More Than Just Kuffiyehs

As you know, KABOBfest is all about the Kuffiyeh trend sweeping the nation. However, traditional Palestinian fashions are also noteworthy, easily identifiable by their color schemes, intricate embroidery, and functionalism.

On Sunday, I happened to catch an excellent exhibition featuring over 40 Palestinian embroidered dresses and ceremonial costumes from the collection of Farah and Hanan Munayyer, founders of the Palestinian Heritage Foundation of West Caldwell, New Jersey. They are stewards of the largest collection of Palestinian embroidery in the United States.

This exhibition ran at the Arab-American National Museum’s Main Floor Gallery, and it is at the Dearborn, MI institution until November 25, 2007.

This beautiful exhibition, made possible in part by the Wallace Foundation, inspired me to but out some of my old photographic skills:

A ceremonial dress typical of Al-Khalil (Hebron).

A ninja from Haifa.

The Jerusalem-area exhibit.

A photograph of a photograph showing the intricacy of Palestinian embroidery.

It was fascinating to see these pieces just weeks after visiting the Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC. That museum features an amazing array of Native costumes from all over the continent. I noticed there are some similarities in the use of beads, and some resemblance between the patterns, from seeing the two exhibits.

I am no expert on fashion -- as my friends can attest -- so I am not sure what to conclude from my simple and naive observation. It did, however, remind me of the experiential commonalities, and more importantly, what Palestinian leaders can learn from the Native Americans (for instance, check out this exchange between Palestinians and Native Americans; also, see this article and this one).