HIJAB FASHION DON’T : WAIST CINCHING
Belts have really become a “must-have” accessory, and cinching in the waist falls right in line with the popular phrase: “If you’ve got it, flaunt it”. But do belts and other waist nipping devices work well with hijab?
As a fashion-conscious Muslimah, I can appreciate loveliness when I see it and I think that the outfits above are very feminine and pretty. However, I think that they’re also very inappropriate for a hijab-wearing woman when she needs to be covered.
The whole idea behind belts is that they nip you in at the waist, creating an illusion of that coveted hour glass figure. The whole idea behind hijab is that a woman conceals her sexy shape. So putting the two together — belts and hijab — is typically not a good idea.
So, what’s a Muslim woman to do if she loves the style factor that only belts can give her? She can wear her belts with jackets. In the collage below, you can see how wearing a jacket shows off the belt while at the same time, it hides the shape of your figure.
Now, this doesn’t work so well if you’re busty because wearing a belt will only exaggerate the size of your chest. But if you don’t have a large chest, feel free to wear your belts and wear them well!
Links:
Blazer, $79.00 (Looks much better in person!)
Stretch Satin Tunic, $39.00
Carlos Santana Iconic Pump, $49.48
Wide Patent Belt, $15.78
Long Skirt, $49.00
What do you think about wearing belts with hijab?
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42 comments… read them below or add one
I like that outfit. What do you say about wearing belts that… just hang loosly over your waist not exactly like the ones above? If you get what I’m sayin… cuz I dunno what they’re called.
actually i think a loose belt is fine, like the purple belt on the second right model, but i agree that to make it more right, we better have a jacket on top of it :)
by the way i love the yellow tunic you choose. are the sleeves long enough?
The long skirt looks great. Have you ordered via Spiegel before? They have a huge selection of long skirts and I’m tempted to get some.
great advice! and i exceptionally enjoy it because i love belts and want to wear them. now i know how.=)
great advice. i don’t personally like muslim girls to wear those tight belts n’ iA they’ll take up your advice!!
Hi Kima! Yeah, I’m LOVING those Carlos Santana’s *wears my wallet???* :-D
AWESOME TIPS! LOVE BELTS. ~RIYA~
Thanks for the great tips … I never wear belts but I can see how this works!!
Meh, I’m not a belt person… probably because I’m tiny and belts take up too much space and make me look even shorter than I really am! I love the long black jacket, though… the top is nice too, although yellow totally isn’t my colour.
nikki #2 why’d you steal my name??? Such a coinky-dink. hehe
Yes wearing a jacket with it would definetly make it more modest.
However, if you wear a belt without the jacket, wouldn’t it be nearly the same as wearing an evening dress fitted in the waist with a shrug (as in the first brown dress you posted)? The dress looks accented at the waist, and the shrug is too small to cover up any curves.
I’d say belt with jacket or such an evening dress with some type of shawl or longer jacket rather than a shrug would work!
You’re absolutely right about the brown gown AK and I was a little hasty in posting it up without digging a little harder for an alternative. The original dress that I wanted to use for the collage costs almost $3000, but it has a small belt that can be removed, which makes it perfect to wear with the shrug. I have now edited the Haute Hijabi collage to include that dress because after all, you can’t sacrifice modesty – no matter what!
AsianPranksta: Even a loose belt will cut off whatever your wearing at some point so it would also highlight the shape of your body. If you’re not a curvy girl though, there really wouldn’t be anything to emphasize on your shape so it may work for you.
Daphy: The sleeves on the yellow tunic are actually 3/4 sleeves. I think the dress is probably not so loose as well, so I wouldn’t suggest wearing without a long jacket.
JTL: Yes Spiegel is one of those companies that offers a lot of modest options that Muslim women can wear. I love them!
