The idea of the fashion statement is not exactly new, but sometimes it’s taken more literally.
When we were younger, we thought wearing Converse and band tees to school made us fundamentally different from those who wore Lacoste. In college, Ché Guevara t-shirts were as common as pants. And now, it seems like everybody is either wearing an actual keffiyah, or at least some take on it, brought to us largely by the Balenciaga runway.
We think it’s kind of admirable if someone believes in something so deeply that they’re willing to literally hang it off of themselves. At the same time, when something becomes stylish it tends to lose its overt political meaning, to the point where many people wearing the trend don’t even know it has political connotations.
Maybe the classic Che Guevara shirt would be the best example of this, its message having been lost to irony and Urban Outfitters. And yet, when Marc Jacobs made those “John Kerry Is a Rock Star” tees during the last election, they completely sold out.
Would you wear a political statement? Or are your beliefs best left to your ballots?
posted by guest
Dec 06, 2007 12:44PM
Living in Kuwait, I know/see many girls, both Arabs and expats, wearing keffiyahs as scarves. For the most part, we wear the red and white ones that are the colors of the ethnic Saudis and Kuwaitis in the area (I'm from the states for the record). I can understand how this might be misconstrued as a political thing but unless you're deliberately wearing the black and white of the PLO, it's really just a cultural symbol.
That being said, all over Europe, those street-side carts sell randomly colored ones that I guess are simply fashion statements, while at least the Saudi ones are authentic....