Sacha Walters, Staff Reporter

A model sports a Carlton Brown design.

Despite Jamaica's tropical climate, some males are jazzing up their outfits by donning an extra item of clothing: scarves.

Entertainers DJ Elephant Man and Spragga Benz are among the challengers.

"(Wearing) scarves has nothing to do with the climate here in Jamaica, it's purely for style," said Carlton Brown, a menswear designer who used scarves in his 2005 and 2006 lines.

"For me, it has done its time," he said, admitting there are trends which people are not willing to let go of and, therefore, will always linger for some time.

Trendy scarves

But the types of neck garb which are trendy are very specific. One resembles the Keffiyeh, the traditional head and neck dress of Palestinian men made of a substantial amount of fabric.

American hip hop artistes Lil' Wayne and Lupe Fiasco wear these with pronounced folds of fabric, usually in black and red and black and white patterns.

Lil' Wayne has been exercising his right to wear his in summer as well. This particular type has caused some controversy in the United States with some saying that wearing the traditional garb indicates terrorist sympathising.

Elephant Man wore a purple and white stripe one trimmed with leather tassel while performing at the Pulse Caribbean Model Search Finals recently. Similarly, Kevin Blaire, member of Voicemail, was spotted in one at Weddy Weddy Wednesdays recently.

Why wear it?

"I just wear it sometimes if I have on something I think it compliments," said Blaire who usually stands out in the group Voicemail because of his edgy look. He usually sports a mohawk. He said that wearing scarves has a lot to do with fashion, but for him it really started out of necessity. When he was away on tour overseas, he wore scarves to shield his neck from the cold.

"I came home with it through the airport (in Jamaica) and people kept on saying it look nice," he added.

The next scarf is the smaller, square-shaped one which is tied around the neck like a cowboy does to absorb sweat. American Kanye West and Pharrel Williams wear these, often embellished with designer logos.

Brown said music will always influence fashion, and not just the fashion of the famous, but also of the regular man.

"Every man believes that he's a star now. Everybody wants to be a Beenie Man, Shaggy, Voicemail, Busy Signal because they put themselves together well," said Brown.

So their style will always trickle down.

Blair and Brown concurred that selecting light gauzy materials and ensuring the scarf is not tied too tightly will prevent one from getting too hot.

"If you have sweat running down, it won't look really cool then," Blair added with a chuckle.

DJ Elephant Man is all wrapped up