Emerging Fervour

Some of you know Deborah as the beautiful-handbag designer behind Clements and the author of our ‘Secret Diary of a Handbag Designer‘ posts. Oh, and the one who designed our super hot logo. Fresh-faced and bronzed having just come back from her South African wedding, Deborah is all ready to brave the colder climate and show us her keep-warm Spring(ish!) wardrobe.

Vintage Suede Jacket ∨

^ Debs: “The 70′s suede jacket is my latest Ebay purchase. I’m really into suede and cant wait to work it into my wardrobe. The grey jumper top is actually a cardigan back to front, a great way to get more out of you wardrobe and get the new sweater jumper look”.

Stripe Jacket ∨

^ Debs: “Another daytimer outfit. My black and white striped jacket is my one of my favourites. It goes with lots of stuff and a subtle statement piece. I am a sucker for stripes but this is rather elegant as it’s made from a silk chiffon type fabric. I’m into white denims a lot again and they are a bit more stylish than normal jeans. The gold converse have that extra edge to the normal converse”.

Blue Cords ∨

^ Debs: “Most of my outfits are daytime weekend styles as I am a mother now – not much freedom for partying anymore! Now that spring is here I like to wear brighter colours and mixed with trench is classic and stylish addition and suits absolutely everything. I love the bright blue of the cords with softer warmer colours just to tone them down a notch”.

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.