Certain things have been brought to my attention through some serious cultural observations. When I returned to Argentina in 2003 after being in the States for a year, everyone was wearing Arab-looking scarves which were being made in India. Seriously, pretty much everyone under the age of 30 had one on and most of them were black and white. Some where home-made, usually made of thicker yarn. Fast forward to 2005, while I was finishing up my last year in Bolivia. I wanted to give scarves to my friends, so put in an order to my mom to buy them in Argentina (they didn't sell them in Bolivia at all). I think she had somewhat of a hard time finding them because by then they were going out of style. After arriving to the United States, I noticed that I was one of the only ones on campus wearing an Indian (or Middle Eastern, depending on what you want to call them) scarf on campus.
While I was packing to travel to Lithuania in 2007, I decided to take my scarf even though I was pretty sure I was going to be the only one wearing that style in all of Europe. When I got there I was quite surprised to find out that Middle-Eastern scarves were just starting to trickle in. Most where black and white, but there were also a few reddish ones.
Winter 2008-9. It seems like the United States is welcoming the Middle Eastern scarf look. So far, the two that I've seen have been black and white. Yay for originality!
6 comentarios:
It's called a "kafia," no?
Yep, depending where you are at the time.
It's been in fashion in the Netherlands for the last 1-2 years as well. Not just the black and white ones but also different colours.
I think it would be very interesting to trace this particular style. This is the first time that Argentina got this particular style before Europe and the United States (at least the first one that I noticed).
gauchito..I have nothing very profound to say..but then again neither did you;-) so:
1. I'm suprised that you did not choose to make the connection between our globalized society and wearring the kafia. It came into style in South America around 2002 because of the rising political awareness of issues in the middle east. The black and white represents solidarity with Palestinian Arabs and is a political symbol against the Jews. The red and white represents solidarity with Syria and Jordan and is therefore is a political statement against America. South Americans originally wore them as a political statement after 9/11 becasue of their frustration with America invading Iraq.
2. Due to the recent social upheaval in Israel, pacifistic Americans began again to wear the balck and white kafia to represent solidarity...because it was all the hippie/trendy/pacifist that wore the kafia..it caught on..and is now fashinable;-) Informed people that wanted to be trendy without making a political statement began wearring the multi-coloured ones.
3. It is interesting to note how involved in fashion people (Americans) are and yet how ignorant they can be when it comes to consumerist choices. America has the highest liklihood of positivly affecting a peace agreement in Israel and yet our, oh-so-informed population can't figure out what their scarves mean?
4. of course a lot just had to do with fashion cycles and India's production of cheap "ethnic" scarves;-)
-Christina
Christina, I only saw the kafias in Argentina and in no other South American country (Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, and Peru). This might be due to my lack of exposure to Western Bolivia/Southern Chile/Northern Brazil/and Northern Peru? Good observation and insight though, thanks. I still need to figure out how to fold my red and white kafia that Jeff brought from Egypt.
(btw, I doubt anybody in northern Argentina (Jujuy!) knew what they stood for either)
Publicar un comentario