Fashion tips from the frontline

Blue burqas are ‘out out out’ this year. Photo by: Barbara Millucci/Flickr

It’s not often you meet someone fresh off the cargo plane from Afghanistan so I plagued Mr F aka NY Fashionistani for his take on what to wear… and got this hot fashion update in reply:

Basically khaki shalwa kameez are still the top sellers in Kapisa province as too are the ever functional ‘Herati 5 piece’ burqa’s for women – fashion-forward women are leaving their blue burqa’s on the goat paths and are going for the pure white this fall season.

One should always be careful which valley one is traveling in – one should never been seen (again) wearing a classic Chitrali pakool (the flat round bread shaped hats made famous by the anti Taliban commander Ahmed Shah Massood) in a Pashtun-inhabited area. Go for for it with gusto, wear it loose and foppish on the back of your head at a jaunty angle if you are sure you are hanging in a Tajik valley.

With the rise of the Taliban in the south, young men in Kandahar are donning the kol eyeliner once again, ditching the mustard color shalwa’s and going for the hardliner black. Personally I think it looks hot hot hot – especially when it’s worn with a Talib white turban and well worn AK 47 (Russian, not Chinese made).

If you are a western journalist – get rid of the blue bulletproof vest and go for the light brown – oh , and drop the velcro badge that says “PRESS”, and don’t forget to put the ballistic bulletproof plates in – I know they chaff, but better a little sore than a big gaping wound. To go with your ballistic plates for your vest, a pair of ‘Wiley X’ ballistic sunglasses are a must. Form fitting to the face, you look like a special forces bad ass, rather than a nerdy hack, and they are great for looking cool and stoic when the chopper hits the ground and you get engulfed in a ball of dust.

Under the Burqa and behind the closed wood doors of the caravanserrai, women in the cooler northern areas go for alpaca wool knickers with a double gusset and imported bra’s from Tajikistan – “lift and separate” is the code words when buying your loved one something saucy from Akmal Famim’s breadshop/hoisery store in Balk.

Men still enjoy the ‘limpy limpy’ look – and go ‘commando’ -or as they say ‘go mujihideen’

‘Go mujahideen’, heheh…

What to wear in… Afghanistan

I seem to be meeting more and more people who love this country. And with The Kite Runner film last year, it’s getting ever-increasing attention. So if you’re venturing into the most dangerous Stan of all, where a bodyguard/armed guide is a de rigueur tourist accessory, you really wanna know what’s what. Not that there’s fashion police as such but Taleban ministers have imposed outrageous rules on attire in the past – you can read about some of them in this BBC report on tagging for non-Muslims.

The Lonely Planet forum has some advice. Here, as ever, are the ahem bulletpoints:

• Men – shalwar kameez on the road or in the country, western clothes are fine in cities like Kabul, Herat or Mazar. The jury’s out on the pakul hat due to many a silly Westerner photo.
• Women – you don’t get no advice so check out wikitravel instead, which says:

“Women in all parts of Afghanistan wear the burqa or chadori. On the other hand, many women in Kabul and Herat these days don’t wear the burqa but rather put on the middle eastern style hijab, which is similar to Iranian fashion. Western women are highly encouraged to wear a head scarf (especially outside Kabul)”