The Aga Khan and Me

Karim, age 21

We never met, but the young Aga Khan, known then as Karim Al-Husseini, was my Prince Charming, the boy who ended my teenage desire for "bad boys" like Elvis and wanna-be juvenile delinquents from St. Ignatius High School. Karim was a clean-cut Harvard student, who at 21 had just been named the 49th Aga Khan.

Life magazine ran a feature story in 1958, and I was in love—not with a prince or the ruler of 15 million Shia Ismaili Muslims—but with the boy I wished lived next door or sat next to me in chemistry or walked me home from school or asked me to the prom. He could have stepped out of Seventeen magazine. I knew I'd never meet him, but I looked for his doppelganger everywhere.

Skulling at Harvard

Competitive downhill racing for Iran

If you wonder how this bit of fantasy (and never underestimate the imagination of a teenage girl) relates to fashion, this is where I began to favor boys who looked a certain way. Karim Aga Khan was the epitome of prep. And I began to see how menswear could be interesting. 

It got to the point where one summer I dated a boy almost solely for the way he looked, and I wrote down every outfit. I was especially enthralled by a pink button-down oxford shirt he wore with madras plaid Bermuda shorts. I once asked where he bought his clothes. He said, "I don't know; my mother gets them."

Speaking of mothers, mine had one cardinal rule of which she judged the man, or rather the date. If he came to pick me up wearing white socks with dress pants or a suit, he would never win her heart.

Then there was the fella who, bless him, cared a bit more about me than I did him. He asked me to go shopping and pick out his new clothes. I did, and even added a pipe, but nothing changed on my end.

Fast forward a decade to the man who would become my husband. He eschewed button-down shirts, and I couldn't see his socks for the cowboy boots. He had worn a leather jacket in high school and worshipped Marlon Brando. At one point he owned a burgundy gabardine suit with a zip-up jacket from Carnaby Street. Bill Blass once stopped him at an event to admire his jean jacket and long striped muffler. I was powerless. Somehow I managed to fall in love with him, and after a very short time gave up trying to coax him into a crew neck sweater.

What happened to the Aga Khan? Well, we lost track of each other. He became very rich as he also inherited his father's many race horses. He married twice, got richer, did good things for his people (while getting richer still) and lost his hair. He died peacefully this week at age 88.

The late Aga Khan

Amazingly the largest Ismaili cultural center in the United States is due to open soon a few blocks from my home in Houston. It will be a free, public gathering space for people of all faiths and backgrounds. 

Soon to open in Houston

No surprise to learn I had been hoping the Aga would come to the grand opening, where I planned to finally meet him of course. Prince Charming is forever.