Dishdasha Remains Ever Popular in Men's Jubba

Perhaps the first love for any Emirati man with a traditional outfit has come in the garb of a Dishdasha. They are sleek, well fitted with a collar tab, adorned with cufflinks and if we could say then they are 100% on fleek. Dishdashas are traditionally white long drawn shirts with a functional button placket right at the center but with the modern day fashion esthetics these major features have gradually been replaced with minor details.

For example these days you could see many different hued Dishdashas with added utilities to make it more efficient for the modern man. You’ve had Dishadashas with front open replaced with a chain instead of a button placket to render a sporty vibe. Also, with the added minor details, a modern day men’s Dishdasha has become an amalgamation of many different features found in the middle east across the terrains of Qatar to Dubai. Yes so you do have a Qatari thobe or a Kuwaiti Dishadasha but all these account for little to no difference in their appearance.You’d notice the left side chest pocket could now come with a thread embroidery or a colored piping or a button flap depending upon the make of the thobe. Similarly, the rest of the thobe could feature piping accents or a shoulder patch of thread embroidery.

Perhaps one of the most conventional aspects of a Dishdasha which has still not lost its resonance is the  traditional head gear of a keffiyeh and Guthra. It should also be noted that this specific head-gear is not worn by non-natives generally or expats but seen in many region as a marker for respects and royalty. The keffiyeh is a rope like band to fasten or frame the head which has a Guthra- a white sheet like garment on top to ward off the heat from the head and make it bearable in the hot temperature of the tropics. There are also certain fabrics which are made especially for desert Safari- a favorite sport of the Emiratis to indulge in which makes it hard for the blazing sand to stick on the fabric owing to its tightly fastened micro thread weave.

A Closet Tour into Women's Islamic Clothing

Women’s Islamic Clothing is an umbrella term which encapsulates modest outfits specifically catered for the Muslim Women who is mandated to wear sharia implied clothes. Sharia implied clothes imply clothes which aren’t cut out to reveal parts of the body, except what is visible naturally like the face and hands, they shouldn’t be too tight to give out the shape of the woman or be too flashy or be rendered shocking colors which may grab eyeballs. There are also a couple of other keynotes that clothes shouldn’t carry an image or a picture of a living being or made out of haram material. All in all, it’s safe to say that modest clothes translate into clothes which generously cover your body.

So now that we have established modest clothes, let’s get you in on the nuances of modest dressing. If you’ve managed to catch on the Hijabi fashion wave, modest dressers these days are leaving no stones unturned when it comes to experimenting with clothes, accessories which weren’t traditionally cut out to be that way. For example, a Maxi or a Ball gown tweaked enough to copy an Abaya Gown, or a Maxi Abaya has also given us Frock Abayas. Thus we see that women Islamic clothing has come a long way from being black drab cloaks to fancy and designer renditions of a humble Abaya. Pants, palazzos, culottes, tunics and knee length blouses, long length cardigans and blazers. You also get to play ‘layering’ with your clothes and accessories. Similarly, there’ a vivid variety in terms of fabrics with Abayas are made now. Be it mixed cotton, lycra stretch, nets, frills, china silk, or even wool for cooler landscapes to acclimatize to very cold weather conditions everything seems legit as long as it accommodates comfort and modesty on the whole.

The Hijab Fashion Industry too has evolved a lot with the Millennial touch and hence High streets Hijab is very much a part of our living reality. The fresh crop of young Hijabistas show you how to add spunk and ‘cool’ quotient to your everyday outfits by experimenting with your outfits. And this could be achieved through a variety of ways like layering, mix-match, accessorizing and carrying yourself with confidence. And yes don’t forget to add that smile…smile for it’s Sunnah!

You Just Can't Do Without Long Shrugs

Perhaps, long shrugs could unarguably adorn every wardrobe and it doesn’t matter Whether you are a modest dresser or not. Long shrugs have always been an obvious choice when it comes to layering.You could team it up with shorts. Crops, tights, blouses and tees.

The flair of layering keeps improving with one’s improvised sense of inherent style. To reinstate the point further Modest shrugs are a hit with Modest dressers owing to its flexibility of covering up conservatively as well as doubles up as an over garment to con any skimpy or non-flattering dress.

