Photographed by Alisa Zaira Reznick
Make-up by Sara Arar
Styled by Fadi Zumot
Creative directed by Khalid Abdel-Hadi
Modeled by Elshab elauthentic portraying Frida Kahlo’s male alter ego ‘Farid’
Intro written by Zeina Al-Ghoul
Amman – Jordan
This shoot focuses on Farid, a man channeling Frida Kahlo’s male alter ego, through all the graft present in the artist when it came to blurring the lines between her identifying as a man or a woman.
Frida constantly rebelled against pre-set ideals of what it meant to be feminine, and stayed true to the way she felt, so as not to fall behind due to her assigned gender. Despite her usage of floral crowns and intense make-up, Frida embodied the boy in her by persevering in her daring artistic expression and turbulent career, and by being indifferent to physical expectations by letting her body hair grow and employing androgynous attire and mannerisms.
Here, the camera follows Farid on a day out in Amman; he wanders through the city to grab cheap eats at Abu Jbara and sip on a strawberry milkshake at McDonald’s. Then, to indulge further in his hedonistic ways, he goes to the barbershop to trim his beard and accentuate details of his male dominated persona with snippets of inspiration from Kahlo’s more delicate facets.
A tender fury lies beneath the indecision to be either one gender or the other. One releases an acute frustration when one expresses him, her or themselves through idiosyncratic attempts to be as true to one’s self as humanly possible.
Shirt, flowers in hair, pants all H&M. Jacket and belt, vintage, stylist’s own.
Pants, white sneakers, flowers in hair all H&M. Shirt and rings, model’s own. Vintage belt, scarf, poncho, all stylist’s own.
Pants, white sneakers, flowers in hair all H&M. Shirt and rings, model’s own. Vintage belt, stylist’s own.
Pants, flowers in hair all H&M. Shirt and rings, model’s own. Vintage belt, stylist’s own.
Pants, flowers in hair all H&M. Shirt and rings, model’s own. Vintage belt, stylist’s own.
Suit, white shirt, scarf, and flowers in hair all H&M. Rings, model’s own.
Right: Suit; pants and blazer, white shirt, scarf, white sneakers and flowers in hair all H&M. Rings, model’s own. Left: Shirt and flowers in hair, H&M. Long coat, Maison Martin Margiela for H&M. Omani traditional scarf. Rings, model’s own.
Long wool coat, Stefanel. Shirt, raincoat and flowers in hair all H&M. Shoes, pants and rings, model’s own.
Pants, white sneakers, flowers in hair all H&M. Shirt and rings, model’s own. Vintage belt, scarf, poncho, all stylist’s own.
Shirt, vintage, stylist’s own. Top, flowers in hair, jeans pants and white sneakers, all H&M. Denim jacket around waist, and rings, model’s own.
Shirt, vintage, stylist’s own. Top, flowers in hair, jeans pants and white sneakers, all H&M.