by Caroline Radnofsky
Common perceptions of hijab dress are that it’s boring and totally incompatible with High Street fashions. When it comes to faith and fashion, they’re considered worlds apart.
Not for these women though. A wave of Muslim female bloggers has appeared to show young women how to express themselves through their clothing while embracing their faith.
Fae Abdullah, owner of Breathe Hijab, describes her blog as “a place for Muslim women to come get ideas and be inspired by fashion.”
Of her blog Hijab Style, Jana Kossaibati says: "I started my own site to bring together elements of what Muslim women are looking for and to make mainstream fashion wearable and relevant to them."
Jana, Fae and other countless young women like them scour the catwalks for collections and trends that are compatible with modest dressing, provide tutorials on different ways to tie a hijab and design sample outfits for different occasions entirely constructed from pieces bought at high street shops such as Miss Selfridge and Topshop.
They acknowledge that putting together hijab outfits is more difficult than for their non-Muslim friends, usually involving lots of layering, some creativity and savvy spending, but they agree that it’s worth it. In Fae's words: “Wearing hijab and being modest does not mean you have to look drab!”