We celebrate the difference

Walking down the alleys in every “Medina Arbi” or down the streets in every Souk or bazaar , you can’t help but come across that blue touch, the one that eases your mind, lets it align with the word kind and draws a smile upon your unhappy side.

The same one that if you lived in the south like me, you must have heard your mother or grandmother mention it under the name of “THE EVIL EYE” which is a quasi-universal symbol of protection that is referred to as μάτι (mati) in Greek Mediterranean and West Asia. It is also one of the most recognised and renowned charms that wards off the mystic malevolent forces of the world.

Up till now,I’m certain that you are wondering about the backstory of it all.

Therefore, I invite you to listen attentively to the voice within you carefully reading my words, it’ll allow you to draw the magical boards of the story’s unique curves and turns.

Dear Maft reader, «The evil eye» despite being dubbed as such, its ocular amulet in reality is a talisman that is meant to defend you from these evil spirits. By radiating a charm that wards off the genuine fiendish eye: a curse transmitted through a pernicious glare, that is believed to bring bad luck for the person at whom it is directed more often than not one propelled by envy or dislike.

Hence, you repeatedly find people around you deflecting compliments given by others which lets you wonder.

Is this because they don’t want to come off as cocky? Or is there a deeper, more sinister root to why people feel they can’t merely take the compliment?

a curse transmitted through a pernicious glare, that is believed to bring bad luck for the person at whom it is directed more often than not one propelled by envy or dislike.

Now having realised the true meaning of it, let me introduce you to its blue beaming vibrations in fashion.

From evil eyes to sacred hearts, a look at lucky charms around the world was the release of the witchy festival gradually marking a new level of acceptance of the occult in fashion which has long been drawn to talismanic designs, from pendants bearing the image of saints , the khomsa (a palm-shaped amulet) and to the topic of today’s article « THE EVIL EYE » whose “pupil” usually comes in cobalt blue and is occasionally adorned with eyelashes .

It’s often drawed in homes, painted on walls, doors and furniture and in some places, found hanged like in Medina arbi or special shops yet however the most famous place is a cafe in Turkey in Cunda island where Evil eye symbol is hanged everywhere in trees giving you that vibe of ease.

It’s also considered as one of the most recurring motifs in fashion over the years, from the necklace worn by Willow Smith for Chanel’s AW16 eyewear campaign, to Elie Saab’s eye-embellished dresses from the spring 2017 couture collection, to Gigi Hadid’s Eyelove and Eyelovemore shoe designs with Stuart Weitzman the same year. 

Kchoush.com

Because honestly whether we recognize it or not, adorning ourselves with these symbols is a rebellion against those who would cast an unwanted glance our way at a party, in the office, or in our online spaces. 

At its heart, fear of the evil eye has a lot to do with consent or the lack thereof. When you wear an evil eye charm, you lay down a boundary between you and those who would do you harm. It’s an appealing concept, especially when some in our society still struggle to accept the seriousness of consent.

This is why brands took it upon themselves to offer us this symbol in every possible aspect of fashion, an eye, a circle, and with or without lashes in necklaces, rings, bags, T-shirts, socks, coats, and the list goes on. To name a few local and international brands that use this symbol as an essential, we're gonna have to mention Kchoush, Husn_jewelery, Marlo & Isaure ; EKCCI, Kahena Kollection, Boho fanatic, Chanchouna, and of course Chiarra Ferrgani brand... And that's how this iconic symbol is smoothly included into our daily life, creating this small bridge between the person wearing the item with the symbol and the safety net that vibrates from it, which successfully introduces us to the sacred bond of peaceful tranquility that we forever carry within, just like the evil eye symbol decorated items we can never bring ourselves to let go of, in fact, I’m wearing one of my own as I type this but it’s the old fashioned kind, proving one more point, that being, in Tunisia we inherit this kind of items for good luck, for example, I was given this bracelet by my mother given to her my grandmother.

Kahena Kollection

Marlo & Isaure

Now, however, all this variety transfers us to another point that resides in an interesting conundrum layed down on the fact that the amulet needs to be pretty but when the object of protection from envy is itself enviable, does it have the same effect?

Ps: Writing this article while wearing my own bracelet of the Evil Eye kinda gave me this nostalgic feeling to the shades of blue and the stories of love between the streets of SIDI BOU(SAID), so I guess it’s time for me to take a scroll down the Instagram page of unenuitetoilée to dive deeper into the mixture of love and Evil Eye’s symbolic display.