Destination: Inspiration *Istanbul*

As I mentioned in my first “Destination: Inspiration” post for Rio de Janiero in Brasil, in my fashion, your environment should inspire you just as much as your own desire to forward yourself in life. The best way to learn about life is to experience it, and another interesting country I want to experience is Istanbul in Turkey. According to AskMen.com, if you cannot make it to Istanbul yourself, you will definitely be able experience it Novemebr 9, 2012 in movie theaters when the new James Bond movie, “Skyfall” , is released in the US, and October 26 in the UK. What attracts me most about this city is the architecture, history, and culture of this city. Considering it is practically on the opposite side of the globe, Istanbul would be a great way to escape the modernity of today.

In my fashion, I would travel in Istanbul with the spirit of Aladdin. Lately, my other half, Dwight (@Ken_Dutchess), and I have been playing around with turbans and head attire that is different from your regular fitted baseball cap or fedora. We’ve been finding all sorts of ways to adorn our heads using long, colorful, scarves and strips of fabric that mesh and/or clash with the rest of our outfit in order to create a tension that brings new light to an old outfit. It makes me think of the costume in ancient Mesopotamia and Assyria (the name of the land currently known as Turkey), and how people wore fillets, and chignons, and tarbush hats with tunics, and how they used long rectangular fabrics to drape around themselves as wrapped dresses, skirts and loincloths. Think of being as free as Aladdin on a magic carpet ride flying past the minarets of the Blue Mosque and the landscapes of the different fortresses of ancient times. Imagine strolling down the spice markets wearing languid fabric that follows you and your body in your own variation of a wrapped tunic and turban. Allow yourself to be open to the regional tastes and flavors of their foods. AskMen.com says they have an interesting fried ice cream that I am very interested in seeing and trying (“fried” and “ice cream” not being words I would typically pair to think possible of creating). In my fashion, this is the time to feel the Arabian spirit and channel that through our clothes for the summer!