The Keffiyeh. Do you know what you're wearing?

Becoming extremely popular over the past year or so is a scarf that you may have seen before. Known as the "arab scarf" or many other nicknames is the Keffiyeh. I have seen this scarf being worn heavily within the urban scene. I have even worn it myself, not for fashion statements but because I was cold. lol *shrugs* A variety of colors and sizes were easily found in Urban Outfitters, H&M and on tables all over SoHo and NoHo, being sold my street vendors. Sure it looks cool and fashionable but before it was a trend, this scarf was being used by a primarily infamous and controversial group.

Instead of re-typing what I have read i will simply cite Wikipedia:


Palestinian National Symbol
"The keffiyeh would later become a trademark symbol of Yasser Arafat, who was rarely seen without his peculiarly arranged black-and-white scarf (only occasionally did he sport a military cap or, in colder climates, a Russian-style fur hat or Ushanka). Arafat would wear his keffiyeh in semi-traditional manner, around the head and wrapped by an agal, but he also wore a similarly patterned piece of cloth in the neckline of his military fatigues. Early on, he had made it his personal trademark to drape the scarf over his right shoulder only and arranging it in the rough shape of a triangle, so resembling the outlines of the territory claimed by Palestine. This manner of wearing the keffiyeh in turn became a symbol of Arafat as a person and political leader, and it has not been imitated by other Palestinian leaders."

Palestinian Solidarity
"Increased sympathy and activism by certain Westerners toward Palestinians in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict in the years of the Oslo Peace Accords and Second Intifada have led to the wearing of keffiyehs as a sign of their solidarity with Palestine and the Palestinian people. For example, the slang "keffiyeh kinderlach" refers to young left-wing Jews, particularly college students, who sport a keffiyeh around the neck as a political/fashion statement. This term may have first appeared in print in an article by Bradley Burston in which he writes of "the suburban-exile kaffiyeh kinderlach of Berkeley, more Palestinian by far than the Palestinians" in their criticism of Israel.
While Western protesters wear differing styles and shades of keffiyeh, the most prominent is the black-and-white keffiyeh. This is typically worn around the neck like a neckerchief, simply knotted in the front with the fabric allowed to drape over the back. Other popular styles include rectangular-shaped scarves with the basic black-and-white pattern in the body, with the ends knitted in the form of the Palestinian flag. Since the Al-Aqsa Intifada, these rectangular scarves have increasingly appeared with a combination of the Palestinian flag and Al-Aqsa Mosque printed on the ends of the fabric."

Recent Military Use:
"...Since the beginning of the War on Terror, these keffiyeh, usually cotton and in military olive drab or khaki with black stitching, have been adopted by US and troops as well.[citation needed] Their practicality in an arid environment, as in Iraq, explains their constant popularity with soldiers. Soldiers often wear the keffiyeh folded in half into a triangle and wrapped around the face, with the halfway point being placed over the mouth and nose, sometimes coupled with goggles, to keep sand out of the face."

The Controversy:
"The keffiyeh has become a symbol of the Palestinians in the long running Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As a result of its symbolic meaning in this context, its display in the West has periodically been the subject of criticism. In 2007, the American clothing store chain, Urban Outfitters, stopped selling keffiyehs after "a pro-Israel activist ... complained about the items" and issued a statement that "the company had not intended 'to imply any sympathy for or support of terrorists or terrorism' in selling the keffiyehs and was pulling them."[5] Rhoda Koenig, a theatre critic for the The Independent in 2006, asserted that the keffiyeh had "become a symbol of Islamic militancy".[6] Caroline Glick, deputy editor of the Jerusalem Post, equates the Palestinian keffiyeh with the fascist wearing of brown shirts.[7] A spokesman for Spain’s Popular Party accused Prime Minister Zapatero of 'anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism and Israelophobia," after he "criticized Israel's attacks on Lebanon and posed in a Palestinian-style keffiyeh scarf.' "


With all that history and information, is it really that cool to wear something you know absolutely nothing about? Fashion is a subject that is studied in schools and other institutions around the world by people who are truly interested in the history and future of fashion. But once "styles" trickle down into neighborhood stores and street corners to "self-proclaimed fashion gurus", does the history and story behind certain items become unimportant? I think not.

Info courtesy of Wikipedia.