WEST BANK / WEST COAST: Few articles of clothing have sparked as much international controversy and outrage as the keffiyeh. The traditional Middle Eastern head covering used for millennia by both Jews and Arabs to protect from sun and sand became a potent Palestinian resistance symbol thanks to former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. In the late 1980s, street style transformed the headdress into a trendy scarf, one with a decidedly political bent. Two decades later, Dunkin Donuts pulled an ad featuring celebrity chef Rachel Ray for wearing a scarf that appeared to be a keffiyeh. (It wasnt, but its mere suggestion seemed too much for the pundits of post-9/11 America.) Toning down the rhetoric are three Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»designers, Israeli-born Noam Dehan and Iranian Canadians Hossein Irani and Mehrdad Kharejaki, who have re-invented the keffiyeh with Teh Scarf. The trio have incorporated interlocking maple leafs into the scarfs design in hopes of promoting peace and tolerance. $25, Available at El Kartel (1007 Granville), Dream Apparel (311 W. Cordova), Nest Interiors (522 Beatty), Amandas Gifts (88 W. Pender), Blenz Coffee in the Pacific Centre (609 Granville) and online at .
Send retail tips to [email protected]
