THE ARABIAN ALLURE

IN.FASHION
THE
ARABIAN
ALLURE
Words by Danna Molly Weiss
KOHL FOR HER
The turn of the century Orientalist’s honeysoaked fantasy depicts a palace courtyard
shaded by palm trees, framed with low
embroidered couches upon which recline a
group of Arab women draped in black silk
niqab, mysterious with only their kohl-lined
eyes showing. Classical Arabic poetry is
rich with descriptions of the gazelle, both
innocent yet alluring in form, enchanting
the poet with her dark, black-rimmed eyes.
Maha (translated as gazelle in English) is
a common name in the region as well as a
compliment that doting men commonly use
to flatter their wives and daughters.
Famously heavy-handed with her makeup
brush, painting her lids in shocking green
malachite shadow and rimming her
waterline in kohl, Cleopatra, the spirited
queen, made the look trendy centuries ago.
In her day, kohl was believed to please
the gods Horus and Ra, who in turn would
keep the Evil Eye from afflicting the wearer
with disease. For this reason men, women,
children and even babies applied kohl daily.
Interestingly, a recent scientific study partially
sponsored by the Louvre found the Ancient
Egyptians to have been correct; the minute
traces of lead salt mixed into kohl have been
found to possess antiseptic properties that
may have blocked UV light and prevented
certain eye ailments.
TO THIS DAY, MANY
WOMEN IN THE MIDDLE
EAST CONSIDER
KOHL-LINED EYES
TO BE BEAUTIFUL,
INCORPORATING THE
TIMELESS LOOK INTO
THEIR EVERYDAY AND
FORMAL MAKEUP
REGIMES
IN
80 |
FALL/WINTER 2012
To this day, many women in the Middle East
consider kohl-lined eyes to be beautiful,
incorporating the timeless look into their
everyday and formal makeup regimes.
If on a budget, a simple stick of kohl
can be bought in any souk or beauty
store for a humble price, accessible
to anyone with a few coins to
spare. Carefully swept across
the waterline, it defines the
eye, creating a smouldering
impact. However, the
customary variety easily
smudges and can
sometimes contain
dangerous amounts
of lead.
OUD FOR HIM
Once available only regionally, many of the
world’s top brands have now developed
kohl-based products and are making
Arab women’s beauty secrets accessible
to the global market. A search through
Sephora’s online shop yields sixteen related
products alone. In various shades including
stereotypical names like “Oriental Metal,”
kohl can be found in nearly every Western
brand’s range, including: Laura Mercier,
MAC, Dior, L’Oreal, and even Hello Kitty.
A-List celebrities Kim Kardashian, Katy
Perry, and Megan Fox have brought further
awareness to kohl by modelling the “cat
eye” look on the red carpet.
Anyone who has ever lived in the
Middle East has had the experience
of stepping into an elevator and being
overpowered with the scent of the
previous occupant’s oud. If you are
lucky the smell is intriguing, spicy,
and even sensual, possibly luring
your mind to imagine details about
the man who chose it. If you are less
fortunate, the musk makes your eyes
water effusively while you count the
floors until the doors open, thankful
that you don’t have to work or live with
the gentleman who over applied to his
wrists and neck.
The most highly reviewed product is
Guerlain’s Terracotta Loose Powder Kohl
Liner, packaged in a gold pot so opulent
it would not have appeared out of place
on Cleopatra’s own dressing table among
her other jewel-bedecked cosmetics. The
powder lasts longer and does not
threaten to poison you, but
is five times pricier than
the basic kohl you
could pick up in the
souk stall. The real
question is whether
you would prefer
Guerlain due
Arguably, Arab men more than any
other demographic of fellows, are
“scentaholics”, often times spending
even more cash on the luxury item
than their female counterparts. It
stands to reason that the art of
perfume-making originated with the
Ancient Egyptians, who invented the
packaging concept that we still love
today of bottling scent in attractive
glass vessels. A teaching mentions
that male Muslims are compelled
to take a thorough bath on Fridays
and to then anoint themselves with
perfume if it is at all possible. With
injunctions to wash before prayer and
also to maintain a high standard of
cleanliness, the use of scent by men
was organic even to early Islamic
culture. Famous Arab chemists then
proceeded to refine the distillation
process that serves as cornerstone for
today’s flourishing perfume industry.
to the
product’s
purported
superiority or
because
it carries
high-end
branding,
knowing
you could
pull it out of
your clutch in the
ladies’ room at a fancy
party and receive envious
glances from other women,
simply due to the exclusivity of
the label?
ARABIAN OUD
OR AGARWOOD,
REFERRED TO BY
INDUSTRY EXPERTS
AS “LIQUID GOLD”
BECAUSE THE PRICE
PER OUNCE IS
APPROXIMATELY ONE
AND A HALF TIMES
GREATER THAN THE
PRICE OF GOLD ITSELF
The most sought after type of cologne
is Arabian Oud or Agarwood, referred
to by industry experts as “liquid
gold” because the price per ounce is
approximately one and a half times
greater than the price of gold itself.
Oud is a distinct, spicy scent, often
mixed with other essential oils and sold
everywhere in the region, from upscale
department stores like Galleries
Lafayette to even the most modest of
souks. Pure oud is extremely
costly because it originates from
the Aquilaria and Gyrinops trees,
evergreen varieties so rare at present
that they are arguably the most
expensive in the world.
Even real connoisseurs of oud may
not know that the smell they adore
is actually a type of mould; when the
trees become infected with mould
they grow darker and emit oil meant to
protect it from parasitic attack. The oil
is none other than the pleasing odour
so highly valued by the Arab world.
At a time when every celebrity appears
to be capping off his or her success
by releasing a namesake scent, it
is important to understand that no
matter how much you want to be
your favourite star, you will never
smell exactly like them. Because
each person’s chemical composition
is unique and impacted by outside
factors including stress, perspiration,
and other cosmetics’ properties, the
base notes from the same bottle of
oud will smell different from one man
to the next. For this reason, it can take
time to sift through the varieties of oud,
searching for the type that flatters both
a personality and body type, while
perhaps also trying to select a scent
that conveys a message of strength,
power, or charisma.
Several global brands including
Tom Ford and Acqua di Parma
have recently released oud-based
colognes. The brands all benefit
from a devoted following of Arab
customers, particularly from the
GCC, and are clearly playing to their
demographics’ sense of style, rather
than the other way around. IN
FALL/WINTER 2012
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