A headscarf smartly worn adds to the beauty, so to speak, at many levels. First, the headdress can be a beautiful accessory, giving life to an original image. A heavy headdress adds to the posture – one should wear the scarf with pride, you cannot look down dejectedly. At cold times, the headscarf gives warmth, and the face becomes pinkier, the eyes shinier, and the brains better at work.
However, when I was going at a master class in wearing headscarves, my first reasoning was aesthetic: colorful shawls can easily be combined in many tiers. Even listening to interesting stories about this piece of clothing is interesting.
A SIGN OF IDENTITY
Natalia Zapolidis, psychologist by profession, conducts the master class by wrapping a dark red shawl with large flowers around my head. The artist creates a careful composition, making sure that the pictures on the shawl are seen clearly. “Hutsul women wrapped this way. Girls and young women wore brighter headscarves, senior women – darker. The girls’ version allows for hair running down at the back. If the shawl was big enough, women winded the so-called ears,” says the master. “This one is for cold times, to protect the ears. A very practical one. Once I was at sea and my ears started aching, so I used this way. One needs skill to tie a headscarf. My grandmother could do it in no time – she worked swiftly with her fingers, as if she shawl folded by itself. I need a few minutes.”
Frankly speaking, I learned nothing from my first time. To be honest, I hadn’t even tried to remember the precise order in which the scarf is folded. I was enchanted by the sight – as a large piece of fabric folds into something elegant and beautiful. And when you get a scarf wrapped around your head, it somehow soothes and calms the mind.
“I have been wearing headscarves since my childhood, when I was ten. For some reason, I did not like hats, so I found a scarf at home and wore it. Then I began experimenting. I thought I knew all things headscarves, but no,” smiles Natalia. For the master, a headdress is a sign of a woman’s identity. Natalia considers this thing to be something magical, something that is able to create beauty.
“HEADDRESS AS A PASSPORT”
“In Ukraine, we have known scarves for 300 years. They came from the Persians through the Turks, who had some wars here at the time. But this thing has just stuck here, it seems that a shawl is authentic. But no. The first women’s headdresses in Ukraine are the so-called namitka. They were long, linen, embroidered shawls, which were tied around the head. Neither a scarf, nor namitka would have been worn on the head without a reason,” Natalia Zapolidis says.
The artist explores how scarves are worn in different cultures. “The Kazakhs and Europeans – it is everywhere – had simpler ones for wearing at home, they just tied their hair. But coming out required something more exquisite in terms of the headdress,” Natalia says. “Now people are talking too much about sacred, but I tend to think simpler. I am a mistress of my house, I am everywhere, and so everywhere, excuse me, is my hair. Wear a simple cap – and the hair wouldn’t be falling down. It is a practical thing. But as for the headdresses for the street, they had another purpose – to inform about the social status, whether the person is married or has children. Sometimes by the number of folds on the shawl, one could understand how many children a woman had. The headdress was a kind of passport. Which village you come from, are you engaged, are you a girl, and what is your reputation – everything was there on your head.”
EVERY ACCESSORY COUNTS
In Muslim tradition, there should be not a single hair poking from under the headscarf. To rectify this problem, women wear a cap under the scarf. “It’s neat and it creates volume,” adds Natalia. “You might think, there’s a lot of hair there, tied in a knot? But there is only a cap. You can take an ordinary thin cap with a pompon, turn it inside out and wear to create more volume.”
Muslims women are also actively using pins. They add pins to the back of the scarf, horizontally. In general, Natalia Zapolidis states that a high-level master would tie a scarf with a minimum number of accessories. But there are models that cannot be done at all without pins.
Natalia’s purpose is to prove that headscarves are not archaic, that they can be worn in everyday life, and there are no canons about how such an accessory should look like. She ties an oriental scarf with cheerful owls to one of the master-class participants. The fringe knots of the scarf are turned into a decoration that revives the image. Ukrainians have always used a cap under the scarf – incidentally, it can protect the hairstyle. Today a buff can be used instead – a modern piece of headgear to protect against adverse weather. Or you can take an ordinary thin cap.
During the master class we experimented even on the male photographer. Natalia made him wear a thin scarf with a lush drapery – in Arabic style. “The difference between female and male version – the female makes her forehead higher. If the headdress is too low – it is ugly, it makes the head flat. But a man can do it. This way, his eyes become the center of attention, and it emphasizes manly facial features,” Natalia says.
Natalia’s videos of how to tie scarves are uploaded on the Internet. She receives feedback: people send photos and videos to her with their different versions of outfits. Natalia concludes: “It turns into a movement! Even though modern women are often afraid to try a new way, to see herself differently. It is important to show that a modern scarf can easily do wonders.”
