Elvis Presley mayhave been the advance guard, but young Iraqis own it - protesters in Baghdadsport slicked styles and rockabilly haircuts, a testament to their unyieldingrebel spirit. "The revolution has changed everything," said Qassem,nearly three months into a popular movement that seeks to unseat Iraq's highlydysfunctional political establishment. "Now, it is all so different - weare free," the young protester added under a tent where he doles out teaand biscuits to peers in Tahrir Square. "We also know how to letloose," Qassem continued, his face switching suddenly from serious tosmiling. "And so I invented a new style," he chuckled, glancingupwards towards his rectangular pompadour.
Outside his tent,thousands of students and young unemployed people thronged the iconic square,railing once more against "crooked" politicians. Their enthusiasm hasremained undimmed since the start of the revolt on October 1, despite clashes withsecurity forces that have killed close to 460. One thing strikes the eyeperhaps above all else - the unbridled hairstyles young men sport. High quiffs,tight fades and loads of attitude - it is quite the male beauty pageant.
'Why be scared?'
Exclusively maleand in large part inspired by the fashionable cuts of football stars, thephenomenon is coursing through the Arab world. And it is particularly exuberantin Tahrir Square. "Here, we call it the rooster comb," explained alocal journalist. For 23-year-old actor and renowned activist Omar Dabbour,"the style began two years ago". Then "it exploded with therevolution in Tahrir. The people feel increasingly free," he noted.
Dabbour himselfsports an impressive, albeit more natural, style - an afro worthy of theJackson Five, which amounts to a radical departure, in what is otherwise anocean of hair gel. "In Tahrir Square, young people are daring - it hasbecome normal," added Dabbour. "But in the rest of the city, it's abit different - more conservative. There is the army, the militiamen who canbother you at checkpoints," he continued. "I don't care. Before, Ihad a short haircut. Now I have let it grow. Why be scared?"
Sporting yellowtinted glasses and maintaining a studious air, Karrar Riad, 20, pushed a handthrough his long and deliberately disordered locks. With a black leatherbracelet, he has the air of a young Johnny Depp. "Today, everything ispossible. We do what we want here," he said. Here perhaps, but not inRiad's home district of Kadhimiya, which houses a key Shiite mausoleum.
Going homerequires him to restore some conventional order to his unruly mop. Otherfashionistos don a cap to blend back in when they depart the protest hotbed.Their caution is not without reason. In 2012, at least 15 youths were stoned,beaten or shot to death in a spate of targeted attacks against people sportingthe "emo" look - tight-fitting black clothes and alternativehairstyles.
Voluminousproliferation
The range ofstyles is wide, but it is Iraq's take on the Elvis cut that rises head andshoulders above the rest: a towering pompadour with undercut back and sides."Adopted by celebrities, students and hipsters," the pompadour -named after a mistress of French King Louis XV - will transform you into a"sexy and trendy man", according to one website. But this styleitself unfurls into a multitude of sub-styles in Iraq, from classic rockabillyto even the mohawk.
And amid theproliferation of looks, cuts are becoming ever more voluminous. "The ideais to do what you want to do," said Dabbour. And probably also to attractthe throngs of young women who frequent Tahrir Square, in a commingling that isunusual in Iraq. The hairstyles on display have "roots in the 1990s, inthe hairdressing salons and male beauty parlors of Sadr City," explainedZahraa Ghandour, an Iraqi documentary filmmaker.
Sadr City - ahuge working-class district of northeastern Baghdad - was marginalized underthe regime of deposed dictator Saddam Hussein. "The residents wanted tomark themselves out. It was a means to express themselves, to protest,"said Ghandour. Baroque haircuts, meanwhile, "really started around twoyears ago, again in Sadr city."
ZouheirAl-Atouani, a local videographer who has gained nationwide fame, spread thisstyle by posting wedding videos in which men sport ever more sculpted looks.According to Ghandour, "in Tahrir, ever more frequented by young peoplefrom Sadr city, it's a way to rebel, to free oneself". It is also mostlikely a way of defying the country's all-powerful militias, and social revengefor young people who feel despised, yet now find themselves at the forefront offashion. "They are especially creative," smiles Ghandour. And thestyles are "spread far and wide by social networks", where dandieslove to showcase their ever crazier cuts. - AFP