Happy Halloween

Punk'd a la francaise, grace à Remi Gaillard. Enjoy!

LOL Lighting

Not the usual topics but I couldn't resist...

(Rien à voir avec les sujets normalement vus sur ce blog, mais qui pourrait resister à cette p’tite touche fantaisiste?)

You know those people's houses when you go to visit them, and they've paid so much attention to detail? The light switchplates coordinate with the color of the mantel or a stripe in the pillows and the whole place seems in harmony with a touch of whimsy?

This is like that:

For all of you who always forget to turn off the lights, your appliances may soon start taking over, watch out!

Found at The Play Coalition.

Lights out!

Couture does Berber Bling

A post on Luxist that was picked up by the Doneger Group (those faceless people who decree that you and I and everyone else are all going to be wearing orange and chartreuse with grey stripes come Spring 2011) highlights how recent couture fashion has (once again) been co-opting traditional Middle Eastern garb as high fashion.

Some designers (Givenchy here, my dears) didn't even mull things over too long before simply ripping off traditional pseudo-Gulf bedouin togs to slink down its runways.

Then comes the Berber fibula-cum-military jacket lapel pin-cum-jinglejangle chemise and harem jodhpurs.

What, no fez?

And an outfit Lady Liberty herself might select for her social debut:

But that's not all. Remember Ralph Lauren's crazy collection from a few seasons ago? All that yuppie-safari hit the runway the same month as the 2008 economic crash. (And, ever with an ironic finger on the nation's pulse and pocket, the good people at RL inc. went for the po' boy look for 2010...I can't deny the man's business acumen, I admire him for it, but there must be a way to find middle ground between NY-safari fantasy and boxcar hopping...And fashion, i.e. $300 faded overalls, as a projection of our times is a dismal forecast for economic recovery...)

In what is surely a stock Indiana Jones plot, RL rolled out a biplane-flying heroine who recovers artifacts with the aid of her gold lame parachute (pants)...

The evil SS femme fatales disguised as mysterious European archeologists skulk around stealing state secrets in ostrich-hide hat boxes and trench coat pockets...

While the natives with major toothaches watch, blasé, from their hovels...

And the naively innocent colonel's wife tries not to develop a secret desire to ditch her pith helmet for our heroine's satiny camp shirt. Then she goes off for a pleasant afternoon of lion-shooting and tea.

Seriously, did this collection's designer get fired from the Spielberg studio and head to Manhattan?

At least one major designer did some good interpreting "Middle Eastern" wear:

the resort 2010 collection ran a strange gamut from from ingenue Coco/Edith Piaf to these beauties:
Beautiful beautiful takes on the perennial caftan. Well done.

(His Spring 2010 collection, however, showed some ominous signs of imitating RL's...

And an even scarier use of the Spanish mantilla as headscarf...

(Cute braids though. )

Algerian Stamp Art

Thanks to L for her encouragement last night over dinner, I'm back to blogging, let's hope with a vengeance...

To kick things off, let's start with a brief stamp collection from Algeria that both presages a coming post and hopefully will lead you to Creative Roots, a while-away-two-hours-without-noticing blog about culture, graphics and advertising.

These are the first Algerian stamps I've seen and I thought they were such lovely and diminutive works of art that they were definitely worth sharing. Almost folk art -the one below particularly so- if it weren't that they're clearly "stamped" with approval by the state.

This last one, you'll never guess the link but you may be surprised to learn what 19th century Algerian resistance fighter, sufi saint and all-around hero Abd el-Kader has to do with the U.S.!

(So come back later this week, ya'll hear?)

French Chic meets Moroccan Cool at Dar Seven

The sumptuously understated guest house Dar Seven in Marrakesh, owned by a certain Italian prince and princess, is a study in muted tones that manages to be both riche and yet comfortable.

I know some balk at taking traditional riads in Morocco and Tunisia, gutting them and modernizing or westernizing them, but I truly find Dar Seven to be a well-executed blend of hotel and home.

It seems Dar Seven's style is very much what West Elm and Elle Decor have been aspiring to in recent months, and it's most unique features in my opinion are those tonal stripes, eye-soothing neutral solid colors (quite a change from the eye-poppinglingly colorful ochres, greens, browns and blues of Marrakesh!) and vague east Asian influence in furniture and what Frasier Crane would pursingly ooze "objets d'aaaarts..." but what you and I might call nick-nacks.


