Wearing Ugly Never Looked So Good

His name is Valentin Ozich, creator of revolutionary brand ‘I Love Ugly’. The brand literally is what the brand says it is: Ugly. But it’s the cool and unique side of Valentin that makes this brand work.  When you think about extracting creativity and cool from ugly, doesn’t really sound interesting, right? Take a gander at a couple of the t-shirt designs and I guarantee you’ll see ugly in a whole other light.

Recently I was fortunate enough to speak to Valentin Ozich and he let me in on why loving ugly is so easy to do.

Richard Lee: How are you today?

Valentin Ozich: Hay there, I’m very well thanks, its pretty cold at the moment over here in New Zealand, I’m just on my Mac, chillin’ and listening to some cool tunes…

RL: I’m absolutely loving your brand and design. Where did the inspiration come from and how did the brand get started?

VO: Cheers, appreciate the positive feedback, it’s what inspires me to do what I do. Basically my clothing label ‘I LOVE UGLY’ originally was supposed to be a creative studio with my friend Sam Yong, but we went our separate ways and I really got into the whole clothing side of things. Before I knew it, I was designing t-shirt prints and cut n sew garments. I began using some real trippy different pieces of art I did, screen printed on tees and people really liked it and picked up on it; before I knew it I had picked up a stockiest and the label slowly started to grow. The inspiration comes from a lot of things, the whole concept of the brand is doing something on a shirt what I wouldn’t usually do as an artist, therefore it creates something new etc. I love the word ‘ugly’ and the feelings associated with it, I think this is where a lot of the inspiration comes from, I’m a music freak also, and it’s crazy how the music you are listening to at the time can affect what you produce..*

RL: I’m reading your bio on endemicworld.com and it says that you produce the brand extracting something cool and unique out of what the world would classify as ugly. Care to elaborate?

VO: Yea most definitely! If you look at my prints, they are quite ‘out- there’ and different.. I see beauty in ugly, and from this I want to create a product what people want to wear. By the term ‘ugly’, means I draw things what are quite sinister and bad to an extent, but I aim to make it so it’s appealing and ‘cool’.

RL: With your sweaters and vests being in your lineup along with your tees, what type of crowd are you looking to cater to or is it just for anybody with an eye for art?

VO: By introducing sweaters and vests I feel makes my range cater to a wider audience but not in a commercial way. I have always had an eye for fashion and I wanted to create garments so people know that this a legitimate, diverse clothing label and not just a t-shirt label. I come from a background of being an artist, friends who are indie bands, friends that are rappers, hanging with designers and sculptors, basically people from all art forms. This then creates a label that is not just one genre (if you know what I mean), it’s aiming to tap into and cater to all these people, and makes all these creative people and people with an appreciation for art, want to wear my stuff.

RL: With shirt designs like Pe Pe le Puke and the Facetrip, where do you get the inspiration and idea from?

VO: Basically for these prints, and even this range I wanted to get into the pop culture side of things, something I have never done before. But I wanted to make it poppy but with a dark edge, showing the sides of these pop artists/ icons what us as people don’t see. For example the print ‘cartoon battles’ has famous characters such as Winnie the Pooh, Batman and SpongeBob battling it out to be the most popular but in a real roar way, involving killing, and dirty tactics. Pe Pe le Puke is based off the character ‘Pe Pe le pew’ however for my version I did it so it’s fully psychedelic, and mind bobbling at the same time. His eyes and smile in it look so sinister, and the image itself looks as if he is on acid, a lot of people think that is disgusting, but I see it differently. Facetrip, was a print I wanted to try by experimenting with colours and manipulating photography, there’s no real meaning behind this print, just something I wanted to try out, and make appealing.*

RL: With ‘I Love Ugly’ becoming a sensation down in the South Pacific, do you plan on expanding over into the US and Europe anytime soon?

VO: Most definitely, with the label, I aim to get as much exposure of it off shore as I do here in New Zealand and Australia. A lot of labels here in New Zealand create imagery that only caters for the local market, which can only get so far; I Love Ugly is designed so that people from all over the world can relate to it, and like it. The US and Europe would be a huge achievement and is a goal of mine, the hardest thing would be finding stockists, but I defiantly think people over there would like it.*

RL: I see you have a line for the ladies. How successful has that been for you?

VO: Well that’s a new thing, it was crazy, girls were loving the brand just as much as guys and they were wanting girls styled tees so I released those for this range. Prior to that they were wearing the guys tees oversized as dresses that’s why I made the girls tees with a scooped neck and longer in length. So yea, it has been successful and a chance for the brand to expand further.

RL: What are your ideas for future lines and are you coming out with anything new in the near future?

VO: Yep, I have just finished the winter range (which is online now), and am already planning the summer range. It’s going to have more garments, as well as singlets and some more exciting prints. Each range I aim to better the other, and every time I aim to learn as much as I can, to deliver more quality and more originality…

For more information on Valentin’s I Love Ugly line visit:
www.iloveugly.net
www.endemicworld.com