Style Inspiration: Queen Rania

Queen Rania of Jordan is an accomplished and active royal who puts a lot of effort into social, educational and humanitarian projects. You can check out her website to find out about her work. This post is focussed on her sense of style which blends elegance and simplicity with modesty for all occasions, and provides great ideas for all Muslimahs.

Here she wears long, flowing evening gowns and maxi skirts to various events:

Photoshoot for Harper's Bazaar March 2008:

This dress by Givenchy Couture Spring 2004 is quite revealing around the top half, so Queen Rania adapted it by adding a simple white blouse for a more modest outfit:

Traditional Jordanian dress

Wearing kimono on a visit to Japan:

What do you think of Queen Rania's style?

Top designers try a revamp of Islamic abaya

By Claire Rosemberg

PARIS (AFP) — Ahead of the Paris couture shows, top designers have joined a tricky exercise to glam up one of the world's most traditional pieces, the abaya -- the long black overgarment worn by millions of Arab women.

Unveiled the same week that French President Nicolas Sarkozy unleashed a storm across the Arab world for criticising the head-to-toe burka for women, the score of just-completed jazzed-up designer abayas are to be offered to the Saudi royal family by Saks Fifth Avenue of Riyadh and Jeddah.

The presentation of the madeover abayas, held this week at the luxury George V hotel owned by a Saudi prince, seemed just another catwalk show in the world's fashion capital, but within minutes morphed as a scene out of the Arabian Nights.

To music and amid a cloud of smoke, a mighty grey Arabian horse pranced into the ornate underground reception hall mounted by a Russian red-head riding side-saddle and clad in a rhinestone and sequinned shawl designed by John Galliano for the Saks collection.

Following the horse came a score of models parading the abayas, each of them black but each very different.

Other couturiers taking part in the scheme include French houses Nina Ricci and Jean Claude Jitrois, Italy's Blumarine and Alberta Feretti, Australian Martin Grant and US designer Caroline Herrera.

Read the rest here.


More images from AP Photos:

Jazzing up the abaya

This article from the BBC talks about several Emirati designers who cater for Muslim fashion:

By Stephanie Hancock
BBC News, Dubai

Few images shout Middle East quite like the abaya - the long, black overgarment worn by millions of women across the Arab world.

The design has remained pretty much unchanged for centuries, but a crop of young new designers in the United Arab Emirates are now giving the traditional dress a modern-day makeover.

Nothing is off limits - designers are experimenting with bold colours, materials like lace and leather, and even add sequins, embroidery and daring slits to jazz up the often-uniform black robe.

Reem and Hind Beljafla began their abaya-design business, DAS Collection, 18 months ago after realising the market for high-end design for Muslim women in Dubai was woefully underserved.

Their abayas are very much haute-couture - everything is custom-made and prices start at $1,000 (£606).

The young sisters say that as long as a woman's form is still covered by the abaya, there is no harm in having a bit of fun with the design.

Read the rest here.

More from Reham Farouq

Reham Farouq is an Egyptian designer whose work I've posted previously here. I must say being a little bored with a lot of Egyptian hijab fashion, this most recent collection of hers certainly works for me. Instead of relying on skin-tight long sleeved tops, Reham uses blouses to layer under shorter sleeved dresses and tops. I particularly like the layering in the 3rd and 4th pictures here. One thing I wasn't too keen on were the wide black belts that she used around some of the shirts. What do you think of this collection?

You can read an interview with her here (sorry, it's in Arabic only!)

Emirati Style: Young Muslimah

I love the photos of this Emirati girl in her pink and white jalabiya. She may be young, but her traditional dress would look great on all ages. For a similar look, try the Teatro print maxi kaftan £33, from Littlewoods.

Images: Xpress4me.com

Summer Style: All White

Staying cool in the summer can be a real challenge, especially when you wear hijab. Thankfully there are several things you can do to avoid getting too hot. But firstly, I think it's important to remember that everyone feels the heat in summer, no matter what they're wearing. In fact, you'll actually feel a lot cooler if your skin is covered up from the direct sunlight, as well as protecting yourself from sunburn.

My favourite garment to wear here in Lebanon is a white linen skirt. Lighter colours reflect sunlight so that you hardly feel the heat; white is easily paired with any other colour, but also looks great on it's own!

Designers have come up with many all-white looks, including maxi dresses for day and evening, and trouser suits with long jackets. I particularly like the tiered jacket by Aquascutum.

More summer style tips to come soon!

Elie Saab; YSL

Juan Carlos Obando; Dennis Basso

Ruffian; Sophie Theallet

Undercover

Trouser Suits

Aquascutum; Akris

Images: Style.com

Saudi Jalabiyas

These dresses are by a Saudi company called Wahat Al-Jalabiya. A lot of these designs are a little wacky for my taste, but they sure do offer variety and lots of ideas if you are able to tailor your own. There are 20 pictured here, so drop a comment and vote for your favourite!