OOTD: Structured Grey Skirt and Pink Hijab

Assalaamu alaikum sisters! Hope you are all well, and busy preparing for the blessed month of Ramadan that is soooo close!

I was inspired by two sisters at work to make a plan and get back to my blog! I still haven’t sorted out my PC/internet situation yet, but stayed late at work today to do a quick post! That’s motivation for you hey! 🙂

Anyway, so decided to start a Outfit of the Day (OOTD) series, since I’ve just recently discovered a really OBVIOUS way to cover my face during pics, which means I don’t have to edit them. DUH lol 🙂

Sorry about the poor picture quality, things just aren’t going my way with technology!

My work winter look has consisted mainly of 3/4 length dresses with boots, and 3/4 skirts. Because its super easy to make it look modest, and very elegant at the same time!

Grey skirt with thin pink stripes: I bought this skirt at Truworths years ago, but every year they have similar skirts, the very structured type that works well for work.

Black poloneck jersey: Found at edgars, but you can find them anywhere. Because this skirt has a pink stripe in, I usually wear black knitwear with it, sometimes a button down cardi, sometimes poloneck. This skirt would’ve looked great with a top that has a bit more detail, like a cowl neck, or a fabric flower on or something.

PInk hijab: I’ve been buying every colour I can find in this fabric. It’s really thin and light so drapes easily, it is great for summer as well. It’s also not too thin that the pins damage the scarf. I wish I knew what the fabric is called, will find out. You find them at Vangate Souk, at Sawants creations, and at Khans Panjabis. Prices range from R20-R40 at the various stores.

Black beads: Which you can hardly see, so not the smartest idea 🙂 I bought them at Edgars

Black boots: I LOVE them! I searched for years for the perfect black boots, found these at HQ shoes

I dont wear much accesories in winter, mostly because I’m too cold and lazy in the morning!

OK, thats it for tonight, let me know what you think! Would you like more OOTD posts like these? Jazaakallah

MIA… where am I?

Slm all! So sorry that I’ve been MIA for a while now, sadly a few weeks ago my laptop crashed and I’ve been without internet at home as well!

I am working on getting it all sorted asap, and Inshallah I will revive this blog soon!

Two of a kind!

Last weekend My Good Friend and her husband came to visit. Such a coincidence, we were dressed almost exactly the same!

My good friend on the left, and me on the right 🙂

Printed Satin Top: If you take a look around the shops, you will see many of these printed satin tunic style tops. They are really bold, so I’ve been quite nervous to wear them (and actually still am), but with plain cardis and hijabs they get toned down quite a bit. What I love about them is that they are usually long, and loose-fitting, so with some added sleeves are very easy to Muslimify! They are quite dressy also, so look great with heels for a night out! You can dress them up even further with a blazer instead of a cardi.

My Good Friend found hers at Woolworths, and I found mine at Mr Price!

Jeans: Note to self: Looking at the pic I realise my skinny jeans might be a tad bit too tight, she is wearing a boot leg jeans which definitely looks a lot more modest.

Cardigans: My Good Friend bought hers at Truworths, I bought mine at China Town.

Hijab: She bought hers at Mr Price, I bought mine at Khan’s Punjabis. Purple is a tough colour to buy, there are lots of shades, so if you do want purple, best to take your top/cardigan with to match it.

Shoes: My Good Friend is wearing a cream wedge heel from Woolworths, and I am wearing a tan round toe shoe from HQ Shoes.

Accesories: I was at home so not really wearing any, she had on a cream belt from some random store, and a bronze bracelet with green, red and yellow stones.

Ok, that’s it! What a coincidence hey! Let me know what you all think!

Hijabi Spotlight #2

Love this look! This sister has got the perfect laid back weekend look!

Cotton maxi dress (every and any shop, ChinaTown has HUNDREDS): There are hundreds in the shops, in styles, patterns and colours that suit everyone! I like the one above because of the small print (a larger print is sometimes too loud for me) and also because it has many colours in it. So you can draw attention to different colours each time you wear it, for different looks 🙂

Denim jacket (found at Mr Price or China Town): I’m not usually a denim jacket fan, haven’t owned one for years, but it can be quite a nice change to a cardigan. Whereas the cardi would make your outfit look a bit dressy, the denim jacket shouts ‘walk in the park’ or ‘saturday shopping’ 🙂

Hijab (plain Hijabs found at Sawants creations, for reasonable prices): Definitely need to wear a plain colour, like the sister in the pic has done. The turquoise brings a bold splash of colour which is refreshing and very summer-y. This can work with a bold plain pink scarf as well

Accessories (look around for one that catches your eye): I LOVE the silver necklace! Add long silver/gold necklace with chunky pendant to your must-have list! I also like that she is wearing 2 contrasting pieces around her neck. Bracelet is nice touch (see, the metal matches her pendant), you could also wear beaded bracelet or bangles in your hijab colour.

Shoes (MrPrice and Woolworths are my go-to stores for flats): Either sandals or pumps work. You could either wear a colour that matches your hijab, or a metallic that matches your accessories like she has done.

OK, done dissecting the look! 🙂 Hope it helps, happy shopping!

Muslimah at Work: Team lunches

When I started ‘the world of work’ a few years ago, I had to make decisions that I never thought about before. I found my faith being tested every day, in little and big ways, that I didn’t know how to handle.

Before work, I was always surrounded by people like me. I attended a female-only Islamic school, and my circle of friends even in university were all Muslim females like me. Now, at work, I was surrounded by males, by non-Muslims, by people of all different cultures and faiths.

Amongst other things, corporate team lunches were a big challenge. At campus and school, we were all muslims so naturally we would only eat at strictly Halaal places. At work, where I was 1 Muslim amongst many non-Muslims, this was not the case.

In the beginning I felt obliged to go along, not really sure whether this was OK or not. I thought to myself: ‘As long as I don’t eat’ or “As long as I eat veg-only’ OR as long as I don’t drink out of the glassware’ . But I really wasn’t sure.

It took a really long time, and a lot of back and forth, till I could decide for myself what I was OK with and what not. I learned to say no when I wasn’t comfortable, and realised that this was perfectly fine. I’ve also become a lot more confident and I let my team mates know when I don’t feel comfortable joining, and even alternatives that I would prefer, and in most cases I’ve found that they generally are a lot more accommodating that I would have expected. With more and more Muslim-owned restaurants opening in South Africa, it gets easier to do this.

I’ve been contemplating writing about this for a while, since technically, even if I do decide what I am OK with, it is not really OK Islamically – I am still working with males, and interacting with them socially during corporate events without a Mahram. And whilst I am trying to share my journey with all of you, I didn’t want to write about areas in my life that I felt needed definite improvement. But I was chatting to a friend yesterday about this who said, your blog isn’t called justanotherperfectmuslimah, and that waiting till I was perfect before I wrote about it didn’t make sense, when I could be writing about challenges that other muslim sisters are probably facing as well.

So, I would really like to hear how some of you deal with these challenges at work, and if there is any advice you would like to impart of your muslim sisters?

Thanks for the read… keep on visiting!