HijabLov#r/Nikki/Riya/Layla: Thanks for your comments! :o)
AnonyMouse: The tunic comes in pink too, not sure if you’re a pink girl though. :o)
Jakallah Khair for all your comments ladies, please keep them coming!
great article. you’re right you can’t sacrifice modesty for anything. glad you changed the other one alhamduillah. ~cammy
asalamu alaykum
AMAZING pure genius. ive always thought the belt was such a cute idea, but never thought i culd wear it. thnx u :D
mashallah
really great tips for younger sisters as well.
I think that belts are very beautiful for a muslim women but wearing something on them in order to hide our waists! this is better for us.
I don’t understand very well English but I love this site.
Somebody could translate me ?
Para French Girl.Si sabes español puedo ayudarte a traducir algunas cosas. Por desgracia no soy muy diestra con el Francés. Sorry!
the more i look at this outfit you brought together, the more i want it. it’s tooo cute!
Thank God someone had enough nerve to say it!! I’ve seen this so many times on girls wearing hijab and it makes me crazy! I absolutely love the whole idea of this website. You can look cute and stylish (not frumpy) without compromising your modesty. Thanks WLH!!
lol, good guess – I’m definitely not a pink girl! Deep purple is nice though :)
I love deep purple as well!!
I am loving the dress in the haute hijabi section. All of the styles are very chic and totally wearable.
Thanks for showing how to look classy and modest.
Belt with hijab?..agreed! a no, no!
I agree that the belt doesn’t look appropriate under the bust but I think that if it’s mid stomach or at your hips and not tight then it’s okay. But wearing a tigh back cardigan or a top that cinches at the bust is the same thing, so you can’t say that it’s totally wrong there are exceptions. Once again though I guess it all depends on your intention and your interpretation of right and wrong. Thanks a lot for the advice salamz
French Girl: Je parle francais alors si tu veux une traduction de qqc je peux t’aider :)..me too, I love this site!
si tu veux savoir..cette page parle de la ceinture. elle dit que la ceinture est super mignonne mais que c pas assez modeste toute seule parce qu’elle montre la forme de la femme alors faute porter une jaquette. Tu peux porter un shirt, puis la ceinture sur le shirt et sur tout ca le jaquette. j’espere que ca t’aide!
Thanks Alot,
we really need to educate some muslims about this part.
we know that some of them are covering their body,,, but its showing their figure.
my god, there are so so so many of them lately,,,,,
Thanks alot for posting this because i am a big fan of belts and never knew of this
You known there is a hadith about propht M.SAW referring to the lady with the belt It was an Arab tradtionI think like thePalestinian traditinal embroidered dresses, they has a belt which you could fold over and store things in it.SOMe one could research that one as I dont have access to it now.It wasn’t referred to as a bad thing, which would imply it was OK for a woman to wear a belt.Rather than forbidding something that we have no knowledge is forbidden. perhaps it would be wiser to give general advice, such as Do not wear very tight clothes that you feel may show your body shape in detail. Other than being isoalted in ones private surroundings as in “purdah” or wearing a blow up baloon suit, most forms of garments of any type will show some of the human body shape. How you do that is the issue. You must be reasonable. Designing the clothing in a shape that allows one to be active, not getting caught in doors or tripping on stairs can be done without being spandex skin tight. Each person must be responsible for how they conduct themselves here in this world. Be wary and choose well. Then, once you have taken due care and reasonable thought to how to dress, go out and live life-after all Allah will judge us on intentions AND actions, not obsessing over what clothes you put on each moment of your day. We’ve got work to do, let’s get to it. We are more than our clothes.
@MrsS. Thanks for your comment. If you take a look at my article, you’ll see that I wrote that wearing belts with hijab is “typically not a good idea”. I did not forbid anything and I wasn’t referring to a situation where a woman would be using a belt to hold things in with. I think that it is pretty clear that I was referring to using belts to nip in your waist in order to intentionally put your body on display as done in the pictures. Either way, Allah knows best. To your point about “we are more than our clothes”, this website is all about clothing, so what would you expect to see me talking about in my posts?
