Thanks to a comment on my Urban Outfitters post, I learned of a great blog, KABOBfest. A post there by Maytha reports that even though, due to protests, Urban Outfitters took the kufiya (marketed as an "anti-war scarf") off its early spring catalogue, one can still find the item at the Urban Outfitters at Westwood (near UCLA campus). It's not really clear why. Maybe the fashionistas in LA haven't got the word from the East Coast that the kufiya is passé? (Photo by Maytha.)
Here's my guess: Urban Outfitters bought a lot of kufiya stock before it announced the early spring catalogue. UO has got to sell that stock...so it does so, without fanfare.
UPDATE: See the comments--Urban Outfitters in downtown Toronto is also selling multi-colored kufiyas, under the name 'shemagh'. (Thanks, Nashwa.) This is another Arabic name for the kufiya (known in Palestine more commonly as a hatta. British soldiers in the Middle East since before WWII used the shemagh rather extensively, and that's the name they used exclusively. Check out how the British Special Air Service used shemaghs in North Africa during WWII.
Greetings from Toronto!!!!
ReplyDeleteThe Urban Outfitters in Toronto's central core is also selling the kufiya (in an interesting array of colours). It is also interesting to note that they've changed their marketing strategy, it's no longer referred to as an 'anti-war' scarf but they (re)appropriated one of the traditional names, the shemagh!
peace, nashwa