My Islamic Way of Dressing: Tagged!

Right, onwards and upwards with this iA.

First of all, hello, salaam and welcome to my new readers/followers. I can see that you're all from various parts of the world, which may I add, is hugely exciting! I look forward to reading your contributions, either on here or on your own blog, iA :-)

Okay soo...The lovely Lela has tagged me with the Islamic Way of Dressing tag where I will show you'z all how I dress on different occasions. Simple enough.

This is me on a casual/smart day out. I like to keep the look unfussy, chic and elegant with an edge. Don't know if I'm there yet but I do try, although I don't want to give off that impression! Hahaha! My look mostly consists of a dress/long top with a pair of jeans (usually skinny), teamed with a matching hijab and a pair of cute shoes.

On very special occasions, I will usually wear a traditional Indian outfit. ^ I am wearing a saree (belly covered!) with a matching hijab. I love sarees as they are sooo chic and give great overall coverage, if worn carefully!

I love shoes. Pumps are a necessity of mine. Style and comfort = must. The one below is gorgeous :-D
Around the house, I usually wear a kurta/kaftan type top with trousers or jeans. Don't have the luxury of walking around in my slumber gear anymore, now that I live with my in-laws!
I also like wearing cute casual dresses. I have one very similar to this:
Some days though, I enjoy wearing cotton salwar kameez, esp when the weather's hot.

Another staple is the long cardigan or a long jacket/mac to cover the bum etc.



Well well. Who to tag? I send this out to everyone and anyone who would like to showcase their daily, Islamic inspired, dress style!

:-)

Maxi moo

The maxi dress seems to have become the latest must have for hijab friendly summer wear and it makes perfect sense. Long, flowy garms with gorgeous prints, the maxi covers a multitude of do's for the stylish hijabi.

For me, the three big do's the maxis does:

1. It's a one piece garment, covering you from head to toe, okay, more like neck to ankle (minus the sleeves of course)
2. You can style it up or down, i.e. wear with a shrug/bolero cardigan for arm coverage or a cute jumper/top giving to get a skirt/top look
3. Fab crazy patterns, not to mention the great colours maxi dresses - what more do you need for the summer??

Here's one I bought last month and I am yet to wear it, just can't find the right occasion to premier this bargain blingin' beauty:
What do you make of the maxi? Love it or shove it? :D

The bootie cover up: long cardis

Wearing trousers with a short-ish top is quite often a no go zone for Mulsim women (including yours truely) who may feel uncomfortable walking around without a long top covering their rear/bum/bottom/bootie/backside (ohh wareva). I've not always felt like this about wearing short tops and trousers, but ever since being together with the other/engaged/married I have become more conscious of it, mostly because hubby prefers me covering *it*, as being quite curvy, my trousers fit a little too well in certain areas. Hugely annoying, and quite literally too, as I feel as though it is immodest for me to not cover up in that region, especially since I do wear a hijab. That said, I have seen many hijabis wear short tops and trousers with modesty, and it's great seeing that. However, most of these hijabi's are typically very slim and slender and therefore their figures are not always accidently revealed as is the case with a woman with a fuller figure (hips etc).

I fell into this 'very slim' category years ago and when I did wear trousers with a short top, with a hijab, the feeling of being immodest wouldn't be one that would instantly come to my mind. Being married and living a very different life does however equal to many changes, and a sometimes inevitable one (depending on one's lifestyle of course) = weight gain, which in turn effects the shape of the body and thus the fit of clothing on the newly developed body frame.

With summer well on its way here in the UK, most of us will be opting to drape loose cotton clothing around our bodies (good news for hijabis!) such as linen trousers and cotton tops. As a matter of fact, I have acquired two pairs of lovely linen trousers to take me through the days when I just want to lounge around in casual wear, which brings me back to the topic of covering the bootie.

One essential aid to overcome the bootie problem is the staple and versatile long cardigan, sleeveless or with sleeves. It covers a multitude of problems, well actually...mainly two: good overall body coverage and v.good bootie coverage. Recently, I've been making the most of my faithful sleeveless black tie cardi and have also purchased a grey one which I think will go great with jeans and trousers alike.