"Mr and Mrs. Smith" wrote their own review in the Telegraph, and decreed:

"a colour palette more Ralph Lauren than Moroccan riad. Utterly tranquil, magnificently chic."

True, true.

They certainly thought it was worth the trek through the winding medina (but then, there is much in this world worth those peregrinations through narrow, twisting streets).


A friend of mine just loathes this monochrome look, "institutional and bland" she says; for her Morocco is all about the colors. In sparser settings with less attention to detail I might agree, but to me this space softly murmurs: "quiet escape into beauty", a change from the oft-seen "wildly polychromatic exotic getaway with camels!". Emphasis on the camels, for some...

Maybe they'll add a zen rock garden to the roof*?

Several sites offer booking info, I learned about it through Morocco Gateway. But why not create your own version at home?

Now where are those cans of beige paint?

*That would be too much, wouldn't it?

Issaquah - Chefchaouen: Sister Cities

If you happen to be near Seattle this weekend, stop by the Issaquah Salmon Days Festival to meet and observe two Moroccan artisans and greet the mayor of Chefchaouen, Issaquah's sister-city in Morocco (!!).

"-Mostafa Dennouch, of Marrakech, is a premier wood artist who creates masterpieces of geometric patterns. Sometimes the work is encrusted or inlaid with different pieces of wood or metal.

-Driss Essakhi, of Fes, is a metal crafter. His work includes a diverse range of metal art pieces that are ornately decorated with geometric patterns and inlaids, such as jewelry, utensils, silverware, brassware, statues and wrought iron.

During Salmon Days, the artists will be displaying and producing their artwork at the corner of East Sunset Way and Rainier Boulevard South. The artists will also be demonstrating their crafts at local Issaquah schools during their visit.

In addition, we welcome Mayor Sefiani of Chefchaouen who will be featured in the Salmon Days Festival Parade, beginning at 10am on Saturday, October 3rd."

100 cops against 10 Moroccan sandwiches

This amusing title from Spanish paper El Mundo chronicled an interesting event this past week in the Cherifian Kingdom:

Two women, both professionals, have taken the lead in forming a Movement of Non-Fasters during Ramadan in Morocco. The group, called MALI مالي؟ : Mouvement Alternatif pour les Libertés Individuelles (Alternative Movement for Individual Liberties), [which is also a jaunty acronym spelling the Moroccan darija phrase meaning "what's wrong with me?"] used everyone's* favorite social-organization platform, Facebook**, to set up a small protest at the train station in Mohammedia, (a somewhat middle-class sleeper community on the Atlantic coast near Casablanca).

Zineb El Razhoui y Betty Lachgar, the spokeswomen of MALI.

Armed only with savory bocadillo sandwiches and a belief in individual freedom, the small group of protesters met with more than 100 policemen and security forces, and of course a mass of press people, at the train station. The cops speedily rifled through their knapsacks and lo and behold! the proof of these malfaiteurs' intention to commit a crime: bread, tomatoes and tuna fish, avec une bonne dose d'huile d'olive pour le gout. They were immediately rustled up and put on the next train outtathere back to Dar Beida.

Tools of Social Disorder - sans jambon, surely

(eh non, ce serait trop osé quand même!)

It may sound like a joke, but publicly breaking the fast during daylight hours in Morocco when one is evidently Muslim and not in any situation that would clearly exempt one from fasting (namely: too young, too old, frail health, pregnant, nursing, or menstruating women) is a crime punishable by one to six months in prison and a fine, as laid out in article 222 of the Moroccan Penal Code. Not to mention the social ostracism which can be far worse in a country where individual rights are traditionally subordinate to the rights of the group.

MALI's aim was to bring attention to what they considered inconsistencies in Moroccan laws that allow both Code 222 and the freedom of religion guaranteed in the Constitution.

A communique from the Oulema Council (council of religious authorities) their actions were called: "an attempt at public breaking of the fast by a group of agitators in violation of one of the pillars of Islam, arguing that this is inscribed in the framework of the exercise of individual freedoms. "The country's Oulemas warned against 'the repercussions of these acts upon the life of the oumma".

