Khozana Omar has incorporated illustration into retail window displays for her graduate project. Omar created everything, from the outfits in the window, to the backdrops, to the illustration of the model wearing the outfits, and mocked them up digitally on to the store window. She analysed different fashion trends and seasons and themed the windows accordingly, choosing bright and contrasting colours and shapes as that is usually synonymous with dynamic movement, for sportswear. Other trends included ‘Punk’ for Winter, ‘70s’ for Summer, ‘Denim’ for Spring, and ‘80s’ for Autumn.
Omar’s practice is inspired by her love for fashion illustration, her upbringing as a British Arab Muslim, and her interests in people, culture, and social issues. She advocates for wider representation in the arts:
“I want to empower and encourage women of colour to be louder, more confident, to be seen and heard in spaces they usually aren’t. As an Arab Muslim woman, I don’t see a lot of women who look like me in the mainstream, and I want to change that and normalise and depoliticize it.”