Thursday 20 / March / 2025
“Seeing a well dressed person makes me feel really good,” is the first thing Khalid Al Rahma says as we sit down to chat with him about his vocation and becoming the best styling guide in Muscat.
The fashion sense in town has changed from being bland and boring, to elegant and stylish, and in the men’s department, the change has left quite impressive results as young men are becoming more and more fashion conscious. I met Khalid Al Rahma, a 28-year-old talented gentleman, who’s been at the top of his game in styling young men in town, helping them look dapper and maintaining their good looks.
Many people know Al Rahma by his nickname, “The Tuus,” an emerging stylist born in Bahrain, and raised here in Oman. Ever since he was little, Al Rahma’s been fascinated by how men dress up and how they put in a lot of effort to look neat. Growing up, Al Rahma experimented with a variety of styles in the hope to find what fits him best, only to find out that style is more of a taste game than being a part of a particular style. His fashion sense was determined by what he was doing at the time. In his teenage years, he joined a break-dancing team and became a B-boy dancer; during this time he embodied the hip-hop culture that was taking the early 2000s by storm, with baggy pants and oversized tees.
In 2007, he left dancing and joined a rock band as a bass guitarist, where he gave up his aggressive urban looks and switched to the dark side of punk rock, and gathered knowledge about ripped jeans, skull-themed tees, black-on-black ensembles, and studded goods. At the time, studs were not yet in trend, but were mostly worn by hardcore boy-band rockers. By 2013, the band had called it off.
Al Rahma’s next step was unclear, but one thing he knew for sure was that he wanted to become a true gentleman, who is full of elegance. He continued to perfect his skills as a stylist and made a name for himself in town. He also opened an Instagram account and started building his styling brand, which was a mix of street style and semi-formal chic trends.
Al Rahma has always been eager to prove to society that being a man in fashion is not wrong. “In Oman, when a guy works in such an industry, he gets bullied and called names, but it’s actually the other way around, when people spot a fashionable man they get a great impression of how elegant, neat, and organised the person is,” Al Rahma explained, adding that, “Dressing well says a lot about who you are and your personality.”
He continued to express his true mission. “My aim is to change how people perceive men who are in fashion,” and according to the stylist, this is changing at a rapid pace, following in the same footsteps as neighbouring countries, such as Bahrain and Kuwait, where fashion is widely embraced by men and society in general.
Formal fashion is hot right now, and it is Khalid’s most challenging style, which is putting together an elegant look that’s not too simple yet not over-the-top and that can be a bit of a task. “If you put on black pants and a blazer, and a white shirt, it shows how little of an effort you made to look great, and vice versa,” said the stylist. For formal attire, he goes to his favourite tailor, chooses the colours and materials himself, finds a perfect tie and pocket square to match, and adds his own things to accessorise it. Al Rahma’s favourite items are shoes; he’s a shoes person at heart, owning racks with over a 100 pairs of sneakers and boots.
As he continues to learn more about the industry, he has come to realise that styling has nothing to do with price tags and branded items, as he doesn’t pay attention to brands. “It’s not about what you wear, is about how you wear it and how you style it,” said Khalid, adding that, “I only have one concept, I see, I fall in love, I buy.” The future looks bright for the young fashion lover, as he’s becoming a famous style influencer on Instagram, with a massive following from Oman and the Gulf Cooperation Council. His ultimate goal is to become a successful renowned stylist, who stands up for fashion and style in a society that doesn’t fully embrace the concept of men in fashion.
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