British GQ - 09.2019

Images; Instagram/@alessandroristori.official

“Colored cottons hang

in air, charming cobras

in the square, striped Djellebas

we can wear at home,” sang

Crosby, Stills & Nash in 1969’s

“Marrakesh Express”. Spot on

about the alternative garms

as well as the lifestyle choice,

fellas. I am totally channelling

this CS&N mood while packing

for August high-summer holi-

days, fed up with basic resort

gear, feeling a tangible dis-

connect between pristine,

overtly Western vacation

garb. Instead, rustic, crafty

and ethnically diverse gar-

ments seem correct. Neatly

pressed shorts, bright block

colours and mannered polos

seem desperately at odds

with elemental environ-

ments, their peoples and,

indeed, spiritual enlightenment

• right, man?
  Witness Marrakshi Life, a sig-
  nificant part of what I’m calling
  “alternative artisan resort”,
  which takes traditional Moroccan
  dress combined with contem-
  porary nuance in wickedly chic
  local fabrics. Gorgeous hand-
  loomed cotton and linen blends
  makes this stuff a real style
  coup. Roomy shorts and loose

a resident in the country that has

so inspired him.

Marrakshi Life’s pièce de

résistance is, quite naturally, a

kaftan – something I took to

wearing post swim and pre PJs.

If you’re doing it right – and

in that kind of company – a

kaftan should be worn without

any undergarments. The breeze

should waft about you, much like

that time you tried throwing logs

in Scotland and wore a friend’s

kilt. Nothing gets the heart

pumping harder than realising

you’ve been manspreading in an

open kaftan in front of locals for

the past hour. How louche. One

feels that kaftan-wearing anti-

hero Yves Saint Laurent would

approve. If in doubt, channel your

inner Lawrence Of Arabia as the

club secretary teased him over his

behaviour: “I say, Lawrence. You

are a clown!” His retort sits per-

fectly with this trend: “We can’t

all be lion tamers.”

singlet combos I packed

for Sardinia come in tex-

tured terracotta and

deep blue stripes, or

stone vibrantly striped

with hand-dyed red,

yellow and sky blue. Such

achingly authentic cloths

are cut and sewn in the

brand’s own atelier, includ-

ing wide-pleated Palazzo

pants, long dishdasha-style

shirts (with “handker-

chief” hems) and even

• wait for it – a jumpsuit.
  The whole fusion concept
  was dreamt up by NYC
  photographer Randall
  Bachner, himself now

‘ I took to wearing

my kaftan post

swim and pre PJs’

(Or how to

make people

hate your

holiday

Insta posts

even more)

Story by Tom Stubbs

KAFTANS!

G House Rules

Kaftan by Arjé, £225.

matchesfashion.com

Yves Saint Laurent

keeps kaftan cool in

his Marrakesh ‘sahn’

Kaftan by Marrakshi

Life, £292.

marrakshilife.com

09-19HRAlessandro.indd 111 11/07/2019 13:31

SEPTEMBER 2019 GQ.CO.UK 107