Clubber Spotlight: Omar Esaadi
For this week's Club spotlight, we caught up with designer and Dazed Clubber Omar Esaadi to learn more about his own brand XXXtremesports, his approach to making garments, and how being queer and Palestinian has shaped his design practice
I am a designer with a background in print design and knitwear and am interested in exploring the overlapping relationships between sportswear, club aesthetics and cultural identity, which I express through creating prints and clothing that reflects my own relationship with these spaces. My clothes aim to strike the balance between day and night; an everyday wardrobe with character and individuality morphed into the designs. I am also interested in how I fit into this narrative as a queer Palestinian, and in exploring modern and sleek approaches to historic and cultural designs to continue presenting a cause that is very important to me, asserting my cultural identity into these spaces.
XXXtremesports started as my graduate project in my final year of University. The brand name is a play on words, highlighting my interest in extreme sports and the technical wardrobes that go into cycling, bouldering and other outdoor sports, with ‘xxx’ referencing the hedonistic and explicit references early on in my research process. Sportswear and textiles are a platform for me to tell a bigger story about being Arab in queer spaces, and how I make space and form community within each. When developing this collection, it was my first time making clothes myself and brand building, and my print designs and colour palettes came from instinct and my intuitive approach to colour theory, as well as the overall world I developed in my research.
My creative process is inspired by community, space and the people around me in London. These days I am based in Hackney Wick which has revived my interest in the brand and being creative. The club and being outside is a core component of building my creative scene, and getting to meet interesting people and hear more about their work and what they do in a casual and open setting.
I shared some of my work at the ‘3EIB’ pop up last March alongside some incredible Arab talent from the diaspora. I also dressed queer Arab talent ‘Etaf’ for their performance at Moth Club this summer. I have been researching and attempting to build an e-commerce page and online profile and am also currently interning with an amazing brand where I hope to build more knowledge, connections and insights into growing my brand!
@xtremesportsxx
Companies
Dazed Media
- Publishing