~Trend Setter....or Coincidence?~

aSalaam uAlaikum and Good Evening My Stylish Sisters!

Pull up a chair...let me pour you a Nojito...and let's get to chatting!  (By the way, I am seriously addicted to this fabulous little mocktail, isn't it delicious?  Maybe from time to time I'll share some more totally halaal delicious drink recipes when the mood strikes....)

Anywho...recently I was on another sister's blog reading all about the gamboo3a or shambassa....or whatever you want to call it.  She had reposted a very thorough article outlining the history of this trend, from head-dresses worn by British and European royalty in the Middle Ages to the newest craze sweeping the Middle East.  (I am sorry to whichever sister it was, I searched and searched and just couldn't find your blog again in order to give you due credit)

Middle Age Headdress

Gamboo3a

Iit is so funny to me that this is the newest, and trendiest way to wear hijab, because that is exactly how I used to wear mine when I first started to wear a scarf almost five years ago.  Alhamdulillah my hair is quite long, and I would pull it up into a big bun under my scarf...as this was most comfortable for me to keep cool on hot days.  I wore it this way until my ignorant and way-too-touchy-feely boss decided he thought it'd be funny to grab my bun one day and ask what I was "hiding" under there.  *sigh*  Needless to say I didn't work there much longer.

Then I started to think of all of the other trends I had sported long before they became mainstream.  You see, I have always been a big lover of fashion.  Ever since I was six or seven and I could reach the pedal on my mom's Bernina, I've sewn everything from formal wear to chair covers.  When I was a freshman in college I decided I wanted to dress more "East Coast", and started sporting long skirts with tennies.  The only problem was I couldn't find any decently fashionable long denim skirts....so I started sewing my own.  After constructing a few funky designed denim skirts (and selling a couple along the way) I started seeing them EVERYWHERE!

Later, after transferring to a design college, I decided to focus on menswear, and chose to introduce a line of men's dress shirts that were constructed out of slightly stretchy fabric, so they would move more with the men wearing them, and be more comfortable.  A couple of years later, Joseph Abboud came out with his own line of mens shirts using the same exact concept.

For my final project in design school, I chose to create a line of menswear using mismatching, but coordinating, fabrics for the body, cuffs, and collars of the shirts.  It wasn't even a year later that similar shirts started popping up at Dillards, Nordstrom, and Bergdorf Goodman like these from Robert Graham:

Not to toot my own horn or anything...but is this a coincidence?  I think not....I'm starting to wonder if someone close to me is selling my ideas.  Hmmm....   Well, either way, it's convincing me more and more that as soon as I can find the time, I need to get myself back into the fashion industry.

Oh yes, and speaking of design.  So far, the majority of you lovely ladies are supportive of giving my little blog here a facelift, but I haven't had many votes.  Sooo...don't be shy! I won't be offended...and it's completely confidential!  It only takes one click to let your voice be heard, so go ahead and vote!

Allah Ma'aku.

Ma'Salaama and Holy Camel Hump, Batman!!!!
(hehehehe...sorry, couldn't help it)

Trendfully Yours,
The (doesn't all that extra weight on your head give you neck-aches?) Mujahada in Prada