Autumn trends are already appearing on the pages of glossy magazines, but for some fashionistas an important question remains unanswered. What will be autumn’s key hijab look?
Muslim women anxious to keep their style cutting-edge are turning to an ever-expanding number of blogs, Facebook groups and YouTube videos to discover the hottest way to tie their headscarves.
Jana Kossaibati, whose blog, Hijab Style, claims to be the UK’s first style guide for Muslim women, says women are getting more experimental. “Muslim girls are very conscious of the way they dress. When you wear a headscarf you stand out as a Muslim, so what kind of message are you also sending out if you look drab or messy?” Kossaibati started her site because there wasn’t another like it in the UK, “but since it began 10 months ago a lot of others have appeared,” she says.
Although older Muslim women often choose a style of headscarf that reflects their cultural heritage, younger women are mixing techniques from all over the Muslim world with newly created styles to complement Western clothes.
On sites such as Hijabfashionista and The Hijab blog, classic “Spanish”, “simple braid” and layered styles are studied and copied by women who want to make sure their scarves turn heads. Other sites advise on the best scarves to wear for sport and even under a baseball cap.
With complicated knots and multiple layers, some of the most popular looks could take hours to create, but Jana advises fashion-followers to try her favourite, the flower hijab wrap: “It’s fairly simple - you tie the scarf behind your head and then bring it over again to tie at the side like a flower.”
As for the question of which headscarf will be the hot trend this autumn, Jana plumps for the “Turkish” style - tied under the chin and wrapped around the neck, which she thinks “signals a return to more grown-up, sophisticated dressing and the end of the summer holidays”.