1. The range of cotton square scarf colors available at al-Hannah for about ten dollars apiece.



2. Pure cotton printed scarves from The Hijab Shop. Converts to about twelve dollars U.S.



3. Another of the above.



4. Colorful loose-weave scarf from eShakti. The main scarf page says 100% cotton; the product page says "cotton rayon." Either way it is likely cool enough for hotter weather. Ten dollars.



5. Primo Moda's "cotton soft lines shawl," available in a few pastel shades, for fifteen.



6. Forever 21's pure linen scarf, available in a range of light and bright colors (as well as black) for about eleven bucks. They also carry a lot of lightweight viscose and various blend shawls, which I like for summer anyway. Just make sure to look at the fabric content and not only the product name if you're looking for something specific -- they're another company that has a tendency to name things like "Striped Cotton Shawl" with a fabric content of exactly zero percent actual cotton.



7. Another pure linen scarf, this time from the Luxury Divas for about fourteen dollars.



8. A light cotton wrap from Kohl's for ten.



9. A Scarf World roughly forty inch cotton square, converting to about eleven and a half dollars.



10. Another light, not to mention more subdued, Scarf World cotton square. Search for cotton fabric along with "hijab friendly" in the "product type" drop-down box and you'll turn up a few more options. They also have a summer hijabs page all its own. (You can change the currency display in the right hand column.)



11. An Anokhi block-printed cotton scarf -- fourteen dollars each, shipping included. Anokhi makes really very nice printed scarves for those of us who are comfortable with smaller scarves: fifteen inches wide for shaylas, and thirty inch squares. I'm not overly comfortable in that range, so while I own this exact scarf myself I double-wrap it with a solid -- a style which, just for the sheer number of layers involved, makes it a little less summer friendly than these might be were they even just a couple of inches wider.



12. Another Luxury Divas shawl, this time a quite sheer cotton gauze which is nevertheless wide enough to fold under for opacity. Although the six dollar price tag makes me suspicious as to quality, personally.

Al-Mujalbaba is selling cotton gauze hijabs in a few colors, although unpictured -- and while I might be fine with buying "french vanilla" or "tan" without seeing it, "yellow" and "pea green" are another story. She is also carrying linen blend shaylas, though personally I am not a big fan of self-fringe. If I want to have to mess with a fringe to make it a clean edge (or at least knotted) I'll look at Fabrics-Store.com for their 3.5 ounce (think handkerchief weight) pre-softened pure linen in really lovely colors (of which they'll send swatches for free). Anyone with even the slightest inclination to sew can roll and stitch scarf edges, and/or fringe them. Two yards of material equals two 72 by about 28 inch scarves (less however one deals with edges) or three 72 by 19 inch scarves (less the same) for -- including shipping, to me at least -- about twenty dollars. Granted that you might not want three identical pacific blue scarves, or even muted beige ones, but for gifts or getting together on something with friends it's something to think about (when you find yourself looking at piles of polyester scarves on meltingly hot days, that is).

Labels: scarfistry

While most of these are priced outside of ordinarily affordable range, for gifts or special occasions it can be nice to look outside of conventional hijab sources to come up with something especially elegant or unusual. A few options:

Museum Stores



Larger art museums tend to love nothing more than making reproductions of their pieces for sale in their gift shops -- posters, postcards, t-shirts, umbrellas, and yes, scarves. While many of us may not delight in the idea of walking around with a Kandinksy painting wrapped around our heads (although of course some might, and some of the most common reproductions on scarves to be found are stroke-for-stroke copies of the works of Van Gogh or Monet), don't also forget that museums display a great many textiles and prints that convert beautifully into less blatant art reproduction apparel. What's more, many also sell online, if good museums are regionally inaccessible to you. The above examples are from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the Art Institute of Chicago have some lovely shop-from-home selections as well. They are definitely not priced for everyday wear but, as said above, make especially lovely gifts.

(Note the second in the top row particularly. It is a William Morris print; as an Arts and Crafts primarily floral wallpaper designer his work usually is especially appropriate and not so difficult to find, be it as scarves, handbags, or just raw fabrics to do with as you wish.)

