What Ali Wore
In 2012 I started photographing an exceptionally well dressed gentleman named Ali, who lived above the Café where I worked at the time. Over the course of a few years, I documented around one hundred of Ali’s outfits. I would collect a photo and often times a little story of our interaction that day on my blog What Ali Wore. The blog was featured in international press, including The Guardian, Der Spiegel, CNN and on NPR, and in 2013 won Blog of The Year at the Lead Awards. Below are a few of my favourite posts.
November 13, 2012: Ali has been known to wear a monochromatic look, however this is the first time I’ve seen the look in these colours.
March 28, 2013: I feel as though Ali might have had an inkling that there would be a few more people seeing his photo today; this is quite the outfit!
April 7, 2013: Last night I joined Ali at the wedding of his boss’s, neighbour’s, daughter’s wedding in Spandau, with approximately 380 guests.
April 22, 2013: This was taken on Saturday afternoon as Ali was on his way to a local bar to watch the football. I can’t decide if I like the suit or the white leather shoes more!
April 23, 2013: Today I went and visited Ali at his work. We went to a nearby cafe where he treated me to a kebab for lunch.
May 2, 2013: Yesterday was the 1st of May public holiday. Ali joined us for a picnic, and arrived bearing fruit and Turkish pastries. And wearing this suitably jaunty suit.
July 5, 2013: Hard to believe we haven’t seen Ali in classic Ray-Bans before…he wears them so well!
January 25, 2014: Even a temperature of minus 12 degrees couldn’t keep Ali from running his various errands today.
July 10, 2014: Ali is back, the World Cup is on, and he’s in full football get-up to go to work at the shops!
August 14, 2014: Silky trousers and jacket, in shades of the forest.
September 8, 2014: I had a coffee with Ali and Kerim today at the shop. I hadn’t seen them in a while, so it was nice to catch up. As I was leaving, Ali prescribed one million kisses for me, half a million for my mum and half a million for my dad. Usually he says only one hundred thousand for my dad, and so I queried the change. He said it’s best not to make things complicated!
June 10, 2018: A couple of weeks ago I got a call from an unfamiliar number. It was Ali, back in Berlin after over a year in Turkey. I met him back at his old work where he’s been doing some shifts. (The customers miss him, he says!) After he’d finished his work for the day he changed out of his more practical slacks and shirt and into yet another suit I’d never seen - a light summer number with satin lapels. He was obviously the best dressed in the cafe where we then had lunch!