While in his teens, Muhammad Jayakhidhir Mohd Edrus became intrigued by the fashion sense and styling of icons such as Sudirman, David Bowie, Grace Jones, Yuna and Leslie Cheung, and how they each conveyed their larger than life personalities and approach to living.
Eager to explore how individuals present themselves in public through clothing and accessories, Jaya chose to pursue a BA(Hons) Fashion Media and Industries degree at LASALLE. His final year project, Yalam, was a visual publication that compiled fashion images and interviews with 30 Malay men in Singapore on their identities and their notions of masculinity and manhood.
"In the Singapore context, Malays need to negotiate various aspects of their lives by sometimes having to set aside some aspects of their Malay/Muslim identity through the way they dress or adjusting their behaviour to fit in with other races," shared Jaya.
Read more about Jaya's project and his thoughts on local fashion in this interview with Berita Harian.
Image: Yalam, by Jaya Khidir
