Ovadia and Sons designer and native New Yorker Ariel Ovadia told us the inspiration for his spring/summer 2018 collection was Polo clothes and hip-hop mixtapes from the mid to late 1990s—which where huge in New York City, and which he and his brother, Shimon, loved as teenagers. As if blessing this choice of references, one of the master rappers of that mixtape era, Fabolous, sat front row at the show.
The clothes were great: Key pieces included track pants and bucket hats, with flames, checkerboard patterns, and deep, vibrant color-blocking. Interior design was humorous and aimed directly at our buyers: shipping boxes, buying checklists and ballpoint pens (message: Place your order).
On the more artistic side of things, though, it was cool to see the clothes while hearing the rapper Prodigy, a legendary artist from that same era who recently passed away, through the speakers. The homage was real and felt.
SHOP: Ovadia & Sons
Images by Mike Chard
You’re a Brooklyn guy. I just moved to Crown Heights from Seattle. Do you have any recommendations for me?
Don’t try to be a Brooklynite. But yeah, it’s very Hasidic over there. A lot of Orthodox Jews, you know. Some good restaurants there, Kosher restaurants. There’s this pizza spot I go to once in a while, called Basil.
Can you talk a little about the bucket hats tonight, and the collection in general?
The collection was really referencing New York underground, the way we experienced it growing up. The bucket hats in particular are a hip-hop reference. But it’s really not about one thing—it’s about everything together.
Is it your opinion that guys are allowed to wear track pants with whatever?
Our opinion is, Whatever looks good. It doesn’t matter what it is.
I know you grew up as a Lo-Head. Did you steal stuff from places you now retail out of?
Let me think about that. One of them. But I can’t say who. But actually that was a big part, that whole era, of what excites us about clothing. We reference that whole era with this collection.
What’s one detail that strongly connects then to now?
The thing that excited us most are those pieces with the graphics, and the artwork. It was much more thought out than stamping your logo or your brand name on the clothing. All those [Polo] pieces, like the teddy bear sweater, for example—we wanted to recreate our own version of that for today.
Prodigy’s music playing was a nice touch. What did he mean to you?
I was just talking to Fab about that. Growing up, after high school we started working full time. Nothing was handed to us; nothing was given to us. I remember I had an Altima, then I had a GS [Lexus], then I had a Jag drop and we used to go to Chinatown, to Canal Street, and buy every single mixtape. That was the soundtrack to our lives back then. We wanted to pay homage. We were hoping nobody else would do it this week.
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