Sitting at a café on one of Valletta’s main streets is a perfect opportunity to play the flaneur and enjoy a spot of people watching. 

But as you watch the world go by you might notice an outlier in the crowd, a man who goes by the name of Citoyen Port and describes himself as a history bounder and a dandy.

With his cane in one hand and his trusty whippet Tina in the other, he is invariably dressed in Regency-era historical fashion. Think coattails with collars and cravats or riding breeches and frilled cuffs.

Although his “government name” is Andrea Portelli, the 35-year-old prefers to go by the alias Citoyen Port. 

He chooses to be called Citoyen because it harks back to the days of the French Revolution, to rid themselves of these aristocratic pronouns of Monsieur or Madame... and, in the days of the revolution, everyone was called Citoyen, which means citizen in French.

It is an egalitarian pronoun for one and all. He chose the surname Port as a nod to his actual surname, Portelli. 

Port believes he may be the only history bounder in the country. A history bounder is someone who incorporates historical and period fashion, materials, styles and or antique items into their everyday life.

He first became interested in the lifestyle through his hobby as a historical reenactor but enjoyed the experience so much that he craved dressing in clothes from the early 1800s outside of these special events. 

He has been dressing this way for several years now and his historical fashion brings out polarising opinions from passersby.

An English gentleman or Willy Wonka?

When being interviewed by Times of Malta, one Australian woman interrupted to tell him she thought he looked like a perfect English gentleman while another group mocked him and called him Willy Wonka. 

“I don’t mind people stopping to stare because it’s one thing to look but another to shout abuse at me,” he said. 

Life is too short to just wear jeans and T-shirts

To him, the way he dresses is not a costume, it is an outward expression of his sense of self and he wears his fashion with a point of pride. As he said, “life is too short to just wear jeans and T-shirts”.

Port designs the outfits himself and conducts meticulous research into everything from colour to cut and fabric before contracting a tailor to bring his creation to life. The total process takes Port six to nine months.

“One thing I give great importance to is the quality, no synthetics. I am strict on that. One, because it is my way of rejecting fast fashion and this use of synthetics we have and it’s also a way of respecting the historical accuracy,” he said. 

While Port dresses in historical fashion as often as he can, there are two instances when he has to wear contemporary clothes. 

As an administrator at the University of Malta, he cites logistical reasons for being unable to dress in Regency period styles at work. 

And, then, there are two months of the year: July and August. Malta’s summer weather is just too hot for elaborate period fashion.