BACK home in Jakarta, 18-year-old fashion designer Dian Pelangi can whip her teen girl fan club

into a fizz of guileless adoration: "Wow!" "Gorgeous!" "Inspiring!" "Empowering!". They thrill to Pelangi's way (her name, aptly, means "rainbow") with silky tie-dyed and batik Islamic clothing; how she plugs into fashion trends just enough, but not so much as to compromise a girl's modesty or provoke other Muslims' disapproval. "OMG! I just fell in love with her power, her craziness, her dresses, her everything!" This was a typically impassioned thread among many more posted by young Indonesian women after a photo-strip of Pelangi's designs recently went up on off-beat blog spot "Hegab-Rehab". More than anything, the comments echoed with a poignant mix of delight and relief; here's someone young, funky and devoted to Allah. For many young Muslims at a busy junction of lifestyle and religious choices, it's one worry sorted: funky hijab OK! Earlier this week, in the elegant forecourt of Melbourne's Indonesian embassy, six models posed in designs by Pelangi and veteran Jakarta fashion identity Iva Lativah. The designers were here with a traditional dance troupe and small contingent of Jakarta journalists for a fashion show hosted at the Grand Hyatt by Indonesia's consul-general for Victoria and Tasmania, Budiarman Bahar and its ministry of culture and tourism. This day, Pelangi's heavily draped caftan and kimono-style dresses, tunics and coats moved languidly in a weak breeze and her models, even taller in their elaborately twisted turbans, stork-stepped on gold-painted bootlets with heels high and thick as house bricks. Fashionable indeed. Pelangi's own jewellery designs thick, beaten gold wrist hoops stacked in twos and threes, and elaborate lace metal pendants big as butter plates would not look amiss on a Parisian catwalk. In halting English, Pelangi, in leather jacket, maxi skirt and vivid tie-dye scarf knotted under her hijab, carefully explained how the gowns were fashioned from hand-loomed silk. Pelangi's pretty colours were also tie-dyed into swirling, clashing patterns by hand, and her turbans and hijab headscarves loomed and dyed to match. "I am always creative, trendy and fashionable," she finished shyly. Advertisement In a mostly non-Muslim market such as Australia's (just under 2 per cent of Australians are Muslim), many of Pelangi's "trendy, youthful" designs and, even more so, Iva Lativah's elegant, streamlined silk abayas in rich jewel colours, are more likely to appeal to mature women. In common with young Muslim women, they are often at a personal crossroads, likely to choose fashion that emphasises feminine modesty and classic elegance than flesh-centric mainstream trends. Dian Pelangi's reputation among Indonesia's Muslim population (88 per cent of total, and the highest in the world) is in its infancy, but its intensity is significant. Her young fans can see a meticulously picked package of trends from the catwalks of Paris, New York, Milan, and even high street shop collections, rejigged into clothing to express their faith and love of fashion: bat-winged sleeves, heavy draping, elaborate tiedyed and batiked colours and patterns, oversized jewellery, ruched leggings and platform shoes. In Britain, medical student Jana Kossaibati has plugged into the same zeitgeist since 2007 with a wildly successful website hijabstyle.com. Kossaibati posts fashion shots hot from the runways of Paris, Milan, Mumbai and Jakarta, then cobbles comparable components from high street stores into modest alternatives. The site's popularity also secured Kossaibati writing gigs on Islamic dressing for Vogue.com and London's Guardian newspaper. Kossaibati is not alone. Websites tackling the dearth of clothing solutions for fashionable Muslim women are popping up like springtime daisies and targeted shows are looped into many fashion weeks including India, Lebanon and, of course, Indonesia. Jakarta's first Islamic Fashion Week was held in 2006. At its extreme, Islamic lore asks that women cover all but face and hands with full-length abaya gowns, loose tunic dresses, underskirts and trousers, socks with closed shoes, hijab head scarves. Even colour, pattern and perfume should be avoided. However, in liberal Muslim countries and the west, women don't so much bend the rules, as colour, tweak and scribble on them to find a unique expression of their modesty and faith. Only a decade ago, even the word "fashion" was strange in the lexicon of Islamic clothing but now, asked about her favourite wardrobe item, young Muslim designer Dian Pelangi answers without hesitation: "Jeans. I wear them with everything." My Article in The Guardian: It's a wrap! Today sees the publication of an article that I've been working on for quite some time now. Some of you may remember that back in July 2008, The Guardian published an article featuring Hijab Style, and now the team have given me the opportunity to write about Spring/Summer fashion and the challenges of finding hijab-friendly clothing as the weather warms up. Most hijab articles you'll notice tend to discuss the headscarf aspect only, but this is something a little different, in that it's a lot more sartorially focused. It's written from a pretty personal point of view, but I'm hoping that most other Muslimahs can relate! And of course, big up to Paula Cocozza, assistant features editor, for all her hard work and assistance :D Hope you like it ladies, and drop a comment to let me know what you think: It's a wrap! Wearing hijab and following fashion is all about layering, says Jana Kossaibati. So what do you do when the weather gets warmer? Standing in front of the mirror each morning my thoughts travel along familiar lines. Are the sleeves long enough? How can I cover up that plunging neckline? And, more often than not, can I get away with wearing this with jeans? In fact, can I get away with wearing pretty much everything with jeans? If I face my wardrobe in the morning with a sense of adventure, it quickly vanishes in favour of the same one or two outfits - mainly those jeans with a white shirt dress - bleary-eyed and weary as I am after long nights spent with my nose buried in a book. Welcome to the sartorial challenges of a 19-year-old hijab-wearing Muslim medical student. Wearing hijab is about more than throwing on a headscarf. It means committing to a broader dress code - for me clothing needs to cover everything but the hands and face, and be loose enough to hide my body shape. Since I like to shop on the high street, that's a bit of a tall order. Few among Topshop, H&M, Dorothy Perkins, Zara and Miss Selfridge can meet my needs in one or two garments. Fashions come and go, but I am committed to a life of layering. I have a few staple formulas. A low-necked tunic goes over a round-necked T-shirt. A headband peeping out from under a headscarf can add a whole new dimension to a look. And a long-sleeved T-shirt will work under almost anything (I have a whole drawer full of them). Now, layering in winter is one thing - don't we all do it? