.
     Help us in the fight to end breast cancer!

     
DEMOGRAPHIC:
* Fashion, entertainment & music industry professionals
* Tastemakers & trendsetters
* Celebrities, reality stars & stylists
* Local & national press (print, radio & web)
* Image conscious & brand aware consumers
* Buyers/fashion retailers
* Cultured & sophisticated
* Prestigious & influential


Press Information


Don’t miss your opportunity to cover LA Fashion Week’s hottest fashion show; Fashion Minga!  Rub elbows with the “movers and shakers” of tinsel town.  Entertainment buffs, celebrities, stylists, buyers and your trendsetting neighbor all culminate at Fashion Minga.  Regardless if you are interested in covering Fashion Minga editorially, taking a few pics to post in your prestigious magazine, blogging, covering the star-studded red-carpet, or simply want to get out and shake what your momma gave ya - we want you!
Click HERE to download a Fashion Minga Press Application Form
Please email completed form to: 
Amber@FashionMinga.com


Horse of ArabiaDrawing inspiration from the cultural diversity and urban beauty that make up the city of Los Angeles, Horse of Arabia is a new menswear label created by talented designer Husam (Sam) Salman. Horse of Arabia uses an organic approach to the design process in order to support business in the United States. From the colors to the fabrics, all aspects of the label aim to represent the boyfriends and guy friends that make city streets come alive, day or night. These guys are fashionable and unique. The label is perfect for men who appreciate quality at a realistic price.www.HorseOfArabia.com

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Press Release: Horse of Arabia Menswear Made in Los Angeles, CA - USA

 Press Release: Horse of Arabia Menswear in Los Angeles, CA

Horse of Arabia is a unique new menswear label created by industry talent, Husam (Sam) Salman, available exclusively in Los Angeles, CA via his atelier and website (www.HorseofArabia.com).  The colours and fabrics are inspired by the urban nature of the city, the beautiful community, cultural diversity and the people who make the streets come to life.





Horse of Arabia focuses on an organic approach to the entire design process, from raw material to local manufacturing, helping to promote business practices and progress in the United States. The brand stays true to the significance of its name - a state of existence, a path of life truer than the simple, yet simple in the execution of each piece as a definition of a body, position, or personality.

"In the effort to define Horse of Arabia, I have found that it has started to define me.  My day-to-day is lead solely by observing everyone everywhere who define today and will be defining tomorrow.  In the long street corridor flats of the downtown city-scape, it’s hard to be so detached as to not ravel in the awe and humility of the history and cultural value; which fuels my creative drive and satisfies my artistic appetite. It is this vain that I tap and draw nutrient from, from these shared ideas, collectively from today and what’s to come...

The label was designed around our boyfriends, our guy friends and their buddies – – clothing for the guys’ guy. He likes to look good, fashionable, but not a slave to the rhythm. He likes quality and fit as well as realistic prices, he loves traveling, sports, and the great outdoors.  He lives a dynamic life. He is your BFF, brother, father, friend and ‘boyfriend," commented Husam.



Supporting the use of natural fabrics, Horse of Arabia is made up primarily of cotton and cotton blends. Cotton tends itself to be much softer, warmer and more breathable than most synthetic fabrics. Because of its superior qualities, Cotton fabrics will help keep you warm in winter and cool in summer.


Husam also added, "It was also important for us to not only separate ourselves from what’s out there at the moment but to create things that are both durable enough to last the test of time and have a well balanced design enough to stay relevant for years to come.”




 Because Los Angeles has had the fate of finding itself, over the decades, as the melting pot of the great Eastern and Western cultures and of power struggles through war in deserts and seas that rule prime time airwaves, teetering between logic and reason, where magic is the only force between the heart and the head; one has to flex his creativity beyond any ‘box’.  In this reality the United States suffers from an excess of identity, and a lack of singular culture – perhaps this New Babylon is the true “City of Tomorrow?  Today this city is mine”. It emulates our identities separately but potentially equally...well...that’s the goal.




~ Husam (Sam) Salman