New Collection @ Haute Hijab

Haute Hijab have announced that their Spring/Summer 2013 collection is due to launch tomorrow (June 18th), along with their redesigned website! I always look forward to the new arrivals from Haute Hijab as it's one of the few modest fashion companies that really take into consideration the needs of their target audience and how their clothes will actually be worn. These classic pieces are elegant and well made, and you won't need to faff about with clingy fabrics and poor workmanship. Secondly, I love the fact that HH are restocking old favourites like the Majestic Lace Skirt; so if you didn't get your hands on it first time round, here's another chance. 

Classic Day Skirt - Striped

Classic Day Skirt - Polka Dot

Majestic Lace Skirt

Fancy Flare Bottom Top

Sophia Gown

The WWW: Summery Orange

Following on from yesterday's post, here's one way of styling an orange shirtdress for a bright but professional work look. Team with tailored trousers in a soft neutral shade and a white cropped jacket to pull the whole look together. Gold jewellery compliments orange really well and you can incorporate prints subtly with a pair of snakeskin shoes. 

Cropped jacket £59.99, Mango; Orange dress £19.99, H&M;  Dusty Pink Silk Hijab £25.99, Aab; Shantung Trousers £34.50, Phase Eight; Celandine Ring £12, Monsoon; Cinema Court Shoes £55, Jones Bootmaker; Cissone bag £50, Aldo.

High Street Finds: Orange

It's not often I see people wearing orange, but this colour has literally been popping up everywhere in stores. Here are some of my picks from long sleeve blouses to bright blazers, or even try a printed scarf. Keep an eye out for styling ideas coming up tomorrow!

Top left to bottom right:

Cream Flowers Hijab £8, Hijab Jewels; Arras shirt £85, Reiss; Drawstring draped shoulders dress £34.99, Mango; Long silk satin skirt £29.99, Zara; Orange jacket £30, Wallis; Linen cotton-blend tuxedo blazer £47.99, Mango.

Event: Shubbak Discussion Panel

The Shubbak Festival is taking place in London, starting on June 22nd, and is a celebration of contemporary Arab art and culture. One of the events taking place as part of the festival is a talk on Faith and Fashion on June 25th. I'll be speaking on the panel along with designer Rabia Z, film-maker Soniya Kirpalani and Professor Reina Lewis from the London College of Fashion. I'm very much looking forward to the event and seats are booking up fast, so if you're interested in attending, please RSVP to the email address below. I look forward to seeing you there!

Product Review: Hijab Obsessions

Hijab Obsessions are a business that I've featured before on the blog, when I reviewed their jersey hijabs. They have now expanded their range into clothing which includes skirts and dresses. They sent me their Colour Block Jersey Maxi Dress a while ago to review, and I decided to put it to the test during my travels.

The top half of the dress is long sleeved black jersey, which is then attached to the teal coloured skirt. The dress is available in two lengths: regular and tall, but only limited sizes are available up to UK 14. The regular length I found was just right for me at 5'3. The dress is designed to be high-waisted, but I personally found the top half to be far too short and would have preferred if the skirt started lower down.

I'm not usually a fan of wearing jersey clothing, especially in the UK, but it's ideal for holidays and definitely very comfortable to wear. However, I didn't find it helped much in the heat for two reasons (although in 38 degrees, everyone will feel hot no matter you're wearing!). Firstly, although the bottom half of the dress is loose and falls in folds rather than straight down, I felt I needed to wear a slip underneath to stop the fabric from clinging when walking. Secondly, the top half is very tight and fitted and I wasn't comfortable wearing the dress without a jacket over the top, which made the long sleeves obsolete. I paired mine with a denim shirt, but a black blazer looks great for a smarter look.

In terms of the quality, I found that after several washes the black fabric was starting to look tired in places, but otherwise the dress held up well after quite heavy use. I would also advise ironing the dress on the reverse side to maintain the fabric too. The colour seems to show up as a bright blue in photos, but in reality has more of a green tone.

Overall, I think the dress is a beautiful colour and a great option for the summer months, but may need to be worn with other items over the top depending on your taste. The dress and other skirts are available to buy on the Hijab Obsessions website.

Home Sweet Home

Three countries and eleven plane flights later...I'm back home safely after the trip of a lifetime! In this time I also found out that I passed my final exams, graduated from medical school and got a job offer! In the midst of everything, apologies for not updating the blog, but I'll be posting more pictures from my travels soon as well as catching up with the usual Hijab Style content. Thank you for your patience!

Hijab Style Exclusive: Inayah Interview

Today Hijab Style brings you an exclusive interview with the founders of Inayah; one of the UK's leading brands for modest clothing.

Jana: How did you come to start Inayah? 

The seeds of INAYAH were planted by its owners who come from a combination of fields which fuse business acumen with in-depth appreciation and understanding of wide ranging design principles and genres. INAYAH initially started off in 2010 as an accessories brand featuring a large selection of hand crafted bracelets, necklaces, and our signature hijab pins. Our desire to remain in a consistent state of development soon took over and before long plans were underway for a major expansion into the brand seen today.

Jana: How has the business changed over time? 

As observant individuals, we noticed a very distinct problem with women (including one of our designers) being able to find modest clothing, dresses and abayas, whilst still incorporating western elements that were also practical by nature, unique and sophisticated. We wanted to offer Muslim and non-Muslim women who were desiring to dress modestly, the option to buy both ready to wear clothing and couture dresses from a company who take great pride in what they make, who operate with a purpose and a heightened level of understanding towards their customers. We do not design or produce any item purely for the sake of design; everything we produce reflects our personal preferences and with hard work, careful and persistent planning, we have found ourselves in a position whereby we can offer the ultimate modest fashion experience inspired by vintage, ethnic and modern elements Alhamdulillah.

Jana: Tell us a little about your design perspective; what most influences you? 

We have an eclectic mix of inspirations; architecture, ethnic art, unique elements from different cultures from the past and present and high end fashion. All of these points of inspiration help us offer designs that incorporate balance, unique features and practicality. The Islamic fashion and modest clothing industry currently has an abundance of both low-end and high-end brands who cater for a set target audience. There is a lack of practical modest everyday wear for the woman of 'today'. Our goal as a global mid-end modest fashion brand is to continue to provide practical and real solutions in maintaining a balance and catering for those who appreciate and require good quality, unique design concepts and comfortable modest wear without compromising their beliefs. We strive to offer our customers a wide range of modest clothing suitable for all aspects of life; right from everyday wear, maternity wear to evening and bridal wear.

Jana: What's your favourite piece from the current Inayah collection? 

Our favourite item of clothing from our Precocious range has to be the Urbane Abaya. We fell in love with this design because of its fluid versatility. The Urbane Abaya is beautiful and modest, elegant, sophisticated, unique and practical, made from soft modal fabric.

Jana: What can we expect from Inayah in the future? 

InshaAllah the future for INAYAH will continue to be based upon our core progressions principles. Expect more beautiful designs, elegant clothing and a brand new and refined evening wear line, featuring luxurious kaftans and dresses. We are also in the process of working on a very exciting new line of embellished accessories, which we cannot wait to reveal!

Check out Inayah clothing and accessories over on their website: www.inayahcollection.com.

March Giveaway Winner

Congratulations to Emma A. from the USA for winning the March Giveaway! Your Haute Hijabs will be making their way to you shortly!