Wednesday, January 11, 2006

The Politics of Style


We usually situate ourselves politically by how we dress, do our hair and makeup, what shoes we wear, our accessories, etc. I was recently shopping at a local H&M and saw the girl in the brown sweater with the big Africa-carved out earring near the Men's section. Her earring caught the light and you could see it from every corner of the store. It was brilliant! I asked her where she got them and she said a friend made them in New York City. She then told me that another friend, who also works at H&M, has the inside peice to the earring.

We then had a short photo shoot in the changeroom. What fun girls they were, with great personalities. They also said they were happy for thier pictures to be posted on my blog. Thank you ladies!!!

What a recognizable fashion statement Africa has become! I don't think I would have recognized the same earring if it was "North America" or "Asia" or "India". I would have recognized, however, "Palestine". So there has to be a relationship between CONFLICT and FASHION STATEMENT. The more contested a place is, for whatever political reason, the more it becomes a symbol. The rich places in the world are never on people's t-shirts or dangling from their ears...!

1 Comments:

Blogger chrome said...

nubian beauty. bourne out of conflict. hmmm feeling the analysis. and the two models (really pretty ladies esp. the one in the brown top, nice smiles).

:)

10:19 p.m.  

Post a Comment

<< Home