Specialty Textile Dealers




I have a thing for Lao weaving as is above. I was absolutely delighted, then, to come across Marla Mallett who, in addition to various antique textiles, deals in contemporary Lao silks. They are heavy. Not break-your-neck heavy, but certainly dense in a way that is inappropriate for warm weather. They are expensive. Again not necessarily breaking the bank any more than the neck, but still out of the range of what most of us would be comfortable spending on ourselves without a particular reason. But still they are stunning, and on just the right person at just the right formal occasion they could be perfect.

Still, for more comfortable, casual, and affordable wear there are also those who deal in indian block prints. They are often more elaborate and prettier than machine prints, in my own opinion, although it can sometimes take some weeding through to find something you like if you prefer a more muted palate, as I do.



You might try scarves such as the above examples from Heritage Trading (who also deals in slightly more expensive -- though less so than the Lao brocades -- woven and embroidered shawls). Since they update their available inventory often (think daily), if their prints seem a bit much it is worthwhile to check back again.

Labels: scarfistry

Living in a bit of a backwater these days, when looking for a decent maternity-friendly summer abaya (measurement-taking discovery: when pregnant most of my form turns into a remarkably perfect triangle) as well as a few new scarves, I turned to the world of online shopping. And it was there that I saw it: it was neon. Animal print. Sequined. Badly embroidered. Glittery. And see-through.

It was what, apparently all too often, seems to pass for fashion hijabs.

Blessedly I've never actually seen such a thing on a woman as I've now seen on the web, but for the sake of my online shopping sisters I thought I'd point out a few in-my-opinion somewhat more tasteful finds:

Hijab Girl

A really nice selection of large, casual, affordable wraps, particularly striped wraps. I bought for myself these two:



... both of which are available in a wide array of colors, alongside a handful of other pretty options. (They also have really tasteful two-piece slip on prayer garments, among other things.)

Shukr

After, as usual on this site, admiring any number of clothing items I can't really afford (and which wouldn't fit my aforementioned triangularly shaped form right now anyway), I did find this beautiful jacquard wrap:



The Hijab Shop



The particularly nice thing about The Hijab Shop is that they carry a large collection of subtley woven patterns wholly appropriate for professional settings or every day wear, and that when their selections do go glittery they are moderate enough so as to not make one feel that their reflection might be seen from space. They may not make you sit up and say "wow!," but they are still beautiful and more importantly beautifully functional.

Scarf World

Also U.K. based and often a little pricey (occasionally very pricey) even aside from shipping, still I love Scarf World. I love them because they carry a huge selection of woven prints -- generally bad for summer, but in my opinion usually far richer and classier in appearance than ink prints. They're quite heavy on paisleys, but do also carry a nice array of florals, stripes, gradients, etc.



Sheer scarves and chiffons are also abundant. I like this modern stripe print for layering, for example, much though it could never work alone:



Summer-Weight Solids

Veiled By Design is carrying a nice turn on solid colored wraps with their two-tone silk scarves:



(Also an excellent place to turn if you're looking for a variety of plain, colored tube-style underscarves.)

I also suggest looking at al-Mujalbaba's, Hijab Girl's, and al-Muhajabat's scarves for nice, plain, affordable, lovely-colored squares in about 40" and 60" sizes.

Ten Thousand Villages

I don't actually suggest shopping online here -- they do carry a narrow selection of scarves online, but also typically of the pricier variety and often not very hijab-friendly at that. I do suggest using their site to find a local store, however, for those of us in the U.S. or Canada. Their locations vary in size and selection, but those which do carry more clothing items often have beautiful, hand-crafted, fair trade scarves you'd be hard-pressed to find anywhere else.



And finally ...

Ebay. Really. Most of what you'll find there is a little questionable, but there's always the occasional gem. I, for example, recently picked up the following (which is now making me wish the cold would last longer to extend its wearable season):



If you have the time to hunt, you just never know what's to be found.

Labels: scarfistry