Egyptian actor Ahmed Malek has a new role, and it’s one we’re not quite used to. The Cairo-born star has just been appointed as Dior’s Middle East fashion and fragrance ambassador, making him the first male ambassador for the storied Parisian house in the region.
In a released press statement, the brand said that the actor “will be representing some of the house’s emblematic fragrances.” He follows in the footsteps of other Dior ambassadors, which include the likes of BTS’ Jimin, and actors Johnny Depp and Robert Pattinson, among others.
Meanwhile, it’s not the 27-year-old’s first foray into the world of luxury fashion— Malek was named as an ambassador for French luxury house Cartier back in June.
In other Dior news, a biopic centered around the late designer Christian Dior’s rise to fame in the early 20th century is reportedly in the works, according to Variety.
Directed by French César-winning actor and producer Elsa Zylberstein, the biography is set in a post-Second World War Paris, and will follow Dior from his first few steps as a couturier all the way up to his establishment of the powerhouse we know today, which has been disseminating its refined style and meticulous aesthetic onto crowds for over five decades.
Penned by French screenwriter Julien Teisseire (The Hookup Plan), the upcoming televized endeavor will shed light on many lesser-known aspects of Dior’s life and works, touching upon his love affair with Jacques Benita, his relationship with his right-hand Raymonde Zehnacker as well as his passion for fashion.
“Christian Dior was a fiercely private man so people know very little about him and he was not a flamboyant character like other fashion designers or popular cultural icons, but he was no less fascinating,” Zylberstein told Variety.
“It’s a world that I’m very familiar with because I grew up in it through my mother,” she continued. “Christian Dior was like ‘mister normal’ and he wasn’t a Parisian, he came from Normandy.’ He was always discreet but he was also extremely resilient. That’s why his legacy is still alive today.”
Indeed, as consumer behaviors around the globe keep on shifting, before purchasing an item or a service, individuals appear to be more keen on knowing where their dime will go and what value their dollar will uphold. Regardless of the realm or field of predilection, traceability seems to be the main keyword in our day and age, with the world of fashion quickly growing into another victim of this recent growing trend; for better or for worse.
Repeatedly pointed at for a myriad of reasons, which range from eco-responsibility and consciousness, all the way up to ethical and sustainable practices, both brands and designers are finding themselves under the intense scrutiny of their ethos, investigation of their work, and probing of their morals starting from the new-found crave to learn more about the life of the humans behind the founding of some of the most esteemed and revered labels in the business to exist today— an in-depth exploration that Zylberstein has decided to embark on herself.
Although information regarding when exactly the film will make its way onto the big screen is still being kept under wraps, audiences are slowly gearing up to visually retrace the life of Dior, almost a decade after his former student, namely Yves Saint Laurent’s, very own biopic.