I love Anokhi

Anokhi scarves by celeritas

The most beautiful hijabs that I have ever seen are Anokhi's rectangular scarves which are large enough (15" by 72"), have a gorgeous range of patterns and are soft cotton voile. The scarves cost USD $14 and include the price of shipping to the US & Canada. They are made in India, block printed and embroidered by hand. You can order by colour groups and there are patterned and solid scarves.

Hair Options - Anokhi Cotton Scarf Folk Art USD $14.95

Anokhi also sell square scarves of 30" but these are too small to properly cover the neck and chest as can be seen on the left, if you were to wear an al-amira underneath however they would fulfill the obligations of hijab as I have shown on the right.

Tichels - Introduction

Tznius - How to tie a Butterfly uses a Green floral silver thread rectangular scarf for US $9.95

Tichel is Yiddish for kerchief and they are worn by our Orthodox Jewish sisters who follow the rules of Tzniut. These rules are similar to hijab however only married women must cover their hair and they tend not to cover their ears or neck as required under hijab. Modest dress is required for men and women regardless of marital status. Men also always wear hats as was once common amongst Muslim societies and is still common amongst Muslim men wearing traditional clothing.

Most tichels are large enough for hijab however some are a bit small to cover to hijab levels such as 30" square scarves, I generally think that 40" is good for most sisters however Turkish eşarp and Malay tudung can be 35".

Tichels, caps and snoods are favoured by married Orthodox Jewish women who take the ruling that wearing a wig or sheital does not fulfil the rules of tzniut.

I am definitely not an expert in Judaism and my posts on this subject will focus on using products advertised as tichel or sold at Jewish retailers, as hijab head coverings.

Safari Hijabi

I'm loving the Safari look and its come around again this Spring/Summer in New Zealand. The key color for Safari is khaki and this goes fabulously with white. 

Some high fashion looks pair Safari items with animal accessories like chetah, zebra or giraffe prints but I think thats a bit tacky. The traditioinal Safari was going to Africa to shoot wild game, preserve it using taxidermy and put the spoils in their smoking rooms. Hunting for big game animals for sport is not very popular these days and has always been forbidden for Muslims as the Prophet (pbuh) said "whoever shoots at a living creature for sport is cursed." (Hunting for food however is permissable, there is a great article here). So I personally think matching the khaki pieces of the Safari look with animal prints can easily look over the top and tacky and sort of seems like you've gone out and shot something to wear on your arm/feet/head.

So I've instead made the feature piece a khaki scarf with mageneta, orange and white cyrasanthimum flowers and picked up these colors in the accessories.