The South East Asian labels and fashion houses have also made this latest fashion fad a favorite troupe in their ethnic creations. For Instance, you have Pakistani Designers experimenting with shrugs as robes teamed with straight pants and salwar tunic/ blouses. The fabrics used in such shrugs also ranges widely from charmeuse, cable knits, georgette to mixed ribbed fibers and woolen knits in colder climate. There’s no end to myriad styling ideas as one can easily scroll through Pinterest or Instagram to get creative.The long shrugs have been particularly important to the Muslim ladies also as it to a large extent compensates for the need of longer tunics or shirts as mandated to perform successful Salah. It also offers alternate versions of styling your dresses or Abayas and has lately become a popular trend in the Middles eastern fashion circuit as well as in Turkey.

Those long shrugs are also a major hit with women of larger body frames dressers as they help to cover up the extra bulges and love handles. Many women with a curvy body frame take to this easy style tip to dress sharp. Women shrugs are also found in many alluring colors with rich embellishments, embroidery or cut works and pattern to suit and befit a range of body -types and tastes which rings differently with different ethnicities, regions, continents and cultural preferences. Shrugs have also been modified with different styles to accommodate a range of other utilities like long shrugs with a hood as an Islamic alternative for fitting tracks or shrugs with pockets or a tie to add the fancy.

Prayer Rugs: The First Step Towards Offering Salah

Do you remember when we were young and how excited we were on being given our very first Prayer Rug? The fairly appropriated length of the rug, allowed young ones like us to make proper sajdah while aping our mothers in her sujood. None the less, as young kids, the rugs came out in particularly pop out colors. This was also done from a child’s psychology perspective to make it more endearing and exciting for the young ones without us much realizing that this was also our first stepping stone to success in affirming to our Islamic faith (Emaan) and one of the first obligations towards Allah.

The Prayer Rugs are used to provide for a space wherein one offers salah. Since it is mandatory for the place where one offers salah to be clean rugs help in achieving just that. Generally, many Muslims who are on -the -go also resort to a Prayer-rug which becomes accessible while travelling or offering salah in workspace/school or college. These prayer rugs are designed to be light in weight used of material which is generally a plastic blend to help in folding bit and thereby making it compact. They generally come attached to a cover and is unzipped to take out the plastic rug. This has been quite helpful with people who are mostly travelling or on the road as these plastic rugs could be easily cleaned by merely dusting or wiping it with a cloth as opposed to the fancy velvets and silken prayer rugs. A prayer rug could also be seen in the form of a small carpet used exclusively for salah purposes. Generally, Prayer rugs come along with illustrations of Islamic motifs, of the Mecca or the Crescent Moon. And seemingly too, many other cultures have given their own spin to the traditional Jaenemaaz (Prayer-rug). For example, some come with Arabic calligraphy or other significant motifs of cultural interpretation like dates or swords which forms another part of the popular culture. Moroccans also use such version as wall-art or use certain Qura’nic verses in calligraphy which could be found in many Arab and Moroccan homes.

Gift Kufi Caps This Ramadan

The term Kufi comes with various connotations and at best it could be described as a seamless cap worn by Muslim men specifically for the purpose of offering salah. It’s invariably also known as ‘Muslim Cap’ ‘skull caps’ or ‘Muslim Topi. It is very much prevalent in the south Asian Muslim culture and could be seen sported by Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi men. Additionally, they are also markers of religiosity and could be seen sported on various significant Islamic events, ceremonies, weddings etc.

Interestingly, not many know that Kufi caps or simply kufis come mandated under the sharia law of Islamic code of modest dressing. It is obligatory for both the genders to cover their hair (head) while offering salah and hence one could see hordes and hordes of colorful caps in prostration during a congregational service of Friday prayer.The most common amongst them in Asian markets is a plain white with design perforations or with some Croatia art-work in cotton or cotton-blend. The knit also varies from region to different cultures with each Muslim country throwing a spin on its make. The famous amongst them is a Tubeteika more colloquially known as the roositopi (Russian cap) which is commercialized with the usage of faux fur. It has its humble origins in the native Tartar culture. The Tarboosh hat or Fez hat is another Muslim cap, reminiscent of the Ottoman Empire very well found still sported in the Moroccan landscape. It’s a short cylindrical hat with tassels on top. It’s generally made of red felt and is also iconized on celluloid by many Bollywood Heroes of yesteryears.

