June 27, 2017 |
Zayn. It’s funny how one syllable can evoke so much. The past 18 months have seen this Bradford boy undergo a transformation – from One Direction member to solo artist, alternative R’n’B star, fashion icon and sex symbol.
For many people in fashion, who may not have liked 1D’s music (not openly, anyway), their moment of conversion to the cult of Zayn can be traced back to one moment at Paris Fashion Week two years ago: Louis Vuitton’s SS16 menswear show. Here, the star emerged – like a butterfly from a chrysalis – in a LV printed silk shirt, his face speckled with a smattering of sexy man stubble, his head crowned with a bleached blond crew cut and his eyes masked with a pair of mirrored Krewe sunglasses. Swoon. “Zayn is hot,” I remember an editor of one glossy biannual writing, singlehandedly summating the thoughts of the entire industry into a three- word tweet.
Since that moment, Malik has debuted his first solo album, Mind of Mine, which saw the singer draw on the music he grew up with – R’n’B, hip-hop and soul. A smooth mix of those genres, coupled with some qawwali that paid homage to his Pakistani heritage, the album is a far cry from the cheesy pop anthems of his One Direction days. That, in addition to a slew of magazine covers and his relationship with supermodel Gigi Hadid, the blonde bombshell with an Instagram following the size of Spain, has secured Malik’s status as a pop-cultural phenomenon in his own right.
His relationship with the house of Louis Vuitton and Kim Jones has continued since that moment at the SS16 shows, however. He has been wearing the brand’s clothes on a regular basis and, in June last year, presented an award to Jones at amfAR’s seventh annual Inspiration Gala in New York. “[He is] an incredibly inspiring designer,” Malik remarked in his speech, “who is also responsible for half of my wardrobe. So I thank him for that.”
However Malik has demonstrated a propensity for fashion that transcends a wardrobe stuffed with Vuitton, magazine covers and a model girlfriend. The singer collaborated with Mark Wilkinson, the illustrator who has designed art for heavy- metal bands including Iron Maiden, on his Mind of Mine tour merch; created a footwear collection in collaboration with the Italian designer Giuseppe Zanotti; and most recently, revealed that he is working with Donatella Versace, the queen of glamour herself, on a capsule collection titled Zayn X Versus. So it would appear that Zayn Malik is more than a very, very pretty face.
Stay tuned for the rest of the 10…
Text by Ted Stansfield
Photographer Magnus Unnar
Taken from 10 People To Meet in the latest issue of 10 Men FLUID UNIQUE BRAVE, on newsstands now…
Instagram: @zayn
