Bits and Bobs

Here are some interesting things I've been reading this week...

- China sure has some bizarre buildings. Click here to see the weird, the wonderful and the downright ugly.

- This is a fascinating piece about women in Afghanistan struggling between modernity and tradition. It reminds me of Escobar's wonderful book, Encountering Development (1985).

Escobar discusses how women in Lamu, Kenya, have been affected by Western music, films and soap operas, leading to a reflexive interpretation of what it is to be a Muslim woman in a modern world. However Escobar points out that there are differences between the liberty that the Kenyan women strive for and the liberty that Western women enjoy. For example, women in Lamu were rejecting the veil, not because they perceived it as illiberal and a symbol of oppression but because they saw it as impractical as a part of a busy modern lifestyle. A must read for anyone interested in international development!

- These children's playgrounds are both incredible and nightmare-inducingly surreal!

- Throwing a lavish Gatsby-themed party might be somewhat missing the point of F Scott Fitzgerald's classic book but here's some reasons why you should throw that party anyway. 

- And speaking of Gatsby - check out this wonderful site looking at Fitzgerald's relationship with fashion.

- Delving into the shady world of the Paparazzi and the Italian elites. 

Familiarity and Otherness

I found this article on Turkish fashion to be really fascinating. In articles like this there's always this delightful interplay between familiarity and otherness. These women live in a country and a society vastly different from my own. Yet when reading the quotes from women about how they want to dress attractively in flattering clothes, the sentiments expressed are very familiar.

It is often stated that clothes allow an individual to express their unique personality and identity. But this article serves as a reminder that clothes also express group identity. By wearing thick-rimmed glasses, or all black, or designer labels, we associate ourselves with the plethora of other people who style themselves in similar ways. For the women in the article, how they choose to dress is a way for them to demonstrate their identification with a particular conservative ideology and membership of a global religious group.

I always tell myself that I dress for my own personal enjoyment but it's interesting to think what group membership I am, perhaps unconsciously, trying to identify with through my clothing.

Also - check out the photos from Istanbul Fashion Week!