Malik

This collection considers Malik Ambar’s passage, from a destitute in Ethiopia, to a ruler in Western India. Malik expands the diasporic image from one of movement to one of creation. James Baldwin becomes a central parallel to contemplate, in his unusualness. The black male here performs as an image of transcendence that bridges divides of status and origin, to create a new real. Malik becomes a reflection on the unexpected - an expression of the cross-cultural resonance that characterises the African diaspora across the Indian Ocean and further. 

A found quality in terry cloth shirts, the battered silk, the wide linen trousers. Tones of dusky cream and rust. The street immediacy of market clothing in faded checks. Indigo topstitched denim disrupts the regal elegance of nehru collars and loose fitting linen shirts. Authority asserted in double-breasted blazers and deeply pleated utility shorts. Effeminate flourishes in knotted silk scarves, crushed pearl velvet and Wales Bonner’s signature embroidery created with Swarovski crystal and earthy shell. The collection forms a study of beauty, the postures of royalty, the essentialism of black dress - black excellence re-defined in ebony leather.

 

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