Haiqah comes to London

Haiqah is a UK-based store which sells abayahs, scarves and modest outfits for women, combining fashion with modesty. I've come across this company online before and have liked their designs, so when my sister told me about the brand opening it's first store in Ilford Lane, East London, I was pretty keen to check out the shop.

This is the shop below, which is beautifully decorated, and has a big range of outfits. My sister and I visited this store together and loved how well put together the decor was, with a mix of patterned walls, stylish furniture and stools, and and gorgeous rugs and flowers. We also loved how the outfits were grouped together around the shop - there's different style dresses and shirts, with lots of abayahs, kimonos and abayahs for different tastes.

I love that there's a good range of colours and styles, especially as the store's collection is pretty wide-ranged. There's plenty of jackets and dresses which can be layered, which I really like, and also had a classic feel to a them - ideal for a minimalist wardrobe, especially as it can be a little difficult to find modest outfits which can be worn as classic pieces.

I also really liked the entrance decor in the shop - there's outfits framed along the walls which are blocked by colour, and accessorised with jewellery and bags, which I thought was a great idea, especially for outfit inspiration.

I really liked a lot of the dresses in the store, such as the black and white design below, and the lace outfit. I can imagine wearing a lot of these in the summer, and mixing and matching with skinnies and a plain top, such as wearing an open abayah, or wearing a dress with jeans. I also liked the lace outfits below in brown and lilac, which would look great as Asian outfits for a wedding or special event, and look really comfortable and light to wear.

These two outfits caught my eye, and were probably my favourites in the store - the pearl-sleeved top came in grey and white, both of which I liked, while the lace outfit came in black and white, which I can imagine being worn as a shirt or even open as a light jacket.

I also liked these two outfits before, the one the left is smarter and something which could be worn to the office, while the one of the right is perfect for summer, pastels and florals which is right up my street!

There's also a good range of scarves in the store in chiffon, cotton and crepe, and which are very reasonably priced, starting at £5, which makes a big change from a lot of modest-clothes outfits I've seen online before.

I ended up buying two tunics I liked in the end, the white pearl midi dress and the lace textured tunic in white - both of which I can imagine getting a lot of wear out of this summer! I was initially going to buy just one but couldn't choose which I liked more, so ended up buying both! And I'd also like to point out how pretty the bag is too - I love it when companies make an effort with their packaging, and my mum also told me she thought the bag was pretty when I showed her my goods!

My sister also ended up buying a silky tunic from Haiqah as well, which was a pretty printed top with full sleeves. She said she liked how modest it was, and the fact that it wasn't sheer, had a low neckline and had full sleeves - something which can be harder to find than you'd think on the high street.

One of the things I really liked about this shop was how reasonably priced the outfits were - there was a 20% discount at the store's opening, but even without this, the outfits are really well-priced for the quality. I've had outfits from modest labels before which aren't always great, or don't have good finishing but I was really happy with the two pieces I bought from this label. I ended up speaking to the store's owner for a little while as well, who explained the brand's philosophy and ethics, and really liked the fact that they would rather keep prices affordable and help more women be modest, than drive prices up just to make a profit.

I'm sure I'll be stopping by this shop again to pick up a few pieces, and have already got plans to wear the things I've bought to a few tea parties. I've got my eye on this outfit as well, which I love because I really like the pop of yellow, and the fact it can be layered, so watch this space!

LONDON MODEST FASHION WEEK 2017

Last week I attended the first London Modest Fashion Week, which has been something that has received a lot of publicity recently, as it was the first of its kind in the fashion calendar. Organised by fashion house Haute Elan, it ran for a weekend in the Saatchi Gallery, London, and included a whole host of exhibitions featuring designers selling their clothes, hijabs, makeup, jewellery, henna and natural products and services. There were also a group of catwalk shows from 40 designers in the modest fashion world who showcased their latest collections. There were also workshops, talks with designers and business-women, as well as opportunities for those looking to invest.

It was a pretty exciting event, as a lot of modest fashion and even the normal fashion bloggers were attending the event - it was really great to see a unified effort to bring awareness to modesty-wear and the market which has developed. I managed to get a ticket for one of the days to attend, which was great fun as I saw such a lovely variety of bloggers and designers and managed to speak to a lot of them while we explored the event.

The first thing I did was explore the exhibitions, which was spread out over three floors of the gallery, and had plenty of things to see and buy.

There were a lot of brands from various international countries like Turkey, Malaysia and Dubai, as well as British brands who were looking to promote themselves. I loved that there were so many styles of outfits available, and had my eye on a few beautiful hijabs and dresses but didn't get them in the end as they were slightly pricey for me. Below is just a snapshot of some the brands I saw - don't they look colourful?

We also saw plenty of henna being done - I did fancy getting some jaguar henna done but unfortunately wasn't able too, but did manage to pick up some white henna cones!

There were about 4 main catwalk shows which ran throughout the weekend, although I only managed to see one. The outfits were a good variety of modest, loose abayas to dressier ensembles, casual pieces and gorgeous statement pieces.

Here's a few of my favourite pieces from the ramp below, the models were walking pretty fast so some of the photos aren't brilliant!

