“I grew up breathing fashion and elegance.” This is how Clark Sabbat, a designer born and raised in Brooklyn to Haitian parents, introduces himself. “Luckily, my family happened to be very stylish. My mother, aunts, grandmother, always dressed well, and we were expected to do the same”. Mark that his son Luka, who followed in his father’s footsteps, also seems to have imprinted. He, too, in fact, in parallel with his acting career, owns a fashion line.
We met Clark at the Livewear/UPS retail store at the corner of Bond St and Bowery, in NoHo, where he has set up shop for the next two months featuring his latest ready-to-wear collection. “A good opportunity to engage and connect”, the designer said.
Sabbat, who sells mostly from his own website and Instagram, designs also unisex bags. Enamored with streamlined design and details Clark pursued architecture before transitioning to fashion. The process felt so long, I needed to do something, eager to express my creativity and couldn’t wait any longer”. Hence the decision to enroll at Parsons School of Design in 1987, where he studied for two years before transferring to Fashion Institute of Technology, where he focused on tailoring, patternmaking and draping.
Looking at the shape of the garments hanging on the racks at his new pop-up there is draping and there are patterns both echoing a strong sense of geometry. There is an architectural approach to it. Clean lines and balanced shapes flowing elegantly down the body.
The necklines of dark green polyamide jackets and jumpsuits feature a parallel cut to create another identical V. Geometries and simplicity of lines enriched by precious details: the handmade flower embroidery applied on a solid jacket with a seam at the waist stands out. A red sequin dress cut bias at whose sides a triangle seems to hang. Clean shapes over which burst tweeds and doodles created by fine rounded strings: straight lines and architectural structures with a whimsical flair.
In his own words, Sabbat’s approach to design “is dictated solely by a sense of style, which means everything.” In other words, creations that speak of great experiences. In the early 1990s he had a clothing store called Ag/Argentium in St. Mark’s Place where it all started.
In his latest collection, Clark Sabbat is likewise influenced by fashion trends, which in recent times have seen an exponential growth toward the use of alternative materials, from cotton to viscose and polyamide: a vintage flavor dominated by the irresistible appeal of handmade. Ultimately, his are sartorial creations whose lines are not just intended as embellishments of outfits, but fashion and design inspiration.
