High Street Finds: Maxi Skirts

If you loved yesterday's colour-blocking post, then here are just a few high street maxi skirt finds for you. When paired with neutrals, these skirts are a great way to try out more vibrant colours like cobalt and red. Darker jewel tones are perfect for evening wear too:

Top right to bottom left:

Cobalt belted maxi skirt £28, Dorothy Perkins; Red belted paperbag maxi skirt £35, River Island; Long seamed skirt £39.99, Zara; Faldaza skirt £34.95, Mango.

Style Notes: Jil Sander

Spring 2011

Jil Sander's collection for Spring 2011 was full of maxi skirts, dresses and palazzo trousers. Just one of the themes that caught my eye was colour-blocking; always a Summer favourite. Bold colours but with clean, simple cuts were paired with more neutral whites, blacks and navy blues. Try teaming a solid-colour maxi skirt with a simple white blazer and minimal accessories for a colourful but chic look:

Images: Style.com

Style Notes: Haider Ackermann

Spring 2011

Pleated maxi skirts have been showing up all over high street this season, and Haider Aackermann's collection shows them styled beautifully. The skirt should be generously cut so the pleats keep their shape when worn, and try teaming with a structured jacket. If you're loving the look, ASOS is currently doing a pleated maxi skirt, available in four shades for £45.

Images: Style.com

June Giveaway

For the first giveaway this month, Hijab Style is giving you the chance to win a £15 voucher to spend at Emellie Clothing Boutique!

To be in with a chance of winning, you must do two things:

1. Visit the Emellie website and sign up to the newsletter.

2. Send an email in with your full name and city with 'June Giveaway' in the subject line to hijabstyle@hotmail.co.uk. Please note that if any of this information is missing, you will not be entered into the competition.

Extra Entries:

You can get an extra entry into the giveaway when you follow Hijab Style on Twitter! Simply send in a separate e-mail with your full name and link to your Twitter profile. The deadline for entries is midnight GMT on Tuesday 21st June 2011. The winner will be chosen at random and contacted via e-mail.

Don't forget to tell all your friends and family too - the giveaway is open to entrants from all countries!

Product Review: Aara Abayas

Aara is an online business specialising in black abayas for casual, everyday and occasion wear. I was sent the 2 Shades Of Black abaya to review.

First Impressions

Before the abaya even arrived, I was impressed by the customer service at Aara. Customers are given the option of tracking their orders online, and delivery is very quick. Inside the postage box, the abaya and a matching rectangular sheyla hijab were presented inside a black 'Aara Womenswear' bag, and wrapped in yellow tissue paper.

The fabric of the abaya is a Japanese crepe, which is slightly textured, so it does not cling at all. The front of the abaya at the bottom is made up of a cut of black satin which starts on the right hand side just below the hip, and cuts diagonally to about mid-calf. The ends of the sleeves are similarly overlayed with satin about a quarter of the way down.

The hijab though comes in a much softer fabric and has an almost velvety feel to it, and matches the abaya with a satin trim on one corner.

Close-up contrast between satin and crepe fabric

Wearability

The Aara website provides a detailed size guide which I followed carefully. I found the sizing to be quite generous, but still tailored at the shoulders and arms, which is pretty much essential to making any abaya look well-fitting. At 5'3, pretty much everything is too long for me, and this abaya was no different. However, Aara do offer a very affordable alteration service on their website.

The abaya is a slip-on with a simple popper fastening at the front, in the centre of the neckline. In terms of movement and practicality, the abaya is very comfortable and easy to walk in, and doesn't crease easily either. The satin makes the abaya a little heavy, so I personally feel this is more suited to colder months.

I did attempt to take a few full-length images of the abaya, but it pretty much defeated the point as it was difficult to get the different fabrics to show up in a photo.

Overall

Despite the satin, the design is a little plain, but would make an ideal everyday abaya to which you could add almost any hijab or accessories. Overall, Aara abayas are elegant, practical and affordable, and the customer service is excellent.

With a large number of websites now catering to the traditional abaya market, it is hard to know which companies are reliable, but this would definitely be one of them. Regards the website though, the images provided really don't do the abayas justice, so would love to see more detailed and 'real life' images of the products.


Disclaimer: I received this abaya in exchange for my honest review. The opinions and thoughts expressed are my own and I received no other compensation for my review.

High Street Hijab Finds

Clothes shopping in the summer can be a challenge to say the least! But at least there's no lack of colourful scarves to choose from; they're the easiest way to brigthen up a plain outfit. There are plenty of gorgeous hijabs to choose from online; but for those who prefer high street shopping, here are some of my favourite picks in shades of blue:

Top left to bottom right:

Spot scarf £20, Oasis; Blue multi floral print scarf £12, Dorothy Perkins; Sirocco print scarf £26, East; Woven scarf £7.99, H&M.

Hello World!

It's been over three weeks now since I last posted on Hijab Style (ouch!). Rest assured, it's only because I've been hidden away getting exams done and research projects written up. Apologies for not updating for so long, but I'm in the process of catching up with emails and posts. Watch this space!