a little bit too much 'style'

one thing i noticed in egypt that doesnt really happen here in the west is that so many girls go all super-matchy-matchy when dressing.

their multi-layered coloured hijab style will match their carina top, which matches their blouse, which matches their pants/skirt, which matched their shoes, which matches their long thread of beads, rings and bracelets, which matches their eyeshadow, which matches their bag, etc.

its like colour co-ordination in overdrive.

to be honest - i dont like it.

its too over the top. there is no creativity in that...

i remember standing in a hijab stall in alexandria when this girl walks in with a hideous bright red jumper that she obviously just bought (arab street fashion can make any westerner cringe - at times its like eurotrash on LSD from 1993) which she then flung at the male shop assistant and told him she needed a hijab in the exact same colour. the poor guy had to go through about eighteen different red hijabs before he found one in the exact same shade.

here are a few examples of what i mean...

"its blue and black day today"

 "its purple and black day today!"

"polka dots, acid wash jeans, funny boob groping top - could this get any cooler?"

"its orange and brown day today."

"guess what day today is..."

sometimes being over-styled can hurt the eyes.

what do you think? do you like subtle styling or the more in your face co-ordination?

hijabs and hats

what do you think of the whole hat/hijab combo?
sometimes it can look great and well put together - other times it can look less than flash and quite unco.
here are three hat + hijab looks that i put together. what do you think of them?

would you wear a hat over your hijab?

HR video - how not to look like a turtle in hijab...

here is a quick video i put together on how to get a natural shape at the back of your hijab for girls with short hair. it also includes a little DIY project!

1920's inspired hijabi

i love the earlier decades of fashion. it was a time when modesty was in and anything above the knee was seen as classless. here is a 1920's flapper style hijabi outfit that i have created with a flapper style dress, 1920's necklace, 1920's brown heels, a vintage 1920's handbag and a 1920's head-dress...

the 1920's was also a great time for hats and fashionable head coverings. here are a couple of different pics from the time:

glam head dresses:
loose shift-like dresses:

1920's women also loved to decorate their hats and head wear and even their hair with gorgeous brooches, feathers, flowers, embellished headbands and jewels. you can copy cat the style by picking up vintage inspired pieces from second hand stores and wearing them on your hijab. you can even check out your local sewing craft store for gorgeous appliques readily available. these pieces below are available from here and can easily be worn on hijab for a 1920's style inspired look:

if large flowers and fancy coloured feathers are not really your style - then check out this similar idea. use small brooches as an elegant and dainty touch to your hijab. below are some of the cute brooches i have picked up from second hand stores over the years...

and here is how i would wear them:

would you try out a 1920's inspired piece?

colours of the world

lucky you - two posts today...

this is one i wanted to write for a while and since i have down a bright red based outfit post underneath - i wanted to add this in.

im not at all against using colour and i dont believe we are meant to wear dark colours and only dark colours. i believe that is a cultural thing. (check your hadiths about the women of the sahaba wearing colours for proof).

if you wore something bright red, like in the outfit below, and wore it say on the streets of saudi arabia where everyone traditionally wears all black, then you are sure to cause a scene and would be looking like an attraction/distraction.

but if you wore the same outfit somewhere in egypt (where i am at the moment) then no one would give you a second look. women of all ages here wear bright colours all of the time, so you walking down the street here looking like a popsicle rainbow wouldnt look out of place. you wouldnt be an attraction - it would be considered normal. i have seen girls here in head-to-toe bright pink and they just seem to blend in with the crowd.

the same could be said for places like malaysia or indonesia where girls like their colourful outfits as well - some african cultures as well. in the west its kinda half-half. we are not immune to bright colours, but if you walk down the street looking like a bright green highlighter then people will stare. and at the same time - a hijabi wearing all black is a distraction on the street and is a sight that sticks out. i find in the west we are sort of in the middle of the colour spectrum. we dont go for overly bright colours and at the same time too dark is off-putting as well. i guess we are more in the 'neutrals' range of acceptance.

