Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Jilbabs in Winter

I just started wearing jilbab a few months ago so I've never experienced wearing jilbab in the winter. How does one go about it? Do you wear summer jilbabs under your winter coat? Do you wear ankle length winter coats and then not take them off when indoors? Do you wear heavier weight jilbabs under your winter coat? And when I refer to winter I'm talking about Canadian winters with snow and gusting winds and temperatures below zero. So how do you incorporate jilbabs into your wardrobe during the winter months? Looking forward to your advice. Also where do you buy your winter jilbabs? I've looked at shukr and I don't like what they have to offer. TIA!

17 comments:

  1. I don't do anything different. I wear the same jilbabs year round. I've just made sure I have winter coats that are big enough so it's not uncomfortable to have another layer on top.
    Most winters I don't have to wear a very thick coat. I just wear my heavy one when I'm shoveling snow or its around the -20 mark.
    Hope this helps :)

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  2. -20!!!! Wow!
    I'm having to adjust my jilbab wearing too. I don't like coats, so I am very happy in Cali though sometimes you do need one. I get hot, and when I was in Boston (with snow) I had to have light weight clothes/abaya for the indoors, and the big winter coat for outside.
    One interesting thing I did this fall was put a large button front-shirt dress (silk) over my light weight black abaya-it sort of worked (of course the shirt dress was super large and flow-y like and abaya. This gave me enough warmth and looked ok actually--think priestly smock over the long under dress. It all depends on your jilbab or abaya. My pregnancy/granny jilbab I can wear lots under, using the jilbab like a coat (for California).
    I might keep an eye out for knitted ponchos to wear on top, or winter wraps/shawls.

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  3. Hard to believe you even need a coat there. I guess it depends which part you live in right? There are so many winter wraps out now, I see them everywhere but I don't see people wearing them. Some of them look like they are made from hijab material like you find from Pakistan etc.

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  4. For me in the summer, I wear abayas, or just a skirt with a long shirt, in the winter I wear my jibab. It depends on how cold it it, sometimes, just a long shirt under the jilbab is fine, but sometimes it is very cold and these days I just throw my leather jacket on over it or my wool jacket if it is extremely cold. Inshallah this winter will be a mild one.

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  5. salaamu alaikum

    well personally although I am in general a Gulf abaya person...I do own a few jilbabs (Syrian/Jordanian kinds)...and for jilbabs, I rarely if ever wear them in winter I dont find them comfortable under a jacket. Abayaat are-I think-much more comfortable under a jacket as they tend to fit more like a dress and so feel mroe comfortable under a coat.

    Ive always worn a regular abaya-I prefer plain ones abaya-under a knee or calf length puffer coat. Works well. For a bisht or an overhead you can layer up under the bisht or overhead style and then wear a warm poncho on top. You may think its not that warm...but its quite toasty, esp if you do 4 light layers in ultura warm materials then a thick wool sweater and then the heavy poncho over.

    For jilbabs...Ive only worn them really in spring/summer and fall...when it gets nippy I throw a poncho over that.

    In Saudi a lot of women wear a hoodie under their abaya...so you can do that under a jilbab and then wear a thick poncho over and obv. gloves.

    It gets very very cold here too...infact we just had 4 weeks of almost non-stop blizzarding! LOL

    Just it takes time to figure out what works best for you.

    Have fun!

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  6. Wa Alaikum salaam

    That's a lot of interesting options, thanks. When I was at the RIS conference I saw so many women wearing ponchos over their jilbabs, it was a totally new look for me. Maybe its common but I don't get out much,lol. Its funny to think of women in Saudi wearing hoodies, kind of blows away the sterotypes.

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  7. salaamu alaikum...rilly? I can assure you that 100% the SAME stuff available here in the US is available here down to Terry hoodies that say "Juicy" on the butt. LOL...its mostly though the younger women who will wear a velour hoodie under their abaya in winter...granted where I was in Khobar it only got to maybe 50f in winter so not very cold...but since your blood thins in the summer...it does feel sort of "nippy" and nights are quite windy and maybe 30f-40f...so anything heavier than a hoodie is too much usually... You generally see the very conservative women wearing heavy sweaters under their overheads or if they dont wear overheads then a poncho over the shoulder abaya. You also see a lot of the Arab expats doing the same. I actually really, really liked the hoodie under a bisht abaya look, under a regular sleeved shoulder abaya I didnt find it very comfy, either that or I would wear a thin sweater under an overhead.

    I have a Shukr jilbab and its like the ONLY comfortable jilbab Ive ever found. I started to cover back when jilbabs were the norm and were huge, scary puffy things...LOL...but even those were more comfy than the stiff, boxy, suit-ish designs you see now...the Shukr one is softer and fits and feels good under a puffer coat.

    YUp...lotsa options out there...for an overhead thou no matter how cold, I just layer up under and throw a heavy poncho over...it works actually very very well and you stay quite warm even in bitterly cold temps.

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  8. Asalaamu Alaikum

    Juicy...man how does that even get through customs? I have one shukr jilbab..bought it like 7 yrs ago and its denim. I like it but I find their designs to be so yawn, boring and the colours too. Aab has some nice designs but I wonder what you can fit under them..they look kind of like dresses some of them. I can't remember jilbabs ever being puffy but they also were boxy things with shoulder pads since I can remember ( I converted 19 yrs ago).

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  9. Esalaamu aleikoum
    machallah I just found your blog -- very nice in deed + you have 10 children machallah! May Allah help you rise them all good Muslims.
    For winter I think it depends on your cultural thinking and style.
    Here in Algeria some women wear long ankle lentgh coats over but while others wear shorter coats and other wear coats§sweater under the abaya.
    Myself I tried it both ways -- but in the end here where I live is not cold enough for me to wear a coat ever!

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  10. Wa alaikum Salaam

    Glad you like my blog masha Allah. So its not cold enough to wear a coat but the women still do? Why? Thanks for your comments.

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  11. asalaamu alaikum

    Sis, I guess you were lucky to miss the saggy, baggy jilbabs...LOL but up until maybe 2003 almost all the jilbabs I saw, esp the ones outta the Gulf and Jordan were these huge, baggy, pleated, pirate sleeved confections that were massive, Infact I owned like 2 until maybe 5 years ago... After about 2003 things got sleaker...yes I remember the HUGE shoulder padded ones too, but most oft he ones available where I was were saggy, baggy potatoe sacks.

    Sorta like what CaravanXpress still carries...I remember sitting with friends back when they sent out a mailorder catalog and video in the 90's and looking over their baggy confections thinking...wow...how awesome, I want one! yup...as a higher schooler...LOL...those were the days, before hejab became the trendy whatever it is now.

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  12. Like these...these were very popular here

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  13. Ugh...my link didnt post...caravanxpress.com/Qstore/Qstore.cgi?CMD=011&PROD=000248

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  14. Asalaamu Alaikum

    That kind looks like it would be a great maternity jilbab. Looks like it has the shoulder pads too. I can't say I hate it but I wouldn't choose it for myself unless I get pregnant again, lol.

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  15. I love Shukr's quality, but their styles aren't always to my taste. When they do have something I like, unfortunately since they no longer offer my size.

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  16. Anonymous did you ask them to bring back your size?

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