Karim Chater strolls, on this July morning, in the suburbs of Casablanca, like one parades on a catwalk. He weaves, swaying, between the mopeds and the vegetable carts; takes a photo in an old R12 or in front of a decrepit facade; publishes his portraits on Instagram where he is followed by 176,000 subscribers fascinated by his look. An astonishing mix of streetwear and vintage inspirations: mustache and glasses from the 1980s, corduroy pants, pink striped tee-shirt and sock slides.
At 27, the self-taught photographer, better known under the pseudonym “Style Beldi”, has become an icon of “original” style. Pronounced in French with a rolled “r”, the term refers to authentic Moroccan culture, “which does not imitate the West, which really resembles us”, translates Karim Chater.
To meet him, you have to go to the outskirts of Casablanca, to Sidi Moumen, an deprived suburb infamous for its gigantic shanty town where the main suicide bombers of the 2003 attacks came from (which left 45 dead in the economic capital, including 33 civilians and 12 suicide bombers). 14 kilometers away, the city center seems prodigiously far away. “Before, we would go into town to take a photo of ourselves on the terrace of a luxury hotel or in front of a Zara store to make it look like we were shopping,” confesses the young man. A way for these youth without a future to stand out on social networks, to dream and make people dream in a country that is still profoundly unequal. “For a long time, we were ashamed of our neighborhood,” he admits in a soft voice. No more pretense.
“Assume the landscape of my daily life”
Karim Chater serves tea in the living room of the apartment where he grew up with his family. On the top floor, the roof offers a panoramic view of the largest slum in the country, where tin houses are piled up amid garbage and car wrecks. In the background, the modern towers of the Casablanca business district and, overlooking the sea, the imposing Hassan II mosque. It is from this roof that the photographer draws his inspiration. “When I understood that imitation did not work, I decided to show my real life and take responsibility for the landscape of my daily life,” he confides.
In 2019, Karim Chater created the “Style Beldi” page, a summary of Morocco today, without fantasies but with a new confidence. On Instagram, where he publishes his own photographs, he embraces his afro, his extravagant looks and promotes the positive energy of working-class neighborhoods. Very quickly, he was spotted by foreign brands, multiplied collaborations, posed for the American men’s magazine GQ Style. The hashtag #stylebeldi is spreading on social networks and is part of a more global movement to aestheticize Moroccan popular culture. “Today, we want to show that everything that is “beldi”, that is to say that comes from the countryside, is cool,” explains Karim Chater.
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