SELECTS: Riyam Salim Styles Her Places & Their People

There is a deliberate intricacy to the way Riyam Salim dresses. For the London-based model, fashion operates as a form of expression — a way to articulate identity, trace personal history, and hold onto fragments of memory.

Raised between several cities in the Middle East, Salim is of German and Iraqi heritage. Her mother’s work with the UN meant frequent movement, and with it, a layering of influences that continues to surface in her style — most visibly through her jewellery. “It just kind of tells the story of all the different countries I’ve lived in,” she says of the pieces she returns to.

Her wardrobe is tightly edited and largely secondhand. “I think you can find some of the coolest pieces secondhand,” Salim tells SceneStyled, drawn to the idea of garments with a life before her own.

Each piece carries its own trajectory. “These objects and how they travel around and the journeys that they have separately from the people that then own them,” she reflects. From an oversized men’s trench coat, likely decades old, to a Lebanese-lira print top that recalls a childhood collection of banknotes, Salim dresses with a sense of context that extends well beyond the surface.

Look 1

“The top that I'm wearing with the bag hanging down in the hat, is by Elisar. She's a Lebanese designer. It’s got a print of a zoomed-in print of Lebanese lira money on the front.”Top: Elissarrr
Skirt: Samuday Studios
Tights: New find at a carboot
Boots: New Rock
Hat: Espirt, thrifted at a charity shop
Scarf: Thrifted from Altone
Jacket: Thrifted in Denmark at Rosklide Festival 2016
Bag: Moroccan Leather from Tangier

Look 2

“I got ring that in Chefchaouen in Morocco, which is a small town in the mountains in the Reef Mountains, famous for being all blue. This ring would have been made on the other side of the planet and then travelled to Morocco of all places before it came into my hands. So it's kind of it brings the question of like, these objects and how they travel around and the journeys that they have separately from the people that now own them.”Top: Parlemor
Skirt: thrifted at a carboot sale
Shorts (under the skirt): Sinead Gorey
Socks: Moodymumu
Shoes: Grounds (Japanese brand)
Jacket: Moroccan Leather from Tangier
Grey Zip-Up: Weekday
Bag: Moroccan Leather, Purchased in Marrakech
Bangle: House on Mars
Purple & Silver Ring: La Manso Colourful ring, purchased in Chefchaouen

Look 3 “The top came out, at the end of 2021, when everything was happening with Sheikh Jarrah in Palestine. I’m not delusional. I don’t think that I’m changing the world by wearing a free Palestine top, but it still brings awareness.”Top: Trashy Clothing x GmbH (SS22)
Shorts: Nii Hai
Tights: Lazy Oaf
Shoes: Thrifted from a Charity Shop
Bracelet: Yemeni silver
Necklace: Vitaly 

Look 4

“I got that Kodak bag in Malaysia on an island called Penang. It’s actually a cooler. As well as that bag from the guy in Malaysia, I bought an Um Kulthoom record. It’s an original print record from the same guy… and the record he sold to me for like the equivalent of eight British pounds… and it definitely is a really rare record.”Top: Polina, Renaissance Renaissance FW24
Skirt: Donya, Renaissance Renaissance FW24
Tights: Moody MuMu
Shoes: Japanese Vintage, Thrifted at Jalan Jalan Japan in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Bag: Kodak Drinks Cooler, Thrifted from Penang, Malaysia
Necklace: Found in Jordan Earrings: Found in Algeria
Rings: From Yemen & Iraq

Look 5 “When I bought that coat, there was a ticket stub in the pocket from 2004. It's like a men's XL, and I'm not like a particularly big or tall woman, but because it's a men's XL, on me it looks super designer in a way… you cinch the waist, and it gets this crazy structure that forms with it. Sometimes just because something isn't in your size doesn't mean you can't wear it.”Trench Coat: Panther, Thrifted from NYC
Long Maroon Layer: Mokoko, Thrifted from Paris in Pouce de Ouen
Grey Zip-Up: Weekday
Striped & Polka Dotted Cami Top: Jaded London
Skirt: Thrifted at Second Life, UK
Shoes: Muxart, Thrifted at Second Life, UK
Tights: Moody MuMu