Hi Kima
great post about the belts. I was very tempted to add belts to my 2009 catalogue but ruled it out for the same reasons you discussed above.
However, Im conscoius that young girls follow fashion trends very closely so I designed the wrap top and the chiffon wrap abaya which have a similar effect but in a much more subtle way.
I always believe that flaunting your body does not make one as beautiful as preserving it.
Keep up the great work!
Wa Salam
Rula
Assalamualikum, great work!!!
I really love ur website. I was so glad somebody came up with this idea. I’m not a muslima yet but going in the right direction. It’s really hard to be muslim in my country, not so much because of the oppression but mostly because of stereotypic approach towards this religion. Of course for darker people it’s harder, but i think for women wearing hijab it’s even harder when ur as white as I am. They think u must be married to an Arab and he’s making u wear hijab. I like ur site cause it’s all about fashion and how to be a muslima and still be fashionable, which I want to achieve. I don’t wear the hijab yet but I’m in the middle of my closet makeover. I find a lot of nice ideas here and when I start wearing hijab (soon InshAllah) I’ll find it even more useful. Keep up the good work. And please sisters don’t judge other sisters cause a lot of times they’re new hijabis and they’re just starting to change their clothes and many times it’s not that easy (like in summer when there aren’t to many long-sleeved things available).
Oh, I don’t know. I wear hijab (i just started three months ago!!) and I’ll occasionally wear a belt to add oomph to an otherwise boring solid color tunic. I don’t think it’s too “waist nipping” to me because I typically wear longer shayla scarves that cover most, if not all, of my chest area. The tops that I wear belts with tend to flow out from the belted part down, so I never have too-tight-around-the-tummy issues lol. I think that if you wear a longer scarf with any of the pictured outfits, there shouldn’t be any trouble.
i have that exact yellow dress from newport news, i dont think wearing a black trenchcoat over it would look good because the sleeves are so puffy. i think if u dont want to show that little part of your arm then wear a black (or whatever colour u want) thin long sleeve shirt under it like from old navy.
in summer you can also wear just a sleeve under it cause in a shirt and that it could be too hot. i myself don’t buy those ready-made sleeves cause they are way too expensive for such simple thing. i do it myself from old thick tights. u can buy them in so many colours and they aren’t that expensive. you just cut the legs and you have your arm-coverage :)
Its totally appropiate….the belts should not be too tight as to show your shape!!
I once saw a very, pretty, fashion-forward Muslimah a few years ago. She was fairly young (I think late teens, early twenties) and she wore a pretty yellow sun dress that went down past her knees with a white turntleneck, a pale green cardigan (as to cover the gentle tapering of her waist) and matching loose, cotton trousers with a pair of brown boots. Her hajib was a layered yellow and dark green style.
I just wanted to share this to you all as to show that, yes, you can be fashion-forward and perfectly hajib… or, like in my case (I’m not Muslim though I find it odd I’ve been reading this site all day and een absolutely inspired. Maybe I’m past my rebellious stage in life. :D) find the perfect balance between fashionista and spiritual comfort.
Thank you for reminding me about that.
I like belts with my knee-length blouses, I “blouse out” the fabric so it isn’t tight over my boson…That reminds me of another hijab controversy….Is it is a hijab “don’t” to wear the scarf “spanish style” that is, tied behind the head like a hat? It says in the Quran that “believing women should draw their veils over their bosoms…” I’ve stopped wearing my scarf behind my neck, but don’t presume to judge those who do. What do you think?
AISHA I know where you’re coming from, I am also white and people think I was brainwashed by a cult when I converted, or my husband forced me. LOL 10 years ago, mash’Allah! and more than ever grateful for Allah’s guidance! I ” phased” into hijab, first giving up short skirts, then short sleeves, etc. It’s difficult to change your entire wardrobe, or your lifestyle, overnight. Stay strong and follow your heart :)