Retro-modernist designer Hasan Foster launches his new label light years ahead
Interviewed by Aleim Johnson
Photography by Andrew Dosnumu
Modeled by NNENNA
Make up by Erica Ogawa
When I heard that the innovative New York-based fashion designer Hasan Foster, was visiting Los Angeles on business for Ralph Lauren, I immediately phoned him to schedule an interview. Foster is making an impact as one of the youngest designer’s at Ralph Lauren. His own spring line, “Water Colony” for his label Farhd Fosté, earned him rave reviews during Fall Fashion Week in New York City—unsurprising for the 2010 winner of the prestigious Unit F Vienna Fashion Award, but quite a lot to have accomplished at the obscenely young age of 25.
After hurriedly arranging to meet Hasan at the Chateau Marmont Hotel, I arrived late, worried that the notoriously selective security people had already turned him away at the door. Upon entering the lobby, I spotted him sitting rather regally on a couch, dressed to kill in impeccable white, sipping a glass of wine. With his long beard and tall slender frame, he looked as if he had recently arrived from another era. He exuded old-school confidence. I could not imagine him being denied entrance anywhere.
We greeted each other and relocated to our table in the garden, where it was a challenge to make ourselves heard over multiple birthday dinners and the usual chatter of the Chat-head clientele, but we were able to cover topics ranging from Hasan’s early influences to his vision of the future.
The following is an edited transcription of our conversation:
Aleim: How did you get your start in fashion?
Hasan: I don’t have family that were into fashion, but my mom was always a fashionable lady. I feel I am the male version of her, who just took it a little further… I always knew I wanted to be a fashion designer, so I went to school in New York at the Parsons School of Design. My first job was for Ralph Lauren. I have been there for three years and I keep quickly moving up. I helped start the Black Label line. It’s the only line at Ralph Lauren that’s not really Ralph Lauren. Polo is all about vintage, and rustic Americana and Connecticut—you know, stereotypical American. The Black Label is the exact opposite. It’s slick. Clean. European. I am the demin designer. When I started there was just Polo, then we launched Black Label denim, and now we are launching Purple Label denim.
Aleim:Do you have an opinion of demin in general? Dior versus Ralph Lauren for example?
Hasan: Dior is beautiful. We have to be careful what we put in this interview because I am not a licensed spokesperson for Ralph Lauren. I feel what we do at Ralph Lauren is one of the best products that is put out. It is authentic. I think Dior is probably one of the best manufactures of modern deminin. And we would like to be alongside them as well. There aren’t a lot of other demininn companies that I respect, to be honest.
Aleim:I love Dior jeans. I wear mine every day. I also like Levi’s.
Hasan: Levis will always be number one. Levi’s is where it all comes from. I think APC is great. It’s clean, classic and it’s not about all the extras. It’s a good pair of modern jeans.
Aleim: How does your personal style differ from your designs?
Hasan: I never look the same. [My style is] organic and chameleon, you know. I don’t want to be pigeonholed. I want to keep people guessing. As a fashion designer, I think I have a really specific style. When you know me, you recognize it. I don’t think my fashion is the way I dress. I think it’s different. My fashion is very modern. I am also starting out and it’s hard to say, in a very black and white way, that’s how it’s [always] going to be. At the moment, I am really focused on a more modern interpretation of fashion. I grew up watching the Jetsons and I always wanted to see flying cars and spacesuits. My fashion is sort of retro-modernism-slash-light-years-away at the same time. It’s a mixture of the old and the modern. (Laughter) I just like to leave it up to the viewer to decide what they think about it.
Aleim: So you cite the Jetsons. Are there any other references? What would say influenced your new personal line? Literature? Music? Or another designer?
Hasan: I am not inspired by other fashion companies; it’s really about my environment. I love materials that are not common. The previous line I worked on was all made with rubber tubing.
Aleim: Rubber what?
Hasan: Tubing. When you see it you wouldn’t know that but the shapes are all constructed from rubber tubes. The idea is that it’s this odd material that you would never think of. That’s why it was interesting to me.
Aleim:I’d like to go back a little. I am curious about your upbringing and child hood. You talked about your mom being an influence. When would you say was the first time you experienced with fashion? Was it when you were young?
Hasan: My mom has said since I was 3 that I always liked to be dressed up. She has always compared me to my brother, who is 3 years older than me and who hates to be dressed up. That is still true today. Since I was probably 13, I started to develop my own style. I always dressed up when I went to school. And I wasn’t talked about for it. I still had a lot of friends.
Aleim: Was it an art school?