Leenaz Design

iiLA Collection

Ummiriaz

Feradje

Maslea by Sakura Malaysia

There were plenty of reknowned influencers, designers and bloggers present at the event, many of which have promoted modest fashion and have helped to bring it to the fore - including fashion designer and blogger Dina Tokio, makeup entrepeneur Zukreat, fashion designer Rabia Z, lifestyle and fashion blogger Mara F, fashion blogger Aana Nourin , blogger and designer NabiilaBee and many more. I managed to speak to a few of them and loved how friendly they all were, as well as exchange a few fashion tips!

And I can't post a Modest Fashion event without showing what I wore! I paired a silk jumpsuit from Zara with a printed jacket and a bright yellow bag - it felt very flattering on and I got a lot of compliments on the day.

The event being at the Saatching Gallery, I couldn't resist hgaving a walk around to lookeat the beautiful art on display (I know I wasn't the only one to have this idea because a lot of other bloggers and customers did the same thing!). There were a lot of beautiful art prints available to sell as well, which I thought were gorgeous, particularly the beautiful Islamic art for sale by Siddiqa Juma.

I was also lucky enough to get a goody bag from Haute Elan to take home with me, which I thought was so thoughtful. Inside were some jelly beans from Haute Elan (which my husband helpfully ate for me), a beautiful mug from gift company Mubarak London and a gorgeous jersey hijab from Naelofar, a lovely Malaysian brand.

My only criticism of this event was that I think that more could have been done with this event - there were only stands to buy from and catwalk shows, and I really think there should have been more workshops and opportunities for bloggers and non-bloggers to interact and learn how they could help the modest fashion cause. As much as I loved that there were so many modest fashion brands, I thought some of the things available were too pricey - I had a discussion with a friend who also went to the event a day later who said she would prefer to buy things from a normal high street store because the value for money was better.

I also noted that a few bloggers who had attended LMFW stated they felt a little snubbed or ignored by the bigger bloggers - unfortunately this does happen a lot at fashion events, and it can be a little upsetting. It can also be difficult to get to speak to everyone you want to speak to - this event had hundreds of photographers, bloggers, designers and marketing staff, which made it crazily busy. I think in this context, the organisers of the event could have made it easier for people to interact and introduce themselves to each other.

All in all, I had a really fun time at this event, and feel pretty proud that I managed to be a part of London's first modest event like this on a large scale. It's nice to think that this could be a regular part of the fashion calendar in the coming years, and it also shows the effect that wearing hijab has had on mainstream fashion.

Aatiya London x Bubblegum Hijab: An Blogger London Launch Party

I was invited to a special launch party a few weeks ago, for a Malaysian brand which launched last month in London - Aatiya London. This was a pretty special blogger meet, as it involved so many women who I have become friends with over the last few years.

One of these is Bubblegum Hijab, fashion blogger and YouTuber who has some seriously cool acheivements - as well as a PR and events company, she designs clothes, makes and sells bathbombs and still has time to blog and vlog!

Bubblegum Hijab collaborated with Aatiya to design and bring a new collection to London, which was a collection to celebrate diversity and  also show her inspiration of Souh and East Asia. Her collection was inspired from a visit to Malaysia, but also to celebrate 'women of cultures' - women around the world of different background and heritage.

The launch party was held at a pretty French restaurant called Aubaine in central London, at a private room upstairs. It was set out in a really pretty, rustic way - candles, flowers and wood everywhere which looked lovely.

I absolutely LOVED the outfits of the collection - there were several bloggers who modelled a few pieces from the collection, and also a rack of dreses and jackets for us to look at. My favourites were the brocade jackets with accompanying maxi skirts, there were also some very nice pieces which wre versatile. There were a few two-piece outfits inspired by the Malaysian baju kurung, which is a top and a bottom skirt. The top is a peplum one, which is very adaptable and  can be worn together with the skirt or mixed and matched with trouser and dresses.

And of course I managed to try one of the pieces on, which was this lovely white brocade with a split. I loved how comfy and easy it was to wear, and really wanted to take one home with me!

We also stopped for a quick talk with the designer herself and a company representative, as well as a video with the collection's pieces - here's a quick snippet below!

The food itself also deserves a mention - it was delicious! Although this wasn't a halal restaurant, there were some really lovely delicacies and finger foods - my favourite was some cheesepuffs with mushroom pieces, and chunky chips with cheese and truffle oil!

There was a really great buzz to the launch party, and it was great to see old faces and meet new ones. It was also really lovely to see how many people came out to support the designer - literally with women from different cultures, in a French restaurant in London.

Aatiya London also celebrated the company's birthday, so naturally there was a lovely cake for everyone eat - I'm told this was custom-made by Eila's Cake Couture, which was a lovely fruit cake with delicate icing.

I had great fun at the event, and loved how everyone dressed up to have a fun night out. I managed to make a few new friends who I've stayed in contact with, and will be seeing them soon. I have also seen a lot of the Aatiya London pieces at expos and events, and love how popular they are getting.

We also got a lovely goody bag (or really, a box!) to take with us - inside was a pretty chiffon scarf, a purse and a Malaysian cake for us to enjoy, with a chocolate bar! The picture below isn't great because I took it at night time and then forgot to take a better one, but my favourite piece is the scarf, which I love.

The scarfI got was a pretty dusky pink colour, which I have worn at least three times already (including on Eid!) and which I have gotten compliments for every time I've worn it. I'm already considering buying myself a few more of these scarves!

You can shop the Aatiya London's pieces at their website, and also on Modestly Wrapped, which also stocks them - let me know what you think of their pieces!