Thursday, March 10, 2011

The Turkish Hijab

Turkish hijabs are usually colourful, satin, smart, and neat. They are usually the triangle hijabs, pulled tight around the neck and cover the sides of the face. I have always loved the way the turkish hijab looks, especially because the bright colourful scarves, which would usually look quite funky, are made to look smart.

Since I decided to start off my hijabs from around the world guide with the Turkish hijab I have scoured the internet for facts, pictures, videos, and everything else 'Turkish hijab'.
I tried to look in to the past of the Turkish hijab and maybe find out when the look came about, but no luck in that department. Every time I searched for the Turkish hijab on the internet I either ended up with pictures, and fashion tips, or about the ban on hijab in Turkey. This was quite good for my own knowledge about the Turkish hijab ban, and actually amazed me. The Turkish government have banned hijab for women working in the public sector, universities and colleges. Although I do not know the complete in depth history of the ban, I do understand that a great amount of Turkish muslim women are less likely to wear a hijab, because of the political implications. What amazes me from this is that, although many Turkish women do not wear the hijab, the Turkish hijab is so popular in the hijab fashion world. There are so many blogs, and websites describing the Turkish hijab. I have people asking me how to wear the Turkish hijab. So many people admire the hijab which is not worn as much (as expected) in the country it originated from.

So...what is the Turkish hijab?
As you might have noticed I am terrible at describing hijabs, and would much rather show you through pictures and videos :)


This first picture shows a lot about the Turkish hijab, because it is just so elegant and neat. I absolutely love the hijab the model is wearing aswell. The intricate design around the neck is beautiful.
Although the I am in love with the beauty and elegance of the Turkish hijab, I do have one problem with it...the hump! The Turkish hijab does have a tendency to make the head look quite large, as an extra piece is added to achieve the hump above the head. The hump in the Turkish hijab is not created, and does not look the same as the hump in alot of the Dubai style hijabs. It is a tad bit smaller and looks less obvious, but all in all it is still the hump!
When I do my hijab in the Turkish style then I make it neat, with the curve at the front and tight at the neck, however I do not have the hump-creating material underneath the hijab, and so create the Turkish hijab minus the hump.
How do you wear the Turkish hijab?
As I said before, I am absolutely useless at describing, so I have found some videos which show how to wear the Turkish hijab. The video is from a Turkish website called UZMANTV. Everything on the website is written in Turkish, and so I have no idea what it says. The woman in the video also speaks in Turkish, but I think you could guess what she is saying from what she is doing. Here is the link to the website: http://www.uzmantv.com/genc-kizlar-baslarini-hangi-sekillerde-baglayabilir. I have posted the videos from the website below :)
In the following video the woman simply shows what you will need to create the Turkish hijab. Although it is all in Turkish, I think its quite understandable. She shows what type of bone hat is needed, the type of hijab (Turkish hijabs usually have a satin look), pins, and she also shows thread which is used to create more intricate designs.