Kill Em' with Modesty
“Only reason why I wear this is to give you females a chance.” –Viral senior quote from Rafika Alami (2015). Dayum. This is all I can think when I check out a hijabi around campus. Like DAYUM GURL - you are killing me with your style. How do you have your makeup so on fleek, how do you look so sophisticated and stylish and do you have an insta? Because I would double tap that.
Maybe it’s true, maybe they are wearing the hijab to keep the game fair. All I know is that I've had to up my style ever since I came to Waikato Uni.
As a Muslim and a fairly new Hijabi, I will give you some insights about the headscarf. Wearing the hijab was ordained in our holy book, the Quran. However, there are reasons why it was ordained; to protect our real beauty. Some Muslims may argue that girls of our faith who don’t wear a hijab aren’t as religious. But I beg to differ. Hoejabis do exist - so never judge a book by its cover.
"So do you wear it in the shower?" "When can you take it off?" "How long is your hair?" "Do you have a bomb underneath?" "Don’t you get hot in it?" "Do you feel oppressed?" These are typical questions asked to a hijabi.
Answers that people want to hear:
• "Yeah we use a special shampoo called ‘hijab and shoulders’." • "We only take it off when a man tells us we can do so." • "Down to my ass." • "What else would a terrorist have inside?" • "Hell is hotter." • "Always."
The real truth:
• Hygiene is important in my religion and that includes washing your hair. So no, we do not use the hijab inside the shower wtf. • As mentioned before, wearing the hijab is for women to protect their beauty. Nonetheless we can show the rest of our beauty to other women, children, elderly men and family members (basically anyone who wouldn’t think with their dick). • This will always be a mystery as all girls are different. • Contrary to belief, Muslims are not terrorists. In fact, our religion condemns terrorism and promotes peace. It’s the media and other factors that try to brainwash you otherwise. If people are more open minded, think for themselves and are accepting, stereotyping wouldn’t be as evident. This goes for other minority groups in our society. • Before the hijab was ordained in the Quran, Arab women and even men wore a cloth/fabric on their head or else their hair would be fried under the sun (Islam originated in the Middle East). So no we don't really overheat, maybe we get a bit sweaty in the summer, but I can assure you that we’re still cold in the winter. • Oppression? Far from it. I believe that instead, the hijab empowers and liberates me as a woman. It empowers me as I have control on who I show the rest of my physical beauty to and it liberates me as I don’t need to go off the beauty ideals of western society in order to be accepted or seen as attractive. With my hijab, I hope to attract people with my personality and to be accepted for the person I really am.
Let’s talk about modest fashion. In May this year they had the first ever Modest Fashion Week (IMFW) in Istanbul, Turkey. Although I wasn't there myself, I kept up with the action by following the IMFW Instagram account and other modest fashion bloggers who were there, as well as seeing pics under the IMFW hashtag.
Fashion designers all over the world from Indonesia to Sweden showcased their work. There were a whole range of different styles, colour, textiles, patterns or prints as well as influences from different cultures and traditions. From formal attire to casual outfits, all models were dressed modestly with or without a hijab. In my opinion they fell nothing short of being fashionable. Since our fashion style revolves around modesty, our wardrobe normally consists of everything and anything which is long. Long sleeves, pants or jeans, maxi skirts or dresses, outer wear, jackets and of course scarves. Winter may be a Muslimah’s (Muslim girl) favourite season to dress and buy clothes as this is when longer clothing hits the stores and covering up is ‘more’ in fashion/sensible for the weather.
Although I believe that I don’t have killer fashion sense, my motto is: ‘dress nicely to look good for yourself.’ I believe that how you dress yourself is how you hold yourself. My go to outfit during warmer days is a plain maxi dress/skirt with a nice top, as well as a denim jacket and a block-coloured chiffon headscarf. During colder days I would wear jeans, a long sleeved top with a plain but flattering coat as well as a pashmina headscarf.
Normally I would team my outfits with gold or silver jewelry as well as heels or my white converse and a designer handbag such as Prada or Gucci. For everyday makeup, I believe in accentuating your assets; luckily I have been blessed with thick eyebrows so yes, they are real. I use my Lancome Teint Miracle foundation all over my face, my favourite Japanese mascara for my Asian eyelashes, a MAC lip-liner and lipstick (Persistence and Twig are my holy grail) and from Elizabeth Arden, a wash of a light copper eyeshadow on my eyelids as well as blush on my cheeks.
People who says that modesty isn’t fashionable have yet to see how composed and gracious conservative women dress. If there is something I’ve learned from fashion, it is that looking composed is timeless because it shows that you are confident, classy and have your stuff sorted.
To check out modest fashion inspo, to name a few, you could search these accounts up on Instagram or other social media: yuna, dinatokio, modestyofftherunway, hijabfashion, fashionwithfaith, inayahc, auroraisnthome, chichijab, sobi1canobi, anaa_nourin, sagaleeyaa and zahra.mursal.
Artwork: Antonia Carter (http://tiredgirlsews.weebly.com)