CAIRO, Egypt (Reuters) — Posing in a Cairo street is all in a day’s work for young Egyptian Fouad Hegazy.
But he isn’t being snapped for an ad campaign or a fashion magazine, he’s part of a trend in Egypt known as ‘famous people’.
He’s among a growing number of young men who are involved in the Egyptian street style scene, snapping their looks and sharing them with their thousands of followers on social media.
“All those who are part of the “Famous People” youth culture don’t have any specific talent. Most of us don’t have a career. But we are well-known people, we have many followers. I don’t consider what we do as a career. I am not a singer or an actor; I am not presenting you with any products or merchandise. Nonetheless, up to 170, 200,000 people end up looking at my posts daily. For me this is a huge thing, not anyone can achieve that,” said the 23-year old.
With the streets of Cairo as his catwalk, Hegazy and his fellow style conscious Instagrammers are challenging the view of masculinity in society, something he says is a positive thing.
“I don’t consider this a bad thing; on the contrary I think it’s way better than investing in drugs or any other illegal activity that may be harmful. You can invest time in this; it’s something that will keep you busy. It’s something you can spend your spare time doing,” he said.
Style conscious Hegazy doesn’t have a fashion background, he’s a business student and spends his time investing in his clothing, sourcing his garments from local stores.
He’s been posting online for more two years and has 159,000 followers on his Instagram page, and more than 45,000 followers on his Facebook page.
According to Hegazy more than a million young Egyptians are part of the social media fashion trend scene that is turning unknown locals into social media stars.
“About 1 million or 2 million of the Egyptian youth are part of this youth culture. They might not be gaining anything from posting on Facebook or “Famous People” groups. But in the future some people can benefit from this, some of them have become actors, others have starred in adverts. A lot of them are doing something productive; it has been a benefit to many people,” he said.
Despite his success, the fashionista has provoked criticism and objections.
Hegazy strongly feels Egyptian society is not commonly accepting of change and says people are not always supportive of self expression.
“People think that they have to be just like their parents. Same goes for girls today – people look at girls and think they dress inappropriately, they don’t think that fashion has changed, or that the way we dress has changed. They used to wear short skirts in the 70’s, people didn’t think it was inappropriate back then. The thing is we are in an age where religion has found its way into everything. There is no freedom, if you’re doing something different they assume wrong. You are not free to do what you want. You have to do what everyone else wants,” he said.
Fellow street style stars have caught the attention of fashion houses and brands, with some being used in ad campaigns and launching new collections.
Fouad may have found online fame, but he views his street style success as a hobby and hopes to inspire more young Egyptians to tap into their individuality and creativity.