The Magazine

Home

About us

News

Interviews

Events

Showcase

Painting

Illustration

Sculpture

Digital Art

Photography

Graphic Design

Fashion Design

Product Design

Vehicle Design

Architecture

Special Effects

3D Modelling

Animation

Film Making

Mohieb
Life beyond St Martins: An interview with the maverick stylist by Hannah Shakir

Creative director Mohieb, dubbed by the media as The Maverick Stylist, is a favourite among celebs, thanks to his press-savvy knack for manipulating and transforming visual image.

Syrian-born, West African raised and London-educated, his work draws on vastly sourced aesthetic input. It’s provocative and inclined to fantasy, filling the pages of many international glossy mags. Mohieb chats with Hannah Shakir about the roots of his success and his current work.

Dropping out of his degree programme in Fashion Design and Marketing at the prestigious Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design was the first in a series of steps catapulting the hungry young style aficionado toward remarkable worldwide exposure. He recently launched a company – MoDa’s Touch – as a vessel to explore, through his aesthetic voice, facets of modern life beyond what he has already mastered.

1. What benefits are there from working mainly in London?

London is so mixed up and diverse that my work maintains its rich and exciting edge in being produced here. I love the energy that the city injects into what I do. When I first arrived here years ago,
I was like a dry sponge soaking up art history and fashion knowledge.

You’d find me (and still do) rummaging markets, vintage shops and the various Victoria & Albert Museum galleries. In this way, London allows me extraordinary focus in what I do. I still devote time, almost as an obsession, to exploring the depths of what visual style really means.

2. If you had to pick one, who is your favourite person to work with?

In fact, different models inspire me in different ways. Creative and eccentric people are my lifeblood and I’ve met some wonderful and colourful individuals in the industry. Each and every subject I’ve worked with has inspired me in a different way – some by their character, others by their looks. I feed off the creative energy that surrounds me. Working with some of the world’s most beautiful women, I really get such a thrill catching them in momentary frames which emblazon in my mind during my productions.
I enjoyed working with the exquisitely beautiful and superbly talented Alesha Dixon. I can confidently say that I’ve never known a girl to work a pair of stilettos like Alesha does. I am totally mesmerised by her looks and husky voice. And more recently I had the incredible Catherine Bailey as subject, who at 46 was appointed the face of Agent Provocateur. Take one look at her and you’ll realize why. What a woman!

3. What was your most memorable shoot?

A project close to my heart is my three-day shoot around London for Ocean Drive last year. I was commissioned by the magazine to shoot a story on British fashion to coincide with the Anglomania exhibition at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. I chose a few of my favourite London locations as backdrops, carefully matching the fashion to each specific setting. With the city’s tremendous personal and professional influence in my life, I felt I was paying tribute to this great world capital. More recently, I chose the iconic Ivana Trump to be the subject of a series of portraits.

She was great fun, just as I’d predicted, and we got quite playful on set. I even convinced her to let down her blonde mane; thus totally altering her trademark up-do hairstyle image. I love pushing boundaries and coaxing people to step outside of their mould. Done in an informed and considered way, this is what image management is all about.

4. How did that shoot come about?

A clammy but peaceful July morning crossing Soho was interrupted by an early morning call. ‘It’s Ivana.’ I thought I had died and gone to heaven. ‘Trump,’ she added though I knew exactly who she was as I’d been told to expect such a call, without ever really believing it would come.

There’s nothing ordinary about this icon. So I decided to stick with ‘extraordinary’ in the creation of that particular cover story. I took an instant shine to her; she took an instant shine to the looks that I’d prepared for her. She was game, posing with a scarlet macaw to the sound of Madonna’s Erotica. She laughed freely and gyrated against a metal gate. She was completely willing to go with the flow, and I appreciated that.

5. Has your international upbringing had an influence on your work?

Yes, of course. My blood and childhood is 100% Syrian, yet with wonderful teenage years in Ghana, I was lucky to be exposed to an African culture, and both have been great influences on my work. I attribute my love of glamour and exuberance to the Middle East, while I credit Africa for the daring exoticism that can be traced as a clear aesthetic strand in my work. I have learnt to appreciate it all: from intricately woven Damascene brocades to bold and daring African batiks.

I’ve always been sensitive to cultural subtleties and change, and I’ve been so enriched by having such diversity staring me in the face. London has also shaped me, adding great depth to my understanding of fashion and the way it has unfolded throughout time. It’s here that all this comes together. In pinpointing coherence in a concept, I have literally a world of input to draw on. London is all about subtle and clever synthesis.

6. Who in the fashion world inspires you at the moment?

I tend to run into inspiration outside of fashion. There are plenty of people in fashion – such as Danielle Scutt – who excite me tremendously, but for inspiration I tend to look beyond, like at architecture, film, music, mythology and nature.

I appreciate film noir and femme fatale genres of the late 1940s. Other influences come from the arts – surrealism is high on my list – and, of course, from my own experience. I put a lot of myself into what I do, sometimes creating dramatic images that I relate to in quite a personal and emotional way.

It’s difficult for me to name a favourite designer as I refer to a great range of collections on a daily basis. It depends on what I’m working on, be it a red-carpet look to stir a media frenzy, or the creation of a sensational editorial picture. In both cases the subject matter is the main factor in determining the fashion rather than the designer.

7. Is there any particular accessory you favour when putting an ensemble together?

There is something about gloves that is pure and unadulterated sex. I love the ‘one bare arm, one gloved’ look, so reminiscent of Rita Hayworth as Gilda. Ravishing. Jewellery excites me too. I’m not shy when it comes to featuring high value gems. Adler’s pieces are loud and proud – much to my heart’s desire. And, of course, you can completely change the direction of an outfit too with the type of shoes you choose to combine it with. I only do six-inch heels.

8. What would you say is a must have trademark to a successful outfit?

Good fit and posture. So find yourself an expert tailor; items have to fit you right. Ultimately I am obsessive about fit. A good tailor is more important than a shrink. If you look good, you won’t need as much therapy.

9. For young budding stylists what do you recommend they do during events such as fashion week if they are serious about success?

I guess if they’re serious they’ll already know what to do. If you’re passionate enough, the tools come to you instinctively. Fashion Week is a time to be proactive and get involved directly with events, no matter in what capacity. You can help as a model dresser backstage or as a front-of-house PR assistant. You can help in guiding guests to their seats, or merely as a gate-crashing wannabe. Just be there.

10. What was the best piece of advice someone from the industry gave you?

So far I’ve done things my own way. I’ve come to learn from my own mistakes and I continue to do so, but a little bit of advice I’d like to give to stylists trying to make it is that to get to heaven you have to go through hell. If you’re not tough, give it up now. If you are tough, keep it up and keep going.

To find out more about Mohieb visit:
myspace.com/mohieb