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
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