Think of Iraq, and the first images that come to mind are likely to be of war-ravaged cities and conflict. So when a photo of 22 men dressed in dapper three-piece suits, with well-groomed beards and coiffed pompadours, posing in front of the Kurdish Citadel went viral across the internet, the world took notice.
Before you go on to confuse them with the sharply-dressed bearded hipsters populating the men’s style blogs of Instagram, these were the men of Mr. Erbil, Iraq’s first gentlemen’s fashion club, posing in front of the ancient Citadel that is an abandoned UNESCO-listed site in Erbil. The capital of the Kurdish region of Northern Iraq has been at the frontline of Iraq’s war against the Islamic State (IS).
One of the byproducts of the globalization that reached Kurdistan after the US-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein was the Kurdish youth connecting to the rest of the world via television and other media. This brought about a new awareness of fashion trends and style, according to one of the three co-founders of the club, Omer Nihad.
But in the summer of 2014, Kurdistan’s war against the IS created an economically hostile environment that had the men of Mr. Erbil, and many more across the region, lose their primary source of income from their day jobs.
This is when they decided to launch a line of beard grooming products called Rishn, all locally sourced and manufactured, that began selling across seven stores in Iraq. “If we didn’t have this crisis we wouldn’t have had the time to do this,” said Nihad.
The club that has been inspired from Florence-based Pitti Uomo, a similar celebration of men’s style and fashion, merges modern style with elements from their Kurdish heritage. They recruited members for their first gathering through their social media followers.
The men take their designs to the local tailors and craftsmen and have them produce the garments and accessories so that they profit from this too.
Aside from presenting a new image of Iraq, the club is active in fighting for women’s rights and causes in the country. Every Thursday, they post a picture of Iraqi women who are working towards the development of the country on their Instagram page as a way to support equality and women’s rights.
They also teamed up with UN Women to release a video in 14 languages, promoting their cause of ending violence against women.
The ostentatious dressing and photoshoots are all to create a platform to further their causes, including women’s rights, protection of the environment, local economy and political issues plaguing the region. According to co-founder Ahmed Nauzad, they are also focusing on raising capital for the club to venture into etiquette classes, a modelling agency, fashion boutique and eventually, a gentlemen’s clubhouse.
