Keffiyeh

As we all know all Arab men wear tea towels on their heads, sometimes they wear an italian restaurant tablecloth, but mostly a tea towel.

I fell in love with the keffiyeh in Yemen, the little old men (who were far more adorable than the young men) wore the beautifully coloured scarves smoothly placed over the shoulders of their suit jackets. I bought a couple there, lost one and wore the other around my neck over the NZ winters.

The Gulf Arabs wear plain white keffiyeh (In different regions it has different names if you google them you'll see the different styles), they sit smoothly on the head and are held down with a black ring (agal), Actually in the gulf their whole outfits are white, bright white, they must go though a lot of bleach.

In Jordan the tradition is the red and white keffiyeh, I heard the red and white ones are for people from a country with a king and only if the wearer has made the hajj... I also heard the red and white is for supporters of Hamas (and the black and white a supporter of Fatah), I have als been told not to listen to that, it's a load of rubbish.

I think of them like the Scottish tartans; they denote history and tribal affiliations but the ones I like most are just invented to look cool. My favourite tartan is the Royal Stewart tartan, invented by an Englishman for an English king and made popular in the era of punk rock, now mass produced in China for shops like H&M.

The black and white keffiyeh is connected to Palestine, and because of icons like Yasser Arafat and Leila Khaled, are now linked to Palestinian solidarity. Originally they were produced only in Palestine, but because of the increasing demand (The ones sold in Camden are half the price of the ones in Amman) the Chinese manufactures have reduced the Palestinian keffiyeh manufacturing to only one lonely factory Ironically the desire to support Palestine has put them out of business.

I bought a pile of them in Amman, I was pleased to see they came out of a box labeled “Palestinian Trading Company” after all the negotiation, mint tea drunk and a price agreed on the seller closed the box... the Palestinian Trading Company is a tea importer, the shop owner was using an old tea box to store his stock in, and the keffiyeh I had bought off him were most likely made in China the same as the ones sold in Top Shop and Urban Outfitters.

Oh well, I sent them to my old workmates in NZ, delightfully they sent me back photographs. Fashion statement, political statement or practical accessory, I love em.