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Iraqis look to get ahead on keffiyeh fashion

The headdress worn by Iraqi men has become the embodiment of Arab prestige and a status symbol worn not only by ordinary citizens, but also by politicians and dignitaries who use it to profess their political and social standing.
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BABIL, Iraq — It is common to see Iraqi men, even the young, these days wearing the traditional Iraqi tribal headdress. Instead of Western clothes, many men opt to wear traditional garb that includes a keffiyeh (cloth headdress) and “agal” (cord wrapped around a keffiyeh). Sheikh Majid al-Kalabi, an elder of the Banu Kalb tribe, told Al-Monitor that this trend has emerged due to “the dominant role of tribes in Iraqi society, which has grown to rival that of the state in resolving disputes, organizing social events and influencing local government decisions.”

Kalabi said, “Wearing the headdress no longer is confined to those in the countryside and to desert tribes as it was in the 1950s and 1960s. It has become a trend that has widely spread to the cities, where in the past only a small proportion of people wore it. Iraqi tribes have distinctive headdress styles, and the leader of a tribe often wears a special agal whenever he appears in public.”

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