Sachiko Okada and Aaron Sharif are the design duo that makes up Blaak, both are graduates of London’s Central St. Martins School of Art & Design and they started Blaak in 1998 as a contemplation on the emotions around the colour black. The pair made an immediate impact, selling the label’s first collection to Browns, followed by Liberty, Maria Luisa and Barneys, before Okada and Sharif graduated in 1999. Playing with juxtaposition of elements and silhouettes, they developed a style that is truly modern yet believable - style that does not isolate but enhances the wearer. Blaak is three-time winner of the New Generation Award, the Elle Style Young Designer of the Year Award 2002, and the Vidal Sassoon Cutting Edge Talent Award 2001.
Since SS07 Blaak has concentrated on menswear, and now shows during Paris Men’s Fashion week.
“...that punk edge is a Blaak signature. In fact, with Blaak, things aren’t always quite what they seem.”
Tim Blanks “SAMPLE” Phaidon Books
“The color black is synonymous with mourning. However, for Aaron Sharif and Sachiko Okada, it's a chromatic territory that's been a lively source for exploration since their groundbreaking, predominantly black, first collection in 1998. ‘The color black has a transformative quality that symbolically purifies and regenerates, infinitely changing its meaning in time,’ Clearly not wanting their work to become static, the duo have consciously expanded their hues, and along the way, their - honed construction skills have helped them grow out of ‘one-to-watch’ billing during London Fashion Week into one of the unmissable shows at the world's greatest fashion stage, the Paris runways.” JC Report