Hasan: No, it was regular high school in the middle of nowhere in Pennsylvania. It was all good and fine. I didn’t really develop my true fashion sense until I moved to New York. I was pretty fashionable where I am from, but I still am fashionable in New York. So I think I just stepped it up when I moved to New York. I didn’t change, I just continued to be who I am in a different environment. I can’t sit here and say that it all comes from me. Anybody that you’re around inspires you. I just pull from all those elements and I turn it into something else. Everything translates on somebody in a different way. I know how to work anything! (LAUGHTER)
I just know that I was [always] supposed to be a fashion designer. How long it is supposed to go on for, I am not sure. But in this moment, that’s what I am supposed to be doing, so that’s what I am doing.
Aleim:So you moved to New York and went to Parsons and started working at a somewhat conservative company, but you have a pretty alternative look. How would you describe your own personal style? Is it avant-garde?
Hasan: As [my business partner] Klaus would put it, avant-garde is dead, so I wouldn’t want to describe my style as avant-garde. I guess you can describe my style as artistic. “Artistic” can mean “artsy” and I am not artsy, but fashion-artistic…artistic fashion.
Aleim:You work for Ralph Lauren. I wouldn’t describe you as having a Ralph Lauren look—but they hired you. How has that been reconciled within their image and your own creative mind?
Hasan: I think when any designer works for someone else’s vision it’s always hard, and that’s no different for me. As far as their acceptance of me, it’s been great. I mean I sort of cheated when I interviewed because I dressed the part and then I got hired and then I transitioned back into myself. People do that all the time; look the part to get the job— because we all need to eat. (Laughter) I know my job and I understand the company and the aesthetic and I know how to deliver what they want there. With my personal style I do push it, and they respect me even more because I am different from everyone else. They appreciate me for it. I know they don’t understand me all the time, but they love it all the same.
Aleim: Lets talk about the genesis of Fahrd Fosté . What is the inspiration behind your line? What was the initial seed? How did you conceive of it?
Hasan: When I started the line I want to do something that is really me, and something that inspires me. I cannot always say that I am inspired by what I do at work. But when I do my own stuff I am truly inspired. So the more I do it, the more I am inspired to keep pushing forward. Originally I wanted to do it just for fun, but I realized that it can’t be just about fun and you have to be a little more serious about it, and I am starting to get serious. I realized that it could have potential. That’s the inspiration.
Aleim:How did you come up with the voice of the line? The aesthetic inspiration for it?
Hasan: I want to see the future, and I am not the only one. I just don’t see it on the street. I want to see people moving to the next level. So that’s the inspiration: the Future. New vibes. Stuff you wouldn’t expect to see walking by you on the street. But I don’t want it to be so shocking that it’s not realistic. Of course I have things that are more provocative, but I always want it to be grounded at the same time. I am a dreamer but I am grounded, so that is sort of a contradiction. My ultimate aim would be acceptance of what it is. Every body wants their vision to be accepted, to effect some change. I wanna see the future on the street. I want to change things (Laughter)
Aleim: Do you admire any other fashion designer’s?
Hasan: I respect Raf Simmons very much. I would say he is my favorite designer. He is very futuristic and forward. His concepts are always out of the box and while it’s very minimal, at the same time you still look at it and say: “Wow. How did he think of that?” That’s kind of where I am. I am not trying to be him, but I am trying to be on that page.
Aleim:What’s the theme and focus of your new collection?
Hasan: Well, my first show was very earthy and modern, so I took on this element. My second show was all about space, so that was my “air” presentation. The next one is a water inspiration. It’s all about water and the sea.
Aleim: How has collaborating with your partner, Klaus Kempenaars [former Swatch Design Director] helped you with your design?
Hasan: Klaus has been a great influence. We share the same aesthetic. He is an amazing designer so it’s been a really good collaboration. I listen to him all them time but I know that eventually we will be on the same page. I don’t know what else to say—it simply just works.
Aleim: Is there any other art form that inspires you?
Hasan: I love to cook and for me cooking is art. If I weren’t a fashion designer, I would be a chef. I still cook every night, and it’s about the presentation as well as the taste. Food is very important to me. If I had more time I would love to do art as well. I do collage. I do jewelry. The jewelry from my last line was all rubber tubing hardware.
Aleim:As an African American male in a predominately white business, is that difficult? Is your race a factor at your company?
Hasan: This is a sad question. It hurts to still have to think about these things, because that’s not where I am. The reality is that of course it affects me, and yes it is still an issue. I work at a company where I am probably one of ten black people in a building of about 3 thousand employees. It’s really hard and I know that people respect me and like me at my company. At the same time I think: Why aren’t there more of us.? There is not one ethnic person in a position of power at the company. We are all on the bottom. I am not only talking about the blacks. I also mean Hispanic, Asian, you name it— they’re not on top. I’m not saying that it is not possible. It is such a huge company that you have to fight for every ounce of respect that you get, and every ounce of movement, and it’s just not that serious [an issue] for me…There are other things we are fighting for. It’s not my fight. It’s my job.
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