The male model testing gender norms in a changing Saudi Arabia

Saudi model Ziad al-Mesfer and his stylist walk along Tahliya street in Riyadh during a photo shoot on April 9, 2022. (Photo: AFP)

With his hot pink hair extensions and leopard print pantsuit, model Ziad al-Mesfer was bound to turn heads during his recent public photo shoot in deeply conservative Saudi Arabia.

Passers-by began sneaking pictures on their mobiles merely minutes after Mesfer emerged from his white luxury car onto the cobbled sidewalks of a high-end cafe district in Riyadh, his stylist and photographer in tow.