so i think the colour argument only really depends on where you live and what your particular culture stipulates as being too much.

a popular style for young muslimahs in egypt:

malaysian hijabies:
dark is traditional in saudi:

bright and patterned to the hills in india:

put one of the saudi sisters from the pic above smack bang in the middle of the indian lot and she will for sure look out of place.

where are you from and what is the norm where you live? are brights accepted? are darks? or are you living somewhere where the in-between is normal (such as the west)?

how to do up the red dress

i think the best way to start of an outfit is by taking a plain basic and to work off of that. down below we have a pretty plain red sleeveless dress, that i am going to do a few different looks with:

down below:

the first look has been fixed using a large, poncho style tartan jacket, red tights, black shoes and a black hijab.

second in line: a cute black gypsy top - emroidered with tiny flowers, black hijab and flowery square scarf that has been folded into a triangle and wrapped around the neck and across the chest. its matched with red shoes and a deeper red bag.

third look: reverse look with the shoes and tights, a big square bag, black hijab - large loose jacket and to really add distraction a long monochromatic tie-dyed scarf has been hung around the neck.

but my favourite alternative look is this one below done up with a heavily striped shawl, two belts across the mid-section (done up loose and with the help of the shawl the belts wont add obvious curves to your appearance), a red beret and a few brooches here and there to complete the look.

which one would you be tempted to wear?

double scarfing

double scarfing is a quick and easy way to brighten up a plain outfit - in this case a plain black abaya and hijab ensemble. all you basically do is add a bright or patterned scarf and loosely drape it around your neck or tie it over your chest. it also helps in colder weather to keep warm as well.

have you ever tried out this look? which look do you like best?

styling up the abaya

the easiest way has to be throwing on a nice jacket. it immediately transforms the look into something else - sometimes so much that it might appear your abaya has turned into a long black skirt.

any length of jacket will work - but its best to go with something that will comfortably sit over the abaya sleeves as most abaya sleeves are quite loose at the ends and may look a bit weird being rumpled and crushed under a tight jacket sleeve. another alternative to this problem is to go with an abaya with a fitted sleeve but they are very hard to find online and seem to not exist in most abaya stores. i had to resort to chopping both sleeves off a plain black abaya of mine so i could wear it with long sleeved jackets and cardigans comfortably.

here a three quick and easy monochromatic looks that can be thrown together in seconds to updo a plain black abaya:

which is your favourite look? which one would you wear? and do you have any tips for finding a fitted sleeve abaya online?

so i wear black all the time...

so what?

im in abaya 24/7 and the thought of walking down the street in any other colour feels wrong for me. not in the islamic sense - im not one of those "any other colour but black is haram" kinda people. i love a patterned fluro green hijab and an orange bag and all my abayas usually have some kind of coloured detailing, so i guess its not completely black.

i look at the malaysian girls around me and see their very bright and very patterned kebaya outfits and it looks fantastic on them, but on me i would just feel uncomfortable - like a scribbled drawing by a five year old - done completely with highlighters.

i have seen some women of arab descent wearing coloured abayas but they usually look crap and/or like they bought them from some back road egyptian village store and fellahin (villager) is not the look im going for. and dont get me started on denim abayas. dear gawd.

someone i work with wears one and it looks horrible. add to that the fact that she doesnt iron it and it looks like she is just wearing a crushed piece of acid wash potato sack. i know its not all about style for everyone, but it should be about being and looking presentable. and denim abayas are really tricky. not everyone can pull them off - most people dont accessorise it properly either. lets look at some denim abayas that get a FAIL from me:

this one looks outdated to me - like it should be in style only in the early 1990's. "wheres my boombox at?":

this one screams "get me hoe and a wagon! it's harvesting time":

and this one here below - in the photo it looks kinda street funky/cool but i guarantee you in reality it looks frumpy and weird:

conclusion - denim abayas suck. and if you are gonna reply and write "i have one and it looks good" then let me pre-reply and say this: "no it does not. you are in denial and you probably look like crap but no one has the guts to tell you that so you continue to walk around looking like a villager from 1992, thinking you look good and Lady - you are mistaken." denim should be kept for a nice pair of jeans - the way Levi Strauss intended - not for abayas.

i think i have one non-black abaya and it currently lives in my backyard as i washed it a week ago (i lie - three weeks ago) - it fell off the clothes line in the rain and i havent bothered to pick it up. half because im lazy and the cat seems to enjoy sitting on it and half because im not interested in it. plus it looked a dusky pink from the online store i bought it from yet when i received it, it looked more baby shit brown.

i dunno people - every time i see a gorgeous non-black abaya my eyes nearly fall out of my head and i feel myself automatically reaching for my purse, yet when i try it on i start getting this evil voice in my head whispering "its not black. dont be a traitor to the black. stay on the darkside. the darkside loves you". and the darkside usually wins and stops me from wearing fantastic, mind-blowing pieces like this in public (i usually keep them for home/girlie parties or wear under an open black abaya to splice up the look):

(a piece from my girl Dian Pelangi's latest collection -{to be shown soon!} i love tie-dye)

what about the other abaya lovers out there? do you always find yourself wrapped in black or do you dabble in colours? and what are your thoughts on the *cough-hideous-cough* denim abaya?

egyptian hijab styles

most are cool, colourful and funky, but i have noticed that a lot are just down right fugly, over the top and extremely tacky. take these into consideration:

red ruffles, corset-bodice and a full spanish style skirt with a hijab in a western wedding veil-like wrap, with a huge flower on top = effing gross. just too worng. hurts my eyes. seriously - who the eff would wear this mess?

or how about full on tacky-cheap leopard print? leopard print is usually a trailer park trashee's favourite design, so when i see a full length butterfly abaya and matching hijab i just want to vomit all over my own lap. even the model isnt happy about wearing it...

anywho - i guess this is why i prefer the khaleeji (arab gulf) style of hijab - it is a lot less 'all over the place', simpler and in my mind much classier. dont get me wrong - i love egypt and egyptians, but some of them are definitely the queens of cheap and tacky. sometimes the layers and layers of crap and the race to see "who can look the most colourful?" is just way too much.

subtle and refined are words to keep in mind.

maybe a rethink is needed?

i have been seeing a little bit of this tight belt over tight abaya look recently. (saw heaps on eid that i admired the style of - but not the tightness). first of all - your abaya isnt supposed to be tight. if you give any abaya tailor your measurements, they will make your garment at least two inches wider than your measurements, to make sure it is loose on you, so you shouldnt be in tight abaya anyway. but wearing a waist cinching belt on top of your tight abaya just completely ruins the look.

here is what i mean:

style-wise it is stylish and fantastic. i like the look myself - but - as a muslimah you have to make sure whatever you are wearing is loose against your body and this look not only cinches in the waist area, but also the chest.

ways around it:

wear the belt, but use a much looser abaya, one that will allow you to hang the material over the belt so the waist isnt cinched in and so you have this cascading abaya-over-belt look that looks equally stylish, yet still modest. if that still isnt modest enough for you, how about wearing a nice jacket over the top? you can still have the belted look going on and hide those curves.

does this ever happen to you?

today i walked into a shop to buy some cake mix because im having people over later (yes, you really needed to know that) and on arrival in the shop i walked past two muslim guys and one of them was staring.

i thought he was doing so for either one of these three reasons:

1. he digs my hijab and wants to buy one for his wife ...OR...
2. he wants to take me back to his village so we can live as camel herders for the rest of our lives ...OR...
3. i looked like his sister/mother/dad

i walked past him and further down the shop and saw my reflection in the coke fridge and realised why he was looking. i had a bit of this going on...

...that awkward "im a hijabi but i like to air-condition my chest occasionally" thing. even though it was only a tiny bit of my neck-meets-chest skin patch hanging out between my hijab and abaya, it made me feel totally naked for some reason. dont you hate it when that happens?

khaleeji bumping

without getting into the issue of the camel hump hadith, do you actually like the humpy hijab look? do you consider it stylish or somewhat ridiculous?

for me it is half/half. some girls look beautiful with it, but some hijabies end up looking like joker clowns because the bump is bigger than their head. i guess the positioning of it comes into play as well the actual hijab style that you are working.

i have seen some somali girls here wearing it under multi-layered loose hijab styles and it looks great, while some aussie girls wear it with tightly wound hijabs and it looks wonky and stupid because the bump is huge and isnt put into proportion properly by using a loose scarf like the somali girls do.

this one - i think is too big and it is right on top of the head which makes it stand out and appear as if the bump is twice the size of the girl's head (but besides the size issue - i think she looks stylish and i want that bag)...

whereas this one - although big as well, is positioned much lower down and so i think this particular hijabi chick gets away with a classy bump...

what do you think?

i did the unthinkable...

i massacred one of my abayas.

i got sick of not being able to wear cute cardigans and jackets because of loose abaya sleeves. bunched up sleeves under a soft cardigan is not a good look. looks kinda wonky if you know what i mean.

so today i had enough. i grabbed a plain black abaya, grabbed some scissors and hacked off the sleeves at the shoulder. so now it kinda looks like a wide strapped, sleeveless long black dress and it works a treat with cardigans and jackets. im so glad it did it. it definitely gives me more options to work with.

i wouldnt suggest buying a brand new abaya and destroying it straight away, but if you have an old abaya that you dont mind altering, then get to cutting and get more use out of it.

are you a hijabi with glasses?

i am. at first i hated having to wear them because unless you buy a plain black pair, it is hard to make it go with every single different hijab you own. i dont own a black pair, because black is too heavy for my complexion and just makes my face look really tired, so i try to not have black around it. i have started to buy more pairs in different shades and patterns, so they will go with more of the hijabs i own. and like with the hijab - if you have to wear it everyday, you may as well make it look good. i bought these two in the last couple of days...

a blue and white swirled pattern to go with my blue, white or grey toned hijabs...

a red pair, tinged with purple and side bling to go the the more warmer coloured hijabs i own. it goes great with the reds, purples, dark pinks and of course the neutral shades like black and grey...

here are some hijabi & glasses looks i like...

the classic black specs look - khaleeji style...

do you wear glasses with hijab?

dressed down formal style

i have a few pieces hanging up in my wardrobe that are strictly formal pieces and therefore can only be worn at certain times to certain events. so basically they are hanging up not being used as much as my everyday clothing - a waste basically. but i have found a way around it.

i have started wearing them to everyday places by wearing them under a semi open abaya or some kind of cardigan/jacket that covers the more detailed chest areas, that way they get more use and wear.

click here to see the open abaya i wear with them (on sale for $37).

how to style a plain abaya

thanks to hijabs high i can show you how to dress up an otherwise plain abaya. i know some think it can't be done and that is why they stay away from the abaya - thinking it is boring and hard to style. to prove you wrong - here are a few different ways to layer upon an abaya...

a black satin abaya - layered with a hot leather jacket for a great street look:::

another great satin abaya - topped with a cute cardigan, matching hijab and tons of bangles:::

a stylish winter coat that could also function as work wear:::

laid back style with a cardi, saddle bag and simple jewelry - not to mention a beautifully styled hijab:::

another great way to layer an abaya is by using ponchos, capes and vests. try it out today and see what you come up with.

which is your fav?

aussie hijab stylist

i found a hijab stylist in Australia! Her name is Dianne and she works in the Melbourne area. if any of you in Victoria wanna contact her, then you can reach her own 0434495626 and hire her style services. here are some pics of her work... hope you like them...

which ones do you love?