'What Ali Wore': A Fashion Blog Dedicated to the Most Dapper Old Man on the Planet
Every morning at 9:05 AM sharp, a strikingly dapper octogenarian saunters by Zoe Spawton's coffee shop on his way to work in the Berlin borough of Neukölln.
That man's name is Ali.
He is an 83-year-old Turkish tailor who has been living in Germany for the past 44 years. He has 18 kids, and an impeccable sense of style.
Many of the clothes Ali wears were handmade by him, and he rarely wears the same thing twice.
His uncanny sartorial elegance so fascinated Spawton, that the Australia-born photographer started a blog dedicated to "what Ali wore."
After getting his permission, of course.
"At first he thought it was funny," Spawton admits to Spiegel Online. "Now he is the one who gives me instructions and shows me where he would like to pose."
Uncle Ali, as he likes to be called, does have some restrictions, Spawton says.
"Sometimes he just does not feel good, is a bad mood or sick," she tells the German publication. "Also, if he has the feeling of being not dressed very neatly. Or if he thinks that I have already photographed him in a certain outfit."
Spawton and Ali have bonded over the course of their joint project, and Spawton says she now considers them to be close. "Once we went together on a trip to pick apples, which was very nice," she said.
Word of Ali's new-found fame has even reached his native land, where he is seen as a fashion maverick, breaking down age barriers in a world typically ruled by Bright Young Things.
And it seems Ali's might not be minding his accidental celebrity, either.
Writes Spawton in her latest blog entry: With the help of Google Translate I tried to explain to Ali today that he might be recognised on the u-bahn…he seemed quite pleased."
