“A kurta by any other name is like dope,” Pakistani-British actor-musician Riz Ahmed said last week, speaking at his home in London.
Ahmed is referring to the flowing shirt which is more popular than the hoodie in many South Asian communities, although the shirt is rarely spotted at movie premieres outside of Bollywood.
There, however, in early December, was the inimitable Ahmed at the Los Angeles premiere of the new twisty genre film “Encounter.” ) wears a sleek, pink, knee-length, V-collared kurta under a Bordeaux mohair coat. The kurta was made by Prada, and Ahmed’s decision to wear one was an important lesson in the politics of style.
Answering a reporter’s question about this outfit, Prada called it simply and generally a long silk shirt. However, the nomenclature is still important because, as Ahmed explains, transcoding as a survival strategy used to be necessary for him, despite broader understandings – and equity initiatives in his industry – has slowly “strewn” a culture that has taken a long time to come to terms with diversity.
Born and raised in north-west London, to a family of Pakistani descent, Ahmed was educated at Oxford and has spoken openly about the alienation he experienced there. So, for him, wearing a kurta to a movie event was both an act of reeducation and an opportunity for him to adjust to his “European and pre-colonial” notion of what it means to be. masculine.
“Growing up, I would probably wear a salwar kameez and then switch to a British uniform with a vest and tie, and then skip class to hang out with my boys at Reeboks and a shirt. incorrect print from Moschino, probably a fake,” Ahmed said. “These days, I am more and more interested in not having to leave the door when entering the room.”
Of course, today Ahmed is sought after by designers who want to associate himself with an actor who, after his intense and nuanced performance in “Sound of Metal,” has become the often appear on the red carpet. “Wearing a kurta to the launch signals to the world what kind of space exists and what is acceptable in that space,” says Ahmed. “This is something we’ve both been thinking about a lot.”
The other person he is referring to is Julie Ragolia, an influential stylist with whom Ahmed has collaborated for the past few years. Reached by phone in Madrid, where she is designing an advertising campaign, Ragolia explains that in her work she tries to stealthily perform subtle gestures based on philosophical studies of her pre-teen years. her fashion.
She said: “There is always a political element, and a case in point was the recent cover of Style magazine for the Sunday Times of London which she dressed Jake Gyllenhaal in a t-shirt with him. Faint interior from Prada. The sweater choice itself wasn’t controversial, but the color, a pink traditionally reserved for the diaries of teenage girls and babies, still startled a man when he was a little boy wears.
Ahmed’s approach, he said on the phone, was easier. “If I’m really, really honest with you,” he says, “what I want is to be blameless myself.”
Publicly presenting itself in its various dimensions can progress on its own. “Think about it,” Ragolia said. “At one point, Riz in the kurta would immediately put him in a box: the Muslim actor.”
“We’ve been wanting to perform kurta on the red carpet for a while,” she said.
It wasn’t until mid-step and forced repeats at the “Encounter” premiere that Ragolia had what she calls her, “Damn, yeah!” although the language she used was more salient.
As the camera flashed and the actors skimmed through their every step, Ragolia watched how elegant Ahmed looked in his Prada kurta and felt welcome when he saw something on the red carpet outside. a designer tuxedo. “It was like: So sexy. Hot. I bet people are saying, ‘I’ll wear that.’ “
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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