Emerging Fervour

Some of us wear it as a political statement, others as a fashion statement – but what’s the story behind the keffiyeh?

image taken from adlicious.wordpress.com

Well, blogger Vicious Babushka reckons it’s just ‘perfect for that Israel-hating, Jew-bashing screaming, chanting, demonstration of solidarity with the scum of humanity’, however most of us are slightly less inclined to bash jews and more interested in having a pretty scarf around our necks, which happens to be pro Palestine…so the fuck what? There’s so much controversy linked to the Keffiyeh, that even Urban Outfitters had to pull it from their concession line. Oh and Dunkin’ Donuts discontinued an online ad featuring Rachael Ray wearing a paisley-patterned scarf after columnist Michelle Malkin claimed that the scarf resembled a keffiyeh. What the hell? That’s as unfounded as pulling bagels from Tesco’s.

So after all of that, it’s nice to see established designers, like Balenciaga embracing and evolving the keffiyeh into something as beautiful and fashion-forward as the scarves below. I want one!!! Although this is near impossible as they’re a few collections old…but still!

So the story behind the Keffiyeh is as follows…

Traditionally worn by Palestinian peasants years ago, it became a symbol of Palestinian nationalism and would later on be worn by the late Arafat…it was his trademark thing. He took a different take on it and instead wore it draped down his shoulder in a triangle shape, to resemble the outlines of Palestine. When Israel imposed a ban on the Palestinian flag being flown or displayed in 1993, the meaning of the Keffiyeh grew to also symbolise the Palestinian struggle.

Fast-forward to now, and China has practically monopolised the Keffiyah making business and has driven decade-old factories in Palestine to close down, with China producing at a cost of 40% less, there’s no competition. Check out the video below from Monocle, which looks at the last standing keffiyeh factory in Palestine.

The keffiyeh has become a world-wide trend piece and although there have been copycat keffiyeh’s made, also marketed under ‘keffiyeh’, I don’t see the original Palestinian print ever being replaced. The manufacturers of the Israeli keffiyeh (on the left) had this to say of the design…

The Israeli Keffiyeh, with its intricate Star of David pattern in the center piece, and words ‘AM ISRAEL CHAI’ translated to ‘Jewish People Live’ in Hebrew weaved into its fabric, illustrates a divine promise that the Jewish people are eternal.

Image from Shemspeed.com. You can also purchase these online from Shemspeed…ironically, made in Israel.

There are rarely any real Palestinian-made keffiyeh’s unless you’re in the middle east, and that includes any online. But if you come across any companies that sell Palestinian-made keffiyeh’s in the UK please do let us know on hello@emergingfervour.com.