It’s also interesting to note that the etymological beginnings of topi as it’s known in the south East region comes from the word Taqiyah and hence Kufikap is basically Taqiyahcap. Kufi caps clearly complete an Islamic ensemble for Men’s wear and hence form the perfect gifting option for Ramadan. As it’s the season that calls for mini festivities every night, they fit the bill to be given away as charity to institutions and individuals alike.

3 Reasons Why Zipper Abayas Are the Coolest Thing in the Market Now

For millennials sporting a traditional, or cultural rendition in an attire which evokes modesty and religious ethos has never been easier. Since Millennials like to do things a tad bit different ,there’s a growing market to embrace customisations as per the new consumers.

The women have adequately learnt the art of balancing fashion and faith nexus and hence are more open to experimenting with their looks and styles giving themselves a personal space. For a generation that believes in shopping Abayas and jilbabs online coz it’s just way too easy often making great bargains, outfits assimilating a bit of practicality along with the usual spunk and culture goes a long mile in sealing the deal with the consumers.

1. Coz Zipper abayas also allow the easy integration of cool tech fabric- Cool tech is literally the 'coolest' thing to happen in the Islamic fashion world. The internal workings of the fabric allows a cooling sensation which gets activated when there's a rise in body temperature and sweat. Sweet...yes it is! Since a zipper basically wraps you up, you don't need to worry about the encapsulated body heat in hot tropics.Let the cool tech work its wonders by wrapping you in its 'coolness'. Pun intended.
2. The art of layering- Sometimes you might get disappointed in your E shopping conquests when searching for the perfect open Abaya online coz often they do not match your expectations. While a Zipper Abaya gives you the freedom to expose or hide the amount of inner 'layer of clothing' you want by easily zipping it up front. Makes for an easy fix when you want to dabble in the territory of color blocks and contrasts.
3. Zipper abayas are also hassle free- It is your go-to outfit when you are in nick of time. Covers all your gothic themed tees or sponge Bob's just in time with ample coverage if you aren't too forthcoming in exposing your fetishes to the world outside. Truth be told, you also don't have to struggle with lost or missing buttons on your front open abaya. Just zip it and seal your sweats and wonder tees inside.

Brownie points: Also they are pretty easy to fix just rub some wax on the zipper track and you are good to go.

Muslim Women Clothing Taps into Modest Women Clothing

One thing which we should get straight right at the onset of this discussion is that Modest dressers belong to every faith and modest dressing has a lot to do with personal style, comfort and not only relegated to faith. Just as women of Islamic faith could be spotted sporting a headscarf or hijab as it’s popularly known; women in other major faiths too, are required to cover themselves and their modesty. For example, Orthodox Jewish women cover their hair with a bun or Christian sisters observe the headscarf or the Hindu women observe the ‘ghoonghat’ as prescribed in many of their ancient texts.

And talking about the modern day sentiments, the sham of anorexic diets, body –shaming, heavily degraded highly sexualized and objectified adverts with women has called for attention globally. Many Women introspecting these chaotic promiscuous times have personally found their calling in modest dressing where they don’t feel the need to ‘dress less to success’ formula but combat the so-called societal notions of a certain body figure (read size zero) to rise and prevail in their careers and life. While it’s good to be healthy but not to be bullied into fat-shaming as it is happening increasingly in the digital age of social media. Thus, helping make women clearer choices of ascertaining self -worth to integrity of character than clothes. It’s here where the Muslim Women clothing has cooked up a storm. The predominant markers of a Traditional Muslim women clothing is body-coverage where a woman’s skin is not exposed to an unrelated man or in the eyes of the society at large. Of the many traditional outfits available like the Abayas, Jilbabs, Burqa, Hijab, Salwar –Kameez, it is the Abaya which is wearing the crowned glory of a mass garment in the Muslim World. It is almost equivalent of an asymmetric English dress. Thanks to the many renditions of its make in different geographies like a Frock Abaya or a Gown Abaya, it takes to being a favorite with the converts equally owing to its feasibility. Thus one finds many parallels between many of the modest –dresses and Muslim dresses.