A conversation about South Asian representation in luxury with Aaron Christian, founder of The Asian Man

Walpole: The Asian Man started as a Tumblr back in 2012 before becoming the Instagram account it is today. What was your thought behind the account when you set it up originally?

Aaron Christian: I set it up while I was working at Mr Porter and travelling to the menswear shows in Europe to cover them for their social channels. It was the first kind of exposure I’d had to the fashion circuit, and while I thought the catwalks were amazing, it dawned on me that there didn’t seem to be that many people on or off the catwalk that were of South Asian heritage. It started as curiosity – why weren’t there more people who looked like me and who was making those decisions at the brands? It struck me as strange that there was this massive South Asian market for menswear and so little representation. I took that as a challenge – to find and feature other men from a South Asian background who were interested in fashion like myself. At first it was a little slow and I could only do a post of a new guy every two or three months (mostly by keeping an eye on street style blogs), but that picked up in time as word spread amongst the community about the account.

It’s interesting hearing you speak about the importance of visual representation of people with South Asian heritage as this was around the time you launched your own agency, AC Studios, which seeks to connect luxury brands to more diverse talent in production roles…

Yes, what I want to do with AC Studios is to lead from a point where I'd like to see change within the industry. I'm in a position where I get to hire talent, both in front of the camera and behind it and I think that's really equally important for representation. When I speak to people of South Asian heritage, often I hear that the reason why they found it difficult to break into the creative space was they didn’t have a mentor – I found that too getting into film space. So as I've grown in my career, I've tried to use my position to help others break through, and AC Studios is a big part of that. Now a lot of those people I’ve worked with have gone to work for different companies and they're doing the same thing. I think that's beautiful because as a community we are now really starting to spread our roots and grow that South Asian network.

It’s also something we wanted to do with 'What is this Behaviour 101’ – a spin-off of our podcast. This is a list of one hundred and one South Asian people making waves on the British creative scene across multiple categories that we launched in 2022 at Soho House White City in London.

What do you think isn’t talked about enough in the luxury sector when thinking about the South Asian community?

My thought on this is best summed up with the journey I’ve been on with The Asian Man. I set this up as a celebration of stylish South Asian guys, but I realised very quickly how deeply it connected with a large audience who didn’t see themselves represented in mainstream media. It still frustrates me that there is this big South Asian audience who are interested in the luxury sector, but the sector itself doesn’t often do campaigns or projects that speak to that audience. What I want to do with AC Studios is to help connect luxury brands to these audiences in an authentic way. And I say audiences because there are so many different ones within the wider South Asian community – different religions, different subcultures, it's so rich and diverse. I just feel like they’re missing a trick and sleeping on an audience that would love to be spoken to.

What’s an achievement you’ve been particularly proud of across all your work?

I’m really proud that our podcast, What is this Behaviour?, is now available on British Airways long-haul flights. We worked with the airline to select about 15 episodes that really represented the best of the pod. It’s so satisfying to receive DMs from people from all different backgrounds who have discovered the podcast on their flight.

Who are the other people of South Asian heritage working on the luxury scene right now whose work you admire?

Readers should go and look up the work of Kalpesh Lathigra who’s an amazing photographer. He has a similar background to me – he grew up in Newham/Forest Gate. What I love about his story is that he's finally getting his flowers. He's been working for many years in photography and he’s now helping the younger generation breakthrough. He's had to really break through so many barriers.

I’d also draw people’s attention to Harsh Agarwal, the designer behind menswear label Harago. His brand is connected to Indian artisans and puts a spotlight on them and their specific kind of craft work, but in a beautiful, modern way. He navigates both worlds – the South Asian space and the Western aesthetic. As a soul, as a person, he's so curious and has such joyful energy – plus he’s got great taste.

Finally, we hear that The Asian Man is set to become a book soon?

Yes, that’s a project I’ve been working on for the past couple of years and hopefully it will be ready towards the end of 2024.