Zee politics & zee fashion

As a DC dweller, I have to say the city's understanding of fashion is understated and on rainy days, absolutely perilous. In my five years here, I have developed a greater appreciation for J Crew's upscale dresses, Tory Burch's excellent branding, and the power of a slightly unusual set of pearl earrings. I have also developed a nuanced appreciation for the subtle touches added by the fashion conscious in DC. The vocational fields occupied by women in DC are predominantly conservative, and a tourist is just as easily betrayed by a short hemline or unsupportive bra as a family would be flagged by the ubiquitous fanny pack and tevo sandals. (For those not living in a tourist town, yes, many, many people still wear fanny packs on vacation, in almost an admirable fashion). DC women know how to wear a suit, what constitutes a real suit, how to choose a quiet rock star power bag (L.A.M.B and Botkier are big here) and that cotton sundresses are for church and picnics.

There is also a quiet but thriving indie/hipster community that sports plastic neon earrings with thrift store house dresses and Seychelles pumps, spiked belts with fedoras, and on grander occasions, blue lame hot shorts with round toe stilettos. Rarely are they seen in the 9AM rush hour buses, when you could easily believe that the entire city dons the same hued suit at precisely the same time, buffs their lace up shoes, and grabs their briefcase in neat succession. Given their professions, a smattering of artists, bartenders, and non profit associates, they are almost all on the 10AM bus, providing the city with a character for which few would credit DC.

Both sets of women, the hipsters and the lawyers of DC, have one shared passion lately- the proclivity for scarves. The 9AM bus is filled to the windows with silk knotted squares or draped rectangles, in obviously Hermes inspired or floral prints. The indie crowd has long favored the long, skinny scarf, wrapped around their necks and draped down dresses, pants, coats- absolutely anything.

And then, those indies, they seized on a curious new trend, the one I call the "Bandit" look. It involved folding the scarf into a triangle, tying the ends around the back of the neck, and peaking the front up, so it partially obscures the face.

At first, I thought I had seen someone on the way to a play, of which they were obviously part. After a few more sighting, it dawned on me that this wat the new way of wearing a scarf. And I shrugged it off as the by product of the very nature of fashion- the demand to constantly change had resulted in something lame, but a change of pace. We've all been there- that kind of weird red hair color, the impulse buy throw pillows in the wrong shade. These things break up the continuity just long enough for us to comfortably return to the "before."

But the scarves stuck. When I went to NYC this past May, they were not only in full force on the street, they also dominated mannequins in such flavorless chains as Strawberry and 3for10FinalCloseoutSaleTodayOnly outposts. The Bandit look had degenerated from a poor fashion bastard to a full fledged WTF UFO like occurrence. What was with the scarf?

Well, google dredged up some explanations. I was apparently belated in my disdain of the bandit scarf- a blog by Dino Ray was my first clue. He had already dissed said scarf, and made reference to it's ethnic print. Hmmm? Ethnic?

Oh ok, so yall prolly know all this- so this trend exploded with the Rachel Ray Dunkin Donuts Advertisement, where our favorite EEO slinging chef wore a black and white print scarf. She wasn't wearing it bandit style, but the scarf reminded many people of the keffiyeh, and caused some uproar. And upon looking into the keffiyeh matter- what is a kaffiyeh anyhow?- I discovered the culprit of the bandit trend- bloody Urban Outfitter's. Isn't it always them?

So the keffiyeh is indeed a scarf with a black and white pattern and tassels that is worn in Arab countries. It's been referred to as the Yasser Arafat scarf as well. Apparently Balenciaga included scarves similar to this style in their Fall 2007 show (which of course would have been in the Spring of 2007). But most people don't wear Balenciaga. They do, however, wear Urban Outfitter's (UO), who decided to launch a sale of keffiyehs under the gimmicky title of "anti-war woven scarves" as early as January of 2007. Some people, patriots of either America or Arab countries, found this offensive on multiple levels. UO's great stroke of inspiration might have been the innocent result of it's usual formula- recreate something from 20 years ago in peak condition at a cheap price- and the bandit scarf had enjoyed popularity in 1988, UO's favorite decade.

It makes perfect sense that DC, which does not operate on the timebomb mentality of fashion capitals, would pick up the trend with the rest of mainstream America- a full year later. (Although it should be noted that "true" hipsters claim to have been wearing this bizness since 2005- but in my experience, some "true" hipster always emerge at the start of every trnd to take credit- what? these plastic banana earrings? Nah, you kidding? I've been wearing these since I read about them in the Babysitter's Club Vol 9- Stacey had some street style!).

But it doesn't make sense that a city that is so politically conscious- dude, we know our shit- would so casually continue to wear a style that has purely exploitative, and arguably offensive, roots. Why is this still here? Do we need a card table full of red 4x4 handouts with a slightly coated finish and petitions on clip boards to raise awareness? Or, given that I am so behind this whole affair myself, did we find some rationale to continue onwards with confidence?

So given the typical time cycles of fashion, and that this is a "hot" but uh slightly weird look, I estimate that we will have another year of it left, with maybe two years of it making an occasional appearance at a house party. But it also means that girl with too much eyeliner at the last house party I went to shouldn't have been so damned snotty with me- her bandit scarf was completely dated and politically offensive- and my Marni inspired necklace was overly whimsical at worst. And I think I will stick on the 9AM bus on this one- I hate it when UO sneaks a fast one over us, those thrift colonizing bastards- and root around for some Hermes knock off silks.