Spring Fashion in Fes – Looking forward/looking back

The rains have arrived late this year, turning the warm, spring weather wet. By contrast, February and much of March were clear and cool, muddying the seasonal distinction in these parts. Nonetheless, there is one lasting look in Fes that has endured throughout the fluctuating weather cycles: argyle. The younger generation have taken to brightly-colored, tight-fitting Diesel and Lacoste sweaters with a smaller, cleaner diamond pattern. The pillars of Fes society, however, remain steadfast in their preference for the traditional look – dotted lines cross-hatching columns of man-sized diamonds. A kind of double-lattice work reinforcing the warmth and security of a good, hearty sweater. This look is particularly well-suited, I have noticed, to the pot belly. Drawing the diamonds at once outward and the V-neck down, the patterned points on the bearer’s clothing are accentuated and offset by the protruding roundness, which these patterns protect and hold. If I can take one observation from my eight months in Morocco, it might be this: Argyle – a look for all generations and all seasons.