All Eyes on Wajeb Azouz (part 2)

Fashion designer Wajeb Azouz walks the talk. Following up on the first part of the series where the Antwerp-based designer spoke about his personality, background and career, this second part highlights his favorite designs. Read on to find out what 3 outfits Wajeb chose to present in this article.

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Just like last time we met for an interview, Wajeb serves tea and snacks. I sit down on his cozy sofa full of plushy animals while he seems to disappear in his wardrobe, searching for outfits. “I feel weird. I feel like I’m being a bad parent to my children because I pick favorites now and abandon the rest.”

1. Depression Pullover

“The first piece I’d like to introduce is this pink pullover. I made it back in 2019 and it’s one of my favorite pieces. I call it the Depression Pullover because that’s what’s stitched in its back. It took a total of 22 balls of wool to create it. If I remember correctly, I was working on it for 3 weeks straight. That means full-time, morning to night, which was only possible because I was without a job back then.”

Creating this sweater took Wajeb more than 100 hours.

“The pullover’s pattern is from a YouTube video about blankets. It caught my attention because I love to use furniture patterns and fabrics to make unconventional clothes. I love to play with this irregular way of crafting clothes. For decorative reasons, the pullover’s original pattern included lots of gaps which defies the purpose of a big pullover. It’s supposed to keep you warm. That’s why I stitched up all the gaps by hand using plastic strings. You can now only make them out when taking a very close look at the pullover. They’re almost invisible.”

The pullover's pattern originally included big gaps, defying the purpose of a warm pullover.

“My inspiration for this piece was depression in children. Look, on the back of the pullover, I added the word depression in mint-color. The piece itself is quite colorful and comforting, childlike, if you will. It’s in contrast with everything we associate with depression. But when you think about it, aren’t children often seen as bright? But only when you glance behind the facade, you notice that something is wrong. With kids, it’s hard to notice if they’re depressed. They hide it brilliantly or sometimes don’t even understand that they might be depressed."

"But only when you glance behind the facade, you notice that something is wrong."

"For the longest time in my life, I thought that I was a depressed child and no one knew about it or seemed to care. You see, my parents don’t know what depression is. They think it’s a state of mind that’s just a bit worse than being sad. In their opinion, this state goes away eventually and is nothing to be taken too seriously. That’s where the message comes from. Nowadays, I don’t resonate with the pullover’s message anymore since I closed this chapter of my life. But I still see it as a personal and almost autobiographical piece.”

The word Depression is attached to the back of the pullover, symbolizing how hard it is to detect.

“The pullover is difficult to wear because it’s huge and you get quite hot in it. That’s one reason I don’t wear it that much. Another is the fact that it gets super heavy when you soak it in water to wash it. It takes about a week to dry!”“The bear that’s attached to the bottom of the pullover is a teddy bear. I like toys. They are a symbol of innocence and go perfectly with the pullover’s theme. When you stare into the bear’s black button eyes, they start to creep you out. It gives something so cute and fluffy an eerie quality. There’s an emptiness in the eyes. Another reference to depression.

2. Black chain overall

“The second piece I’d like to show you is this black chain overall. Overalls are great. In this particular piece, I love the leather, the softer fabric and the differently sized chains. The chains are heavy and make a lot of noise when you move. It makes you feel invincible. Honestly, when I wear it, it makes me feel like Exodia from Yu-Gi-Oh! — just giving me this unleashed powerful feeling. It’s a strong design.”

The heavy chains not old hold the piece together, but add noise as part of the design concept.

“There’s no deep philosophical inspiration with this piece. When I came up with the idea for the overall, I was just listening to music, inspected the fabric and then I suddenly envisioned the design. It’s a child of the moment.”

The Metal song that inspired Wajeb for his black chain overall.

“When you look at my portfolio, you could say that it’s bipolar. It’s either completely black and shiny with lots of chains, giving off a strong harness-like vibe. Or it’s multi-colored and features fur and youthful details. For a while, I even tried to mix those two aesthetics, but I never liked the result. In my view, some things simply don’t go well together. Else, they feel forced. I like it when these 2 opposites coexist.”

3. Pink fur coat outfit

“As you might have noticed, I’m a maximalist. For this outfit consisting of a pink fur jacket, cow shirt and black pants, I had several sources of inspiration. The first one is a Japanese street style with lots of color and extravagant elements. It may look messy, but it’s always very thought through. The second source is my love for animal prints. And then my love for shiny leather. The last one is vintage clothing from the 1950s."

"I’m a maximalist."

"At first glance, this outfit may not scream '50s, but when you take a close look at the sleeves of the jacket or the shape of the jacket’s pockets for example, you’ll get that there are a few references to that fashion era. By the way, the fur jacket is not very warm although it’s so big. Some people even mentioned that it looks like a bathrobe. But then I just tell them to google coats from the 1950s and they’ll understand the coat’s pattern. Like its puffy arms which get very narrow. Its vintage collar. And its belt and matching buttons that are all very vintage. Only the leather I’d call the added innovation.”

Only on second glance the elements inspired by the 1950s become obvious.

“The cow shirt adds a bit of camp. I like the fact that I added horns on the shoulders. It’s just so Doja Cat. Mooo!, you know? Cows obviously inspired the pattern, horns and ears. This piece was a bit of a fun experiment which I’m actually pretty happy with. Just the ruffled puff sleeves leave room for improvement. If I remade them, I’d make them puffier by using a sturdier fabric.”

Doja Cat's song Mooo! was one of the sources of inspiration for this outfit.

“The leather pants are very long, almost extremely oversized, but that’s the point. The legs should wrinkle and pile up on your feet. I added 2 zippers and 2 buttons which give it a fashion-forward twist. I think that the motivation behind creating such designs is to have fun. The same goes for wearing clothes. I don’t like simple stuff. I don’t want to look like everyone else because I am not like everyone else.”

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