Another source mentions a case from a year ago, when a man, apparently healthy, was publicly denounced and assaulted in Fez for having drunk some water in the street. A few hours later he was freed after his family was able to prove that he was diabetic.

These events, and the conversation they have sparked online, demonstrate a growing trend in Morocco of an increasing sense of individualism and personal freedom to behave as one likes, regardless of social norm. Let's check out just two comments on a post at popular Moroccan blogger Larbi's page [fr]:

Hmida, responding to Larbi's statement that this group displayed a "certain form of courage" responds:
"Do these young people really have a "certain form of courage" as you say or rather an enormous dose of recklessness?
Defying the law, defying society, provoking those who do not ask to be provoked, creating a mess in a society already in a ferment..."

Just after Hmida, "une marocaine" replies:
"This is the first step in a long and hard process. Our societies will one day or another become secular. Sooner would be better. I find these people courageous.
PS: I stand with this group out of principle. Freedom of conscience, for god's sakes! Everyone ought to be free to believe or not to believe. And those who choose to believe ought to be free to believe in what they choose. Amen."

Of course, this demonstration is just a small part of a much larger social rift between disparate groups that can be categorized in a number of ways: the well-educated vs. the un- or under-educated; upper middle class (++) vs. lower class; "Westernized" Moroccans, who speak French, vs. "Traditional" Moroccans, who speak only Moroccan, or else standard Arabic (known as "les francisants" and "les arabisants," respectively); and of course, the [rebellious??] youth vs. the older generations. There are nuances, certainly, to these groups, but on the ground you can feel the schisms that Moroccans as individuals and a society are having to negotiate. on a daily basis One hopes for a happy medium to emerge in the future.

When I first went to Morocco with my husband it was during Ramadan. People told me over and over, "oh, poor you, this is the wrong time to come to Morocco, this isn't how it normally is!" Nevertheless, it was a very special time, with all the stresses and joys of Christmastime in the west (just...a month long...) when most people are both grumpy (read: hungry) but also take a lot of time to enjoy being with their families and friends, and there is a wonderful feeling of generosity. More religious people really do find it to be a time of introspection, spiritual renewal, and setting out again with a clean slate and a resolution to be a better person. I've written about some of this before.

During that trip, total strangers were usually delighted to learn that I was fasting, (even though I hadn't converted), even to the point of effusiveness. But what to make of the people who smoke, drink, and whore all the rest of the year, but during Ramadan tell friends who abstain from such behavior, but choose not to fast, that they're going to hell, while all of their own sins will be forgiven? And what of that oft-quoted line from the qur'an "There is no compunction in religion"? I'm no religious scholar and don't want to get in a debate about interpretations, for which I am imminently unqualified, but I do believe that faith, (as opposed to religion) is an individual affair.

Difficult to say whether this group will really gain any ground, or even if it will become something of moot point in a few days with the coming of eid el fitr in Morocco.

*Everyone in this case = young folks and tech-savvy people in developing countries...
**It should be noted that many of the members of this FB group chose not to show their profile pictures! So much for taking a stand...

Sandwich image courtesy Bocadillos. Photo courtesy El Mundo.

Moorish sunscreen at Delia Shades

Geometric sunscreens in Moorish, Islamic tile, and Indian motifs by Delia Shades. Not so crazy about the contrast with the dark bricks but I think these are a beautiful and simple interior adornment.

This one reminds me of the tilework in this Central Asian artwork:

And the Greek key pattern that Moroccans seem to go crazy for in their own interior decor:

Many more patterns at the website.

Pin-me Persian: small art buttons by Dogmeh

Lovin' and laughing at these Persian-motif buttons from Dogmeh.com.


You've got your classical tile & calligraphy pattern, your in-the-know "retro", your ancient-cum-pseudo-Achaemenid styles, and my favs, the "prehistoric" animal icons that remind me of Scythian motifs.

"La boss en jupon" Ladies take the reigns of the Mafia

Interesting article at Le Figaro [fr] on the phenomenon of iron-fisted women taking over the Mafia, Camorra and Ndrangheta after their blokes get stuck in the slammer. La femme d'aujourd'hui n'est pas comme la femme d'hier...