The London Lounge

uppercase wrote:^^^

It's not about the money.

It's about the war.

Ah ok. Then I have misunderstood you.

P.S.
Iraq has twice the area of the UK. This is huge territory. You don't have fighting everywhere.
Same with Ukraine. The separatists are currently holding less than 5% of the territory of the country.
I have been 10 times in Ukraine since the beginning of the war. In most cities, apart from posters "Join the army" and the economic effects, you would not notice that the country is at war. And in places where they had fighting like Slovyansk, life is going back to normal.

In the case with Erbil, the ISIL were stopped 40 km away from the city by Kurdish forces and American air strikes so that people were saved from the horrors of street fighting. Currently the front line is 80 km away.
You can check here where active fighting action is taking place:
https://isis.liveuamap.com/

Don't get me wrong. I think it is cool that people there have such clubs and initiatives.

uppercase wrote:I really cannot find a better example of a more incongruous, inspirational, jaw dropping example of the transformative power of apparel in a hostile environment than this gentlemen's club inside of Iraq: Mr.Erbil.

I´m not sure if those dandies from Iraq are trying to look for something transformative by wearing dapper clothes or if the inner environment in which they live is really that hostile to them.
Could it be that Les Sapeurs of the Congo are a better example of what UC means?
http://attireclub.org/2014/03/10/les-sa ... men-congo/

Yes, also the sapeurs of Congo.

Who can explain the dress, the psychology, the motivation of these men in Erbil and the Congo ? And elsewhere.

I think that we are all members of this brotherhood to varying degrees.

Dress is extraordinarily powerful, transforms and transports.

They have not lost control.

Dress has always been an important status symbol in the areas of the Ottoman Empire.

Traditional Assyrian dandies of Erbil in the old days...





and today...

More sharp-dressed Erbil dandies of the past (Armenian and Kurdish)

Splendid!

https://instagram.com/p/BRIRjIEARZh/

And here are some more !!