This black one is similar to the one I bought from New Look months ago and the gorgeous yellow one is one that I will keep a good lookout for as I am yet to come across one like it:

Mmm :-)

x

Hijabs High!

Afternoon all :-)

I've been doing my usual hijab spotting since the moment I flipped my laptop open this morning and have felt so stylishly inspired by the style and hijab conscious muslim sisters around the world.

Here's one website, Hijabs High, that I frequently visit with the eager anticipation of finding out which stylish hijabista has been chosen for the new muslim style blog entry. It showcases the sometimes simple, sometimes flash, but always stylish hijabi sisters from all around the world. Amazing to see what outfits other hijabi sisters are hijabifying with their own stylish twist!

Love it! Two thumbs up!

Ooh just to add by the way, I would've displayed my favourite feature but since the author of the blog has requested viewers to respect copyright by not copying text/images, I shall respect the author's request :-) Do check it out yourself though!

Fatty x

Woke up to change the world

Hello people :-)

I suggest you don't take the title of this post too seriously, I wish I could in an instant rather than over time but hey that's life, right. No, the title of this post was inspired by the essence of today's events commencing with Mr. Obama's "Muslim speech" [here is a short snippet] and sort of ending with the EU elections.

It was around 10am and I was still fixing myself after having had a lie in contemplating about life all by myself, when my father-in-law quite endearingly shouted out "babies, come down!". Len and I went down to find that Mr. Obama was to address the Muslim nation, in Cairo and beyond regarding the relationship between the US and the Muslim nation. Many points were discussed by Obama from his agenda which in turn raised even more points and questions. In short, he spoke of the long and proud Muslim heritage, which Muslims have contributed to the entire world, mentioning items from mathematical to medical value before moving onto the core meat of his speech consisting of several issues: terrorism, the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, democracy, women's right, the economy and a few other things that my mind seems to have forgotten!

The speech was yet another gripping one, one which had listeners clinging onto his every word and one which was celebrated with a standing ovation from the audience present in Cairo's prestigious University.

Personally speaking, the content of his speech wasn't one I agreed with fully despite it bringing a smile or two on my face as I watched one of the world's most powerful men, the American President, utter Islamic words almost always correctly with a conviction. Okay, so I cringed (and laughed out loud!) when he misread the word 'hijab' as 'hajib' but at least he tried and his slip-up just like his conviction at times, is seemingly genuine. Some commentators have already said how his cautious speech lacked substance, I would agree to an extent as although he did well in acknowledging the troubles in the Middle East, he refrained from expanding on them, I felt. For example, whilst talking about the Palestine/Israel conflict, I hoped Obama would display recognition of the mutual violence taking place by both parties, yet it was Hamas who were once more commanded to end the violence first. Old news man, old news. I was hoping he would command the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) to also end their violence towards the Palestinian and for them to also recognise that the Palestinian's too have a right to their own state. Nope, that would be too much to ask! I guess we should just be content with the fact that at least Obama has made the effort (whether solely pragmatic or otherwise, who knows?!) to extend the olive branch to the Middle East *sigh*

On a side note to this, although I believe Cairo University is a world renowned University, why Egypt?! Why not another progressive Muslim country outside the Middle East, because hellloooo, they do exist! Kuala Lumpur would be my city of choice for suuure :-) lol

Oh yeah, another reason for the title...well, today is the day of the EU elections where all the 27 EU countries will vote to decide the fate of the EU Parliament. I don't recall knowing, seeing or being part of something like this before but my position on this was quite clear: NO2EU! For one main reason really, as the name of the political party suggest - keep the UK out of the EU! I rather the UK concentrated it's efforts on maintaining its independence, working with other nations for the betterment of its own people first and then the wider community; which would, with a lil hope, keep the current currency - the pound sterling, in tact and away from the reigns of international puppet masters'.

So there you have it, my views on the events of the world today. Hope I haven't bored you half to death with my insight into political life, which I have to say isn't something I used to particularly care too much about but have had to recently due to the absurdness going on around me!

Ciao for now! May be back with some other random stuff later.

Fatty x