Afghan Fashion Adventure

Posted by Lianne Gutcher at 11:41 on 18 Jun 2010

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Last December, there was a brilliant piece in a magazine entitled 'ultimate fashion adventures'.

Three of my favourites:

No. 11 Wear Le Smoking to seduce a man in the bar at The Carlyle in Manhattan.

No. 20 Walk barefoot across Venice's Piazza San Marco at midnight with a full-skirted Prada dress billowing around you.

No. 21 Book a carriage on the Train Bleu from Paris to the South (as did Lagerfeld, Warhol, Coco Chanel and Jean Cocteau). Dine in silk pyjamas and place the card game Onze until dawn.

My own fashion adventure: be the girl in the gold-on-green embroidered silk listening in to the call to prayer at the Grand Mosque of Herat (pictured above).

My photographer friend Jake is in the Congo right now but when he comes back we are going to recreate  Fred Maroon's 1960s Along the Silk Road in Afghanistan photos.

Maroon died in 2001 but I contacted his son then widow to get more information about the clothes. The lovely Mrs Maroon got back to me telling me to get in touch with the stylist. She didn't reply but I am fairly confident that I can have a replica dress made in Kabul by the time Jake gets back from his Africa adventure and we can dig up some furs on Chicken Street for the Bamiyan shots.  

Anyway, before for he left town, we had an interim fashion adventure. Jake and I picked up a bunch of clothes from Kabul designers, he chose six stunning locations in town, rounded up five of Kabul's most beautiful brunettes and one slightly scruffy blogger, and did a Kabul fashion shoot.

I think, when the six of us look back on our time here, we will all remember our fashion adventure as one of the most fun things we did.

(A note to the journalists out there - one especially, and you know who you are; we all know who you are - if I am kidnapped or die in unfortunate circumstances please use Jake's photo to accompany any piece rather than a mugshot or a snap of me at the Tarts and Talibs party. Thanks.)

Joanie at Darulaman Palace, the bombed-out former residence of King Amanullah.

Silk dress: Zarif Design, $180
Broach by Fazil Ahmad, 22, a 2nd year student in the Turquoise Mountain Institute's Jewellery & Gem-Cutting School

Thalia at the Turquoise Mountain Foundation

The door way is 19th century and rescued from a woodyard in Kabul and installed into this entrance at Qala-e Noh Burj (Fort of Nine Towers) to preserve it.  This type of design - with its wide shallow arch and intricate geometric and floral carved motifs - has been used in Kabul for centuries.  The Fort itself was also was built in 19th century as a royal lodge, and then later became the residence of a courtier family.

Silk shirt: Zarif Design, $120
Pendant: gold-plated silver and Bamiyan turquoise; designed by Pippa Small and made by Javid Noori of Turquoise Mountain's Design & Production Studio

Paula at the Bala Hissar Fortress which dates from the 5th century

Jacket: Zarif Design, $400

Nuria in Murad Khane, a district in Kabul's old city

Silk dress: Zarif Design, $600

It didn't go unnoticed that while everyone else modelled at a site of historical significance, Gemma was down the pub - at the Gandamack Lodge. The make-believe scenario: being stood up by a date. The result is very David Lynch.

Jacket:Zarif Design, $250

And then there was me. I rushed home after work, threw on the dress and heels, and a coat for modesty's sake. Jake picked me up on his motorbike and we raced through the rush hour traffic to get to the top of TV Hill for sunset. We all noted that Jake's bike tended to leak oil and were petrified that we were going to get our designer clothes covered in grease. At least on my trip, the bike didn't break down as it did when he and Joanie were on their way to Darulaman, though we did have a bit of a spill. No lasting damage. It felt shockingly inappropriate and dangerously exhibitionistic to strip of my coat and reveal - gasp - bare arms. We attracted quite a crowd on onlookers - guards and boys playing football in the dust - so we did a few shots and scarpered before they became overexcited.




Dress: Tarsian and Blinkley $80

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