The Colorful Culture Of Morocco's Expats | Style Out There | Refinery29

when I got hit was a feeling of belonging somewhere immediately I felt it it's not strained perched on the northernmost tip of the African coast Tangier has always looked in two directions at once this is a gritty port city in balance fixed between Europe and Africa the sacred and profane it is a melons of every style and every sort of person here there's a sort of outspoken elegance it's a kind of fashion headin ISM quite strong stuff and you either take a little dirt in a place where rock stars and poets have long set out to find themselves I'm here in search of today's created experts to understand the legendary hypnotic power of this city and the influence its had on their personal style my first stop is a place where the past and present converge Majid is Tangiers most famous antique dealer a passionate curator of traditional Moroccan artifacts from rugs to caftan and jewelry Chris he left behind his hometown of Fez nearly 40 years ago and found himself emptying ashtrays at the lavish parties of wealthy expats he saw their fabulous collections and found an obsession I didn't choose Tangier but as you trust me that's give me so much beautiful get its smell it's the atmosphere is something about it from all over the world is a movie a friend to the many stars who call tangia their spiritual home Majid's favorite customer is none other than Mick Jagger when I was young at the hippy time clothes colors like you found into pop diamond cuts diamond grinding stones at that time their big names before us it was like you me what do you think 10 gee I don't know you know my tease I can understand the light if sadder all I can understand God I'm fluid by the caftan and the K but some people they come for dream but there is no dream Tangier became a destination for dreamers and misfits after 1923 when it was recognized as an international zone a loosely governed centre for espionage drugs and an anything-goes attitude the British had the post office and and the French had the roads basically there were very very few laws and it was a fantastically clever experiment photographer Tessa Codrington spent much of her life at her third-generation family home in the hills of Tangier I came here because I was a child and my grandfather lived here and I did fall in love with it but only as a child I fell in love with my grandfather's donkey was the bursting has attracted me she remembers much of the excitement of a time when the promise of cosmopolitan freedom attracted the likes of writers Paul Bowles and William Burroughs as well as fashion icon ye've seller on X Patrick's who came here then looked just coming for section drugs mostly the older ones came because it was the freedom being able to live how you want to live and not being constrained by stupid laws with back home and now that we're all Carter Morocco it sort of goes on really that freedom that sense of liberation weaving through the labyrinths of the old city I have to wonder its the creativity that once flourished here now just nostalgia and romance it's the vibrant life of the past still alive today Niccolo Balthazar is a successful Italian interior designer who built his home here on a whim I've always been known to be quite colorful to the extent of being nicknamed like the parrots ID or colors so I loved makes them but definitely coming here has enhanced my passion for it how important is a fashion and how you'll perceive see would you be happy just wearing jeans and a t-shirt or is this speak to who isn't I Cologne really is jeans and t-shirts it's just I wouldn't feel comfortable Moroccans have a great saying they said we Westerners have watches they have time it's nice to take 15 minutes to dress up the time heared like time I sort of stood still a little bit and there's still this wonderful way of life here that you know quite frankly is delicious Paul Bowles once said that Tangier holds added depth of reality with its past and present existing simultaneously poodle is a menswear designer who seems to bring that statement to life by combining once forgotten fabrics with modern European cuts and sensibilities everything is sourced here from little shops in the in the medina so you just wander around and you find these roles that are just collecting dust and and they're all imported from 50s 60s 70s - it stands you and that's what I'm tapping into anything that you want to make it's feasible you know you can go to a lovely leather man down the road and he can put up a sample for a belt you can go to a shoe man say I've got this idea all the possibilities are endless on a creative front and you still have that old-fashioned elegance that's very contagious very inspiring I feel comfortable in the classic old-fashioned style old-fashioned in every sort of color as long as it's beige that's called the poets had fits from a very old shop in London an old battered planters Jonathan Dawson is a British journalist who came here 20 years ago to write a story but instead of passing through he decided to stay now he lives here full time with his rooster and dog and has his suits handmade by Taylor just up the street he didn't want to adopt some of the Moroccan princes no no I didn't go native in terms of getting out into rock and clothes which I admire but that don't suit me you find a style that fits you and you stick to it what is it about India that you think has been so attractive it's famous for people coming and reinventing themselves they start out in a basement in London end up first floor and tangia then towards the end of their lives they invent titles for themselves and they get bared as HRH so-and-so so I can leave here Lady Leader and it would be totally accepted in everyone would give a lunch party for you I'm starting to realize that in many ways Tangier is still a place of possibility to live a life apart and create your own world within the existing one do you think there was just a more romantic period in the 60s 70s no but it may be still people that find dreams now I think so I think still knows and people who live this frontier these stills I enjoy the freedom to go out in the street and be Who I am as it were without having to pretend to be something else the brilliant minds and creatives that came before cut a passage for the uprooted of today Tangier expat style is more than a type of fabric or a color palette in some ways less tangible and yet entirely immersive I think it's the colour the light it just gets all your creative is going it's a way of life it's how you represent your ideal you given the freedom from rules responsibility or time never be combat you see goes on all day stop it over come here oh look at him going for the more crowded anyway I've only got one head but twenty hats and that's the end of the show thanks for watching style out there subscribe now for more stylish adventures

Channel: Refinery29

Views: 441,622

Keywords: Morocco (Country), tangier, tangier morocco, moroccan expats, tangier expats, tangier expat fashion, tangier fashion, tangier style, style out there, asha leo, refinery29, refinery 29, yves saint laurent, william burroughs tangier, moroccan fashion

Id: PrhbO03yPSE

Length: 8min 37sec (517 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 12 2014