Omar Salam of Sukeina left a spot on the New York Fashion Week calendar and took his show on the road for spring 2024, presenting his collection – by invitation – in Africa and the Middle East, where his complicated elaborate and decorated designs enthusiastic followers.
The designer works from a Brooklyn high-rise with enormous windows that give the space a sense of floating in the air, making it a natural fit for the collection’s nominal theme of the transformation of the sky from sunrise to sunset. But the truth is that these pieces would only see the early light if the wearer stayed awake all night. Sukeina clothing is not suitable for a sledding to the bodega that has just rolled out of bed; rather, they are carefully crafted designs that encourage, almost demand, that the wearer fully display her protagonist’s energy. For example, it would be impossible to wear the super wide leg jumpsuit with feathers trimmed with anything other than flair.
Salam is equally committed on his part: “When you’re designing and hiring people to work for you, cutting fabric, all that, there has to be a certain level of responsibility, a certain level of dedication. It cannot be done halfway. It cannot be done 80%,” he said with passion. “You deserve to surround yourself with things that inspire you, move you, touch you and make you feel so that every time you have it with you or around you, you are doing your best, expressing yourself at your best, you are being your the most essential,” he continued.
Highlights in the collection included a linear, body-con wiggle dress with a folded neckline and tabbed waist and a slumped cocoon-shaped coat dress with a deliberately raised hem that fell in a wave around the body. Salam showed his mesh pieces over bodysuits, emphasizing their transparency rather than conveying modesty, a concept not seen much in fashion these days. Most unexpected were the small (intentional or otherwise) references to the early 1960s, such as modular “diaper shorts” and miniskirts. Traditional smocking was replaced by Sukeina’s signature fringe on a baby doll dress that was both sassy and sweet.
