A chocolate (i.e. candy) bar in the UK is Fry’s (the maker’s, now owned by Cadbury) Turkish Delight. I’m not a chocolate/candy person, but I do occasionally binge on a couple of bars of chocolate/candy and then forget about chocolate for another six months.

My favourite, now, is Cadbury’s (the maker’s) Dairy Milk.  Not actually ‘chocolate’, allegedly, as the EU, the European commission -another reason to hate them- tried to say that British chocolate wasn’t actually chocolate. It was ‘vegelate‘, as its chocolate content didn’t meet EU requirements, and Cadbury fought a 30(!) year campaign against the EU to have it marketed as chocolate. Try telling a Brit that, and try telling a Brit that the EU is a good thing if these are the sort of battles it -the EU- is going to fight. Absolute nonsense.

Anyway, Turkish Delight , in the UK, is a confection covered with chocolate rather than the same confection, in rose or lemon flavours, dipped in sugar, the original way method of manufacture.

The TV advert, featured above, comes directly from my childhood, simpler times 30 years ago when there was a sense of the east being exotic, and much less a sense of Turkey being ‘them and us’, in the days when Turkey was more secular than it is under President Erdogan, a man history will hopefully record as anathema to the edicts of Turkey’s founder, Ataturk.  Erdogan’s an asshole, but hey, that’s not so different from most politicians from Trump to Blair to Juncker and Tusk, via Merkel and Hollande.

By the way, if I’ve offended your political ‘hero’ in the list above… good. You shouldn’t have political heroes. They’re flawed human beings like the rest of us and more flawed than most.

Anyway, my point is that the world has simultaneously become much smaller and much more zonal in my lifetime, much more ‘us’ and ‘them’.

Back in the 80s, when I was a child, you could present a sense of ‘exotic Turkey’, in a positive way. It was a place of mystique. A place, along with other parts of the Middle East, that contained a harem. Of course, that exoticism as presented by orientalists was nonsense. The harem wasn’t a place of untold sexual pleasures, a place filled with concubines and belly dancers, but rather a place where women sat separate from the men. But that exotic, mysterious harem persists in western culture.

I’m delighted to see that the Paris 1900 sim has an exhibition of Orientalism on display in one of their buildings, if only for the fact that now is a time in history when we need to garner a greater understanding of other cultures, so any broadening of knowledge, even in an SL context, even if partly historically incorrect, is to be welcomed.

You’ll also find a couple of gifts available. A free male ‘Aladdin Pirate’ outfit, partly modelled by Timiany below, and a female exotic dancer outfit priced at L$10.

Once inside, there’s an exhibition of paintings with some excellent informative panels. The whole thing is exceptionally well done.

Made aware of the exhibition, I teleported over to wander around and enjoy the exhibition for itself, and also because I’m drawn like a moth to the flame where harem pants are available.

 

A selection of his & hers harem pants

I love ’em! Both in and out of SL.

Jim, Mr. Keng, and I owe a couple of pairs each, probably closest in the style shown centre in each of the above photos. They’re great lounging and leisure wear and are a loose, airy garment that we do utilise in the context of naturism, easy to throw on with a T shirt and look respectably dressed (if a little hippy like, but there’s nothing wrong with that) should someone ring the doorbell unexpectedly. They also go on naturist holidays with us and they’re my preferred style of dress for yoga classes I’ve recently taken up.

Ella utilises the Aladdin yoga pants for her yoga class.

In case you’re wondering about my hairstyle in the photo above…all will be revealed on Thursday! 😉

These pants are also ideal for anyone who role-plays any sort of hippy or alternative lifestyle in SL, as they’re fairly commonplace in hippy circles. And, of course, those counterculture lifestyles do often feature reasonable levels of causal undress as normal modes of daywear.

 

Timiany models the pirate pants and its accompanying turban (rest of outfit not used)

Elle McPherson, supermodel, adopts a similar look.

With Spain, and our first naturist vacation of the year, less than a month away, harem pants will go into each of our naturist suitcases.

Worth visiting for the free pants, and also worth visiting for the educational nature of the exhibition, ‘Orientalism’ at Paris 1900 sim shows SL done exceptionally well. I’ll be picking up on ‘hippy’ type clothing, and attitudes to nudity often displayed within that lifestyle, next week.

Ella

 

EDITED TO ADD: PIRATE OUTFIT RAISED IN PRICE FROM L$0 to L$100????!!!!!