malaysian hijab blog: Malaysia clothing and attire

18 August 2009

Malaysian muslimah-Their choosen attire

One of the reason that I make this blog is because I wanted to share with the people out there about the hijabi scene in malaysia.This is because I often stumble upon malaysian hijab and clothing articles in other non malaysian sisters.they show interest on our square tudung bawal,baju kurung and they adore our wedding dress.I got the urge to make this blog so that I could share with the sisters out there who would like to know more about what the hijabi here wear and about our culture.Please take note that I'm not promoting certain way of dressing,I would fairly write about any hijabi dressing style.If I saw a sister wearing her hijab and her chest and all her body covered,i would say : Alhamdulillah,and I would pray for her to dress better if there's something misssing in her dressing

The hijabi youngsters here love to wear casual,by means they love the casualty of western clothing.Some wear it right,with t-shirt long enough to cover their hands and bottom,but sadly,some not.Some groups of young women prefers to wear traditional clothes like baju kurung and baju kebaya,and you can see many of them in town clad in their traditonal clothes going out and about their business.

Young women love to wear casual

A minority of youngsters choose jubah(jalabiya) and niqab/purdah as their daily wear.They usually pair their jubah with a tudung bulat(a large scale round shape hijab).

Jubah paired with large round hijab and niqab

The older aunties,usually choose long blouse with long skirts.But still,many loves baju kurung.Baju kurung is one of our traditional dress.It's a long sleeve knee length dress,paired with the matching long skirt.Baju kurung is also the traditional clothes for the Malay people in Riau,Indonesia,Singapore, Brunei,and surprisingly,I found this in Wikipedia,Cocos Island in Australia,where the malay minority still lives there.There are a few types of baju kurung ,namely baju kurung kedah,baju kurung pahang,baju kurung cekak musang,baju kurung moden and baju kurung johor.The fabric for baju kurung varies,from cotton,chiffon to silk.Over times,baju kurung has evolve into many "moderm design" tu suits the younger generation taste.Baju kurung is the official wear in government agencies and also offical school uniform.Malaysian women loves the baju kurung so much that you can sometimes see chinese and indian women wear it,especially on friday.Chinese and indian school girl wearing baju kurung uniform is also a common sight in here.

Baju Kurung

Baju kebaya is a button down long dress,with waist cut,paired with matching long skirt.This outfit is body hugging,but some hijabi tailored it loose so its not too tight on them.Its the preferred outfit for wedding as well.Baju kebaya is also the traditional dress for Indonesian women and peranakan women(a chinese minority group that adapt to malay culture).During old days baju kebaya and baju kurung is the daily wear for the women.My grandmother is still wearing these two outfit as her daily wear.

A long kebaya

A modern take on kebaya

A short kebaya peranakan.Heavy embroidery with floral motive

What the women here wear,maybe not much different from other oriental muslim country.Where you can see a variety of dressing style,where traditional identity clash with the modernity wave.
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05 August 2009

An insight into malaysian hijab culture

The hijab culture in malaysia is one amusing story.The young and old love to experiment with their hijab style from time to time.Design always changing,new trend come and go.You can find so many style over here,ranging from very big hijab to a mere head cover.The malay people like to match their hijab color with their outfit,thus one can find many choice of colours in the shop.From plain to prints,to embroided to beads,cotton to silk,the choice and design is endless.

Hijab in Malay language is called "tudung".So its very common for us to call a certain type of hijab as "tudung this" and "tudung that".The typical malay style hijab that is well known is called tudung bawal.It is made from a material called voile (Voile is a light weight woven fabric, generally made of 100% cotton or cotton mixes including linen or polyester).This fabric is very light and comfy .Depending on the quality of the voile,the cheap ones usually is a bit rough to the touch,while the more pricier goes very soft and lightweight.a plain tudung bawal is cheaper and usually made by a lower grade of voile,while the heavy embroided and crystallized ones can reach hundreds of ringgit.Tudung bawal comes in square shape,folded in the middle to form a triangle,and usually worn with matching brooch.

Square hijab-how to

Batik printed silk scarf

The younger generation loves to experiment with various hijab style.Pashmina shawl,made famous by tv personality Wardina Saffiyah,win the hearts of the youngsters because it can be shape into many style.Wrap it over head,twist it,gypsy or egyptian style,its so versatile.its also functional to carry a pashmina as it can double into a wraps over a cold rainy day,or to cover our body if our aurah is showing.Wearing a long wrap hijab like pashmina and shaylas may be tricky,but the youngsters love it.I've seen so many young girls on the street trying to pull out the shayla's look.

wrap around shawl

The youngsters love to experiment with different style of wraps

The current obsession in malaysia hijab trend is the awning style hijab,but from my observation,this hijab are more likely sought after by women in their mid 20's and above.The teenagers prefer the normal square hijab or shawl/wrap around.The awning style hijab has the special awning "cap" that can make your face visual contour look better.This hijab style,i believe,is influenced from indonesian hijab style,where they are famous with the "cap" style.Personally i have never try this hijab so i dont know much about the fabric.Here's some picture of the awning style hijab

awning hijab a.k.a tudung Ekin a.k.a tudung dubai

2 tone awning hijab

Another type of a larger scale hijab is called round hijab.This hijab usually is large in diameter,generously covering the front and back of women body,typically worn by the devoted muslimah,some wear it with niqab.Its also known as school uniform in religous school.Here's a picture of the round hijab

Round hijab a.k.a Tudung Bulat

Round Hijab

Over recent years,there has been trends on celebrity turning into hijabi.This positive move has also influence their fans to cover up.Many actress that are still acting and covered in the same time.The hijab trend also seen shampoo company like sunsilk made their first commercial with no hair flashing,with model totally donned in hijab.