Turkish-born designer Rifat Ozbek attended Saint Martin's School of Art & Design between 1974 and 1977 and started his own brand, Ozbek, in 1984; following design stints at Walter Albini in Milan and Monsoon in London. Certainly Ozbek was well aware of the Adam Ant phenomenon of the early 1980s and the look of the New Romantics. I remember listening to Adam Ant on KROQ as a precocious elementary school student in Beverly Hills. We all wanted to dress like him, but we really were "Goody Two Shoes!" It seems certain that Rifat Ozbek was influenced by Ant in this late 1980s jacket that mixes military and Native American influences for a fresh take on a band leader bolero with faux-ivory adornment. Ozbek was one of the giant successes of the London fashion scene of the 1980s along with his peers Katharine Hamnett, Workers for Freedom, and John Galliano. I have great nostalgia for that period as I truly got my first taste of fashion shopping (on sale) when Jones opened on Little Santa Monica Blvd in Beverly Hills and had an amazing selection of Brit chic. I wish I had kept everything. This jacket has so many details yet remarkably doesn't seem over the top. Can one be a minimalist and adorned?
-Cameron
Ozbek zip up jacket featuring faux ivory and metal adornment, gold cuff with gift ribbon and coordinating suede belt, c. late 1980s. Modern size 6 SOLD
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