Back In The Abaya Game

I was talking to Imaan of TheHijablog, who like me was blogging way back in the early hijab blogging days of 2008 and we started discussing personal style. I brought up my opinion that a lot of the much younger hijab bloggers all seem to wear very similar styles that at times make me question whether they are dressing according to their own personal style (something which I realise develops over time so it may just be an age related thing) or they are merely following trends - aka the original Ascia and the trillion Ascia turban  copycats. Skinny jeans, oversized tops and turbans. It seems to be part uniform for the new generation of hijab bloggers.

For a long time I was known for wearing abayas. I obviously have opened up my wardrobe range slowly over the last year or so but being currently pregnant for the third time (about to hit that 20 week half way point!) has me reaching back into the depths of my closet for abayas again because up until a few weeks ago my usual pants fit great. Now they barely do up with the help of an extender elastic. 

It has made me realise that I kind miss wearing them - they are so graceful, elegant and ladylike; but more importantly they are damn comfy to wear. No belly restrictions, no reason to feel like you are going to bust through your clothes any minute now after eating half a meal. Last week at lunch with my friends I actually had to undo my pant's top button because I thought I was going to cut off my blood pressure and die facedown in a bowl of mansaf. Still haven't gotten around to buying maternity pants... probably should. I nearly bought a few the other day from ASOS when they had their 20% off discount but by the time I got my two kids in bed the sale was over and I lost out. 

In the meantime my old abayas are getting more and more use and being introduced to new friends - this NA Exclusive abaya being one of the new lot. It's definitely a night time piece but night shots wouldn't capture the true sparkle of this gown. Those golden offshoots of light blinging off the sequins are 100% natural. I did not edit them into the pics except for one on my face in one particular photo because I'm not photogenic and nine times out of ten my normal looking face contorts into shrekdom when dealing with the sun. Just one of the many times that I look back on photos and think "Holy crap... do I really look like that?" while laughing and jokingly pondering "How did I ever get a man?". I'm not a selfie taker by any means so practicing camera appropriate faces isn't really a skill of mine. I didn't want any of my readers shitting themselves in terror, hence the facial star. But seriously... the abaya... so damn sparkly. The sun is just bouncing of it. 

The strip of golden sequins goes all the way down the sides of the arms, across the neck (which you can't see - scarf's fault) and down the sides of the body, flaring out at the bottom. The sequins are lined on the interior of the sleeves. They're not on the body section though. The belt is a wrap around so you can wear it or not wear it to your heart's content. The matching hijab also has a strip of sequins on one end but I went without it today as I thought it was a little too much gold going on at the one time.

The material is light but a little too thick for Perth's summery desert-like days but the piece is so in your face that you wouldn't want to wear it in the daytime anyway so that doesn't really matter.