Please go to my Hijab Chique Blog!

I've decided to rationalise my blogs, that is limit my blogs to a smaller number. At the moment I have five blogs and that is too much, I would rather have three. Please update your feeds and links. I get a lot of hits through links from other hijab blogs so any hijabi bloggers, please add my new link!

Hijab Chique

I've written this post I Heart Hijab In All Its Colours  to explain more of my reasoning please read this post and read my new posts which will have a range of different inspirations.

Loving the eşarp - LOSVE Turquoise Paisley

Paisley is soo cool. Wikipedia says "is a droplet-shaped vegetal motif of Persian origin, similar to half of the Yin yang symbol, or the leaf of the Indian bodhi tree or the mango tree; or to a leech. The pattern is sometimes called "Persian pickles" by American traditionalists, especially quiltmakers,^[1] or "Welsh pears" in Wales textiles as far back as 1888.^[2]"

What I love about LOSVE scarves is that they are like eşarp, howerver they are not silk so are a lot cheaper, but they feature different patterns from the Turkish eşarp houses as they are independent of Turkish fashion being in the UK. This hijab features turquoise, white, orange and yellow so I have picked these up in my look. There's an alternate scarf or dupatta as I saw a sister wearing this in a salwar kamees recently and it was soo beautiful. I hope you like the quirky accessories, we are moving into spring now so I thought I would love to wear some OTT looks.

Loving the eşarp - LOSVE Red and Black Splatter

Aren't the LOSVE eşarp fantastic and they are much cheaper than silk ones. Go to Hijab Trendz for an interview with the creators and a discount.

I love this black, grey, white, red splatter eşarp it could be worn with a grey, black or white outfit as the feature item or used to pick up colours in the look.

My look I've done here combines a cute plaid jersey (buy it loose) with a long black jersey skirt from Funky Frum a modest clothing estore by a Jewish woman. To cover it up wear a grey trench and boots, if its warmer you could wear sandals instead. As this look is a mixture of patterns I also wanted to add a cute gingham purse to make the look casual. If you want it more formal you could wear black heels, red patent hand bag and a more structured coat.

"Kreuzberger girlies" - Streetsyle Four

Source: herr klamm - kreuzberger girlies 1

Another beautiful summery look from the kreuzberger girlies 1! This features another white long sleeve tee with a maroon short sleeve shirt over the rop and a lovely flowing white skirt. The scarf is also maroon white white polka dots, perfectly matching this tesettür look. I couldn't find a scarf that matched exactly and as before I've done a range of outfits for different interpretations of modesty. There are so many cool purple scarves that I couldn't help but use them like a border. I personally like the geometric and stripy patters best as they are so distinctly tesettür-hijab.

Tracy Reese Trench

I really like this trench from Tracy Reese Spring 2009 so I thought I would do a Tesettür inspired look based on it. I prefer the trench from Tracy Reese rather over any one I've found, the skirt shape is gorgeous.

PVC Tesettür

This is from Yaren

This look is from Tugba's Summer 2007 collection

Now I just don't know about these looks, I am perfectly happy with leather/PVC boots, bags and gloves, but wearing a statement leather/PVC coat I'm just not sure.


In my teens I had a PVC coat in feeble attempt to do the 'Trinity' look but it ripped at the seams and got too small so I stopped wearing it and now I wouldn't wear it with hijab. I don't know if this sort of look has the same 'ahem' connotations in the Middle East. The other thing that bothers me about these looks is that they are tight and well, leather did use to be skin so I would not wear it like this even if I did like it in a garment.

As usual the black, red white esarp are great - I'd do this look instead like this:

Autumn Aker Eşarp

Aker's new Autumn collection is here so I thought I would do a post on it. Its a typical Fall season look, dark colors, autumnal palette and even some tartan and tribal patterns. There are a few soft pastels but these are broken up by black, dark blue or grey. The makeup is classic cold seasons too, dark eyes with thick brows and nude lips. The floral and plant elements of the eşarp are primarily Autumnal carnations, roses, daises, furns, maple leaves and for-get-me-not but with the hibiscus print reflecting the tropics.

As eşarp are designed to be repeated in a range of colors for each pattern there are many other colors than those described here, I have based my comments on the fashion shots below. Click the purchase button on AkerOnline to find some hijab based on the same patterns but with white or cream as the primary color.

Once a season of eşarp is finished they are pulled from the website so if you clickthrough from my old posts in polvore you will get a blank page, sorry about that. However I will be using all the new eşarp so that we can all keep our tesettür-hijab up to date!

Glam Gold and Black

This Armine look is so high fashion, wow! It would be great for a formal event like a ball, sister's part or Eid. You could wear a maxi dress under the coat instead of a skirt so that you could transform it into a sister's-only or family event outfit quickly.

Ramadan Mubarak

May you all have a blessed Ramadan Inshallah. This image is of the Blue Mosque in the suburb of Ramadan in Istanbul.

A tesettür sister contemplating iftar of beautiful fruit.


Beautiful decorations for the month of Ramadan.

"Kreuzberger girlies" - Streetsyle Three

What a yummy mummy! This is sort of the new tesettür, similar to Misri fashion - body suits with a shorter sleeve shirt on top however the eşarp is still there. I've done four looks inspired by this (you can tell I really like it huh?). I've started with a look directly inspired by the photo on the left that some may not be happy with, as the shirt hits directly at the hips with no coverage for the booty or croch. The next is more modest, keeping the shirt and the jeans if you wish, a strappy knee length red dress and a lovely white crochet bolero over top. There's then a light trench coat options with 3/4 sleeves so keeping the white tee underneth. The final look is for those that wear abaya - I suggest you wear this caftan over a white abaya or the white tee with a white maxi skirt. I've chosen different options for footwear all casual or semi-casual, please sisters - wear nice shoes with hijab, no Crocs please. You don't have to go out and buy every color but at least have black, brown and blue. All these looks would be fine with black or navy semi casual shoes but I prefer to not wear sneakers with skirts. I haven't done any further accessories, mix it up yourselves!

Working cheetah

This is what I'm wearing today I really love these silk feel polyester cheetah scarves so I bought them in both black and brown and they were on NZD$10 = USD$7. So this isn't true eşarp but I do think its pretty tesettür anyway. My big staff meeting went well, no one noticed or commented. One of my colleagues visited my office mate and look shocked and impressed by my look. He said it was very cool and that "have I like become an Islamist?" My office mate defended me and said that I had been Muslim for ages and that I wasn't a terrorist or anything. My colleague then said my look was 'mean' in a good way! It was neat to have such a positive response from a fashion perspective from a guy no less, but he was also really impressed and happy about me being Muslim. My officemate also went in for bat for me saying she's been Muslim for ages in a 'that's really normal don't you know'. It's really nice to see how supportive people are, even people that you don't expect will go out and bat for you if you give them a chance.

For me hijab is about pleasing Allah (swt) and about identifying as a Muslim. I am so proud to be Muslim and I thank Allah (swt) everyday for removing the veil from my eyes and showing me the truth that is Islam. Wearing the hijab reminds me that even though I am covered I can truly see and people can truly see me, as who I am, a Muslima.

Autumnal stroll in the forest

My dear readers please humour me to post the outfit I am wearing today which is very similar to my Brown work outfit. I'm just so very pleased to have put together the look that I'm wearing for NZD$40 for the scarf, jacket, skirt and shirt. Well actually I'm not wearing the eşarp but I did buy one like this but in a cheetah pattern, faux silk and shiny shayla. I haven't yet worn full-hijab at work, I'm wearing my loose weave shayla which needs an underscarf draped around my head. I've still got my fringe sticking out, its a sort of "Yes, its still me and I still have hair" statement. I'm waiting for the big staff meeting tomorrow to gauge reaction to my half-hijab before I go for full-hijab.

A note on my Polyvore - my jacket isn't that tight and I still really like wearing jackets over skirts. When I wear coats people ask me if I'm cold and then I get hot so I look very silly. I'm wearing a loose shirt underneath but its only hits at hip height. I've put the peacock feather earrings on the skirt because that's the pattern on the skirt and not surprisingly I couldn't find an identical one on the internet.

"Kreuzberger girlies" - Streetsyle Two

Source: herr klamm - kreuzberger girlies 1

Its fun to pair a bright eşarp with a black outfit but I'm not such a fan of this one. I have made three looks with black as the primary outfit color with an abaya, silk trench or sari option. As walking or dancing around in heels can be tough and the picture is of flats I went for them for these looks. Two of the eşarp featured here are shayla which some may find easier to style and provide more coverage. Most eşarp are square but there seems to be a rise in the production of shayla as these become more acceptable in Turkey. Shayla are perceived as more Islamic than squares as they are how Arab women wear headscarves rather than the Euro-Turkish tradition of ladies wearing square scarves tied under the chin especially those who are older and live in the villages.

Brown work outfit

I love this refined look for work or a formal event, again it makes the scarf the key feature while being very sleek and stylish. It is up to you whether you would prefer to wear a coat rather than the jacket but I personally feel this conceals your form well. I've found a great cordorouy set from Taiba Outfitters which has a great price for a work outfit that is hijab appropriate. I've included the ususal options of scarves along with a raw silk shayla which better matches the color of the scarf in the photo.


Taiba Outfitter's Jacket and Skirt Suit US$74.95

Funky Summer

I really like this look, very high fashion. I've chosen a similar coat and paired it with a flowy pink skirt to match the eşarp. Of course if you want to wear hijab properly you'll need to tuck your hair in but as I have said before many tesettür advertising images don't fulfil true hijab.

I've put a lot of accessories into this look so its so girly. Do you girls like to wearing floral accessories when you wear floral hijabs or not?

"Kreuzberger girlies" - Streetsyle One

Source: herr klamm - kreuzberger girlies 1

Here's the first woman from my streetstyle feature and I hope all my abaya wearing readers like this look as its a Tesettür look with an abaya. Here's a look that I've done inspired by the outfit, with two footwear choices. I've made the look quiet sporty so you could wear these cute sneaker inspired flats or for those of you who don't like that look you could wear the slave sandals as worn in the photo.

"Kreuzberger girlies" - Streetsyle Feature Intro

Source: herr klamm - kreuzberger girlies 1

I absolutely love this streetstyle shot so I thought I could use it as inspiration and try to do a take on each outfit. I'll search for more streetstyle and try to do more looks in the future once I have finished this series.

Wearing hijab at work

Some of you my be suprised to hear that up to today I did not wear a scarf on my head at work. I wore covering clothing like pant suits and skirts with a business shirt with a scarf around my neck but not on my head. Please don't be offended by my omission, hijab is something I really struggle with coming from a Western, feminist upbrining. I also struggle with what clothing Muslim women should wear - headscarf, draped over the chest, overgarment, abaya, niqab? Following my years at university where I did wear hijab I sort of opted out and just wore what I was comfortable in, long sleeve shirts, coats and scarves round the neck.

With Ramadan rapidly approaching and not attending a hijab fashion show just km's from my house for the embarassment about not being a real hijabi, just one who wears it to Muslim events, I really really felt like wearing it. I wore it to the mall and was so happy. People were nice to me, I felt comfortable and I just loved it. So I thought maybe maybe I should wear it to work.

I am wearing my normal work clothes, work shirt with a skirt and boots but with a sheer scarf hung around my head. It's not completely covered, as its sheer and needs an amira under it but its a start. No one has said anything mean although I have been asked if I'm having a bad hair day but mostly people don't even say anything.

I'm think of wearing this tomorrow - what do you think? The scarf is a tesettür type one, shiny polyester scarf, leopard print and floral so I've shown two scarves it is sort of a mixture of.

If you want to have a look at the fashion show look here: see this link here click on Forbidden Fashion, I hate the cringey title and intro but its great to see my friends on tv.

Purple in the rain!

Sorry that this outfit is a bit mad, but I loved the idea of updating the traditional yellow Mac and Wellies walk or work at the dock in the rain. If you look in detail at the scarf you'll see all the detail of boats at dock but not people, so its hijab appropriate. The umbrella has a Monet on it which is just gorgeous and it's not as cringy as a yellow rain hat! I really like this deep purple caftan but its sleeves are too short. The abaya is the classic plain purple from Desert Store which I've always loved, it looks nicer than a t-shirt and the sleeves are nice and loose.

Glamorous Gold

What could be more beautiful than a gold silk scarf, pair it with white, pale gold, beige and gold accessories. This would be a great formal look but as you can see from the picture at the rally, Turkish women dress up this beautifully to go anywhere!

The white trench and trousers on the right could be worn with any other colored eşarp, that's what I love so much about tesettür, its so versatile. Find the clothes that suit you, buy heaps of hijabs and go out each day with the scarf as the feature.

Teen Tesettür with Tea on her head

I love this image of a young Turkish girl studying so I've decided to do a look for teenage Muslimas looking for a very soft hijab look that is appropriate for school. Some girls might be happy to wear the sweater on its own but if you are not, try it with this cute coat (take the belt off it is too tight). The eşarp is quite unusual as it has pictures of teapots on it, how fun!

Switch up your eşarp, switch up your accessories

Here's a great basic tesettür outfit of a white coat with beige trousers and two eşarp with accessory options. Pierre Cardin is an Italian born French fashion designer who has his name on a billion different sartorial options. His scarves are sold as headscarves but the fashion pictures are not hijab appropriate. So I've taken a similar color outfit here but did a tesettür take on this with a white coat and pale beige pants. There's two accessory options with the purple bag and yellow shoes, think Jessica Parker with the purple explosion scarf on the left. With the red bag and turquoise shoes with the turquoise explosion scarf on the right. Hope you all like the accessories!