One of my favorite style kats.
GQ Magazine Article –
He describes his occupation simply as “adventurer”. The star of films by Wes Anderson and Luca Guadagnino as well as designer of jewellery and scarves for his own line House Of Waris, the supremely elegant Mr Ahluwalia is sitting in the restaurant of London’s Lanesborough hotel. He’s dressed in a vintage Def Leppard T-shirt, APC jeans and his signature rose-coloured Esquivel desert boots (turban, designer’s own). “I think I may be the youngest person in this hotel by 50 years – I love it,” he says with a smile. “I’m not looking for pretty girls to check me into my hotel room – I’m looking for 70-year-olds who remember me from my last visit.”
A thoroughly engaging raconteur with a keen eye for the absurdity of both the fashion and film worlds, the Punjab-born, Brooklyn-raised Ahluwalia enjoys perpetuating the myths about his upbringing: “I like to paint this picture of this little boy from India. I tell a story about taking a yak to the airport when we left the country. It wasn’t like that – my dad was a professor.” A regular on best-dressed lists the world over, he’s become so recognisable at New York society events that this year a friend spent over £300 on a fake beard and dressed as Ahluwalia for Halloween: “He’s decided his costume every year is going to be me dressed as someone else – last year it was ‘Waris as a cowboy’ and next he’s doing ‘Waris in space’ then ‘Waris as Karl‘.” In London for an Assouline party, here Ahluwalia discusses Europe’s best vintage-buying spots, his quest for authenticity and why you should never wear non-military dog tags…
I like old-world charm. My whole world revolves around making things from a bygone era relevant today. My mission in life is to preserve craftsmanship. I studied at the University of Manchester for a year and I deliberately chose the oldest hall where we had to wear gowns at tea time. I’m an American searching for some sort of parameters, a way of life – I’m looking for a slight formality, for a place where you can never be overdressed. If you’re the only guy in a suit, great!
I’m a traditionalist with suits. It doesn’t need extra pockets and I don’t want headphone jacks in my jacket. I appreciate designers who do different things but for me the most basic version of that item is what I want.
The obvious answer for prom is to wear a suit. But maybe you should pick a time period. So be formal in that time period – when someone says you’re not dressed correctly you can say, “But I am formal!”
I had a white suit made for me when I was graduating from sixth grade. But my first real fun experience with suits was during the filming of The Life Aquatic in Italy. Costume designer Milena Canonero had a tailor who had worked on Stanley Kubrick’s movies who was in his seventies or eighties. I had a simple, clean black suit – I was surprised how much better it was. Apparently my right arm twists a little bit different from my left arm – so I always have to wear bespoke now [laughs].
It’s not just the end product. It’s not just the doing, it’s the how. If you go to a store and buy a suit, it’s dull. I like there to be some interest in every element of my life. It’s picking fabrics and talking to the tailor. Your life is supposed to be filled with people from different worlds. Besides everything else, my jewellery and my scarves have brought into my life a printer from old Delhi, goldsmiths, stonecutters, embroiderers, weavers – all these people I have conversations with who from another part of the world, another time.
I would like to wear a leather jacket. But I don’t think I can until I start riding a motorcycle. Unless it’s real and authentic, I don’t feel comfortable with it. I feel that should be on a list of things that men should be able to do – like being able to ride a horse or put up a shelf.
My best-dressed British man is Patrick Grant. He loves what he does – he bought a suiting company so it’s more than a look: it’s his life. I normally go with Norton & Sons for bespoke. Two other men that stick out in my head are Hugo de Ferranti and Robin Hurlstone. Equal parts style and charm is a killer combo.
If there’s a black tie event, I’m there. I loved getting dressed up and I love bow ties – APC have made some good ones. I’ve got a whole different bunch of black-tie suits: an all-velvet one, a white one, one with a velvet collar, two with no velvet. There’s a beautiful dark blue one with mohair piping that Louis Vuittongave me. It’s spectacular.
I like wearing clothes made by friends. I think it’s a community and nothing less. If I have to wear and talk about clothes, I should be affecting the bottom line of someone who I care about. I like to vote with my dollar.
The best way to dress well on a budget is vintage. Resurrection in LA is a great store; it has great old T-shirts for men. You just go through the racks and it’s the luck of the draw. My favourite thing to do in Rome and Paris is to go to [flea markets] Porta Portese and Les Puces de Saint-Ouen respectively. I try and make sure I’m there on a Sunday. I always think about going early, but then I’m always out awfully late, but I eventually make it over there.
Why would anyone wear velvet during the day? Velvet is night. You’ve got to save certain things. Protocol is good. It’s nice having rules.
I love that you call it “fancy dress”. I bought a mask one Halloween. I’m a formal skeleton: black tie, black suit and a skull. It has a floppy scarecrow hat and a wig, it covers my whole face and I had a friend stitch fabric underneath it so it covered my beard. It was really warm. I don’t speak to anyone the whole night – I can’t eat and I can drink through a strawer. Nobody knows it is me. Sometimes I dance with them or stare at them from across the room and it creeps them out.
My grooming regime? Three maidens come and brush my hair and my beard! [laughs] It’s really simple: I have a beard brush (which is a key element), a hair brush, a nice Nars face lotion and Sponge skincare from Greece. Lisa Hoffman has an incredible line of travel-size products.
I didn’t reference these films in my look but I do have a certain affinity with David Niven in Around The World In 80 Days. Always sharp, whether on a train or at sea, and in every possible location, where everyone else is dishevelled. It was a pleasure to watch. Also Kris Kristofferson in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore – he looks incredible in that movie.
Wes Anderson and I differ on style in that my trousers go down to my ankles. On set, he’s very specific: he knows what he wants and there is no discussion about style. There is a conversation and Milena is incredible – it’s a treat to work with her. But Wes is also someone who likes to enjoy his life and be comfortable so I don’t feel so guilty. If he wants to shoot a film that’s set on a train, he doesn’t want to do it in a studio. He wants to shoot it on a train, on the tracks, in India. He could do it for much less somewhere else. I want to live what I’m talking about. If I’m not doing it, let’s talk about something else. There’s no façade here.
As the hotel butler was packing, I saw my new boxers were in one suitcase. I was so excited about M&S underwear – I must have got 25-30 pairs yesterday when I was in Manchester. They are a great fit, their cotton’s really soft, they’re the perfect length and their prints are great – especially the gingham.
I’m someone who appreciates people who wear wild and crazy things. Particularly because it makes my look seem so stable, logical and clear. If people are asking, “What the heck was he wearing?” I’ll be thinking, “Great, do it!”
I think in general all men are not as well-dressed as they used to be. By comparison with other nationalities, Italy is still leading the way. Italian men love style – even if their mother’s still helping them tie their tie.
I did a tour of British heritage brands. I visited Swaine Adeney Brigg, which had beautiful stuff and I visited Lock & Co. I already have a hat though – my headgear is sorted. If not, I think I’d be wearing top hats. I can’t understand why they’re not coming back. Does someone [in the public eye] have to do it first? It would have to be someone in real life – not a character in a film. What I imagine is coming in to a room and passing my hat to someone with my gloves inside it. Everything is for that moment. Why wouldn’t you want to live like that?
I love to be pampered and touched. I don’t have any phobias or fears. Go ahead and measure me, put the lotion on my face, brush my hair. Nails I’ve got to do on my own – I don’t do manicures. I like the whole experience, the attention. I like to blame it on the fact I’m an only child. [laughs] It’s my fallback.
Bespoke is not an area in which you can really have “disasters”. If I’m in a new city I’ll try out a new tailor – if stuff doesn’t fit right you just don’t go back to them. It’s a hobby.
I want to know everything about what I consume. The idea of style or fashion is only interesting to me in how it relates to the people behind the work. I know who makes my shirt, T-shirts, socks, jeans and suit. There’s a consciousness to it. There’s a sense of going back to the old world where you had a separate butcher and baker – and you knew the eggs were hatched that day rather than sitting there for three weeks before you get to the store.
Handmade suits can live alongside the mass-made stuff. I’m not on a mission to ban mass production. It’s not my battle and I don’t really care. I’m not against technology – I’m not a luddite. I fly on planes. I use the internet. I sext. I just like to talk about “slow fashion”, like “slow food”, where things can just take a little bit longer.
In India everyone had their clothes tailor-made. It wasn’t a luxury. Now more and more the tailors are disappearing because everyone wants ready-to-wear and things that don’t actually fit them as well because there’s a brand on them or logo on it. It’s funny to watch that happen. The rest of the world is trying to go towards natural fibres and they’re trying to go toward non-natural fibres because they’re new and shiny.
It was very kind of you to put me on your best-dressed list. My people thank your people.
I enjoy getting dressed but I don’t enjoy shopping. I know what I want. If it’s time to get a new pair of jeans, just send me a pair from APC. The jeans just fit and as long as they do I’ll keep going back. They’re also the only off-the-rack suits I buy. They’re fun – not fun as in weird stitching – but they are in materials I wouldn’t normally use.
I like clean denim. I don’t need my jeans worn-out. I haven’t done that thing where you walk into the sea with your jeans on – my assistant does that for me. Just kidding!
I was asked at a party how much is too much to spend on a pair of shoes. I picked the most ridiculous number I could think of: $20,000. What would a pair of $20,000 shoes look like? I’m imaging some sort of organic free-range stingray that’s been fed caviar.
I have four or five white suits. But last summer I didn’t wear them that much. In the window of Gieves & Hawkes there’s a white suit in the window. I’m just waiting for it to get warmer. I think I’m going to wear white all summer.
Someone sent me a link to an article asking “Are turbans making their way into fashion?” I guess it was because they were in a Chanel show. I hope they’re not – I like being the only one.
I’m not a fan of fashion dog tags. Wear a dog tag if you served or if your father or grandfather served. Don’t wear a diamond-encrusted fashion one. It’s absolutely dreadful.
There should be meaning in jewellery for men. It should be “my significant other gave me this” or “my dad gave me this”. Or you’re in a band. If you’re in a band, all bets are off. Wear whatever you want.
I have a skull in one of my first jewellery pieces from six years ago. It was the same skull I’ve been drawing since I was 13 which we were going to use as T-shirts for my band “Savage Skulls”. I was going to be the drummer. It never happened – as a child, I didn’t have the commitment.
The secret to surviving a fashion party is that everyone comes into it with different intentions. Those parties are all about work, about connecting and speaking to the right people, like every industry party. Maybe get drunk – I like to be entertained! I’m not one to talk about what they do. Now I’m trying to go out a lot less and if people start talking about work I say, “Can you call me during the day?”
I always travel with a white shirt and black suit. You also need a sweatshirt – it’s tough to find good one with no numbers or sports teams on. Then you need jeans, a T-shirt and a bathing suit – mine’s from APC’s Madras collection. Also get a summer scarf for if you’re in a desert environment or on the beach in LA when it gets cool at night. It packs really light and it’s soft.
My biggest style mistake? There is one photo I see every now and then which is so so terrible. The designers were so enthusiastic – they wanted me to wear a sports jacket with a zipper but it wasn’t right for me. It was upsetting.
Have no fear. Make mistakes – it means you’re trying. Unless you’re a doctor – in which case, if you’re reading this, move on. This is not directed at you.
To India With Love by Waris Ahluwalia is out now (Assouline). Ahluwalia has designed the pop-up restaurant Bukhara which will open at the Sheraton Park Tower in London’s Knightsbridge 17 May-1 June. luxurycollection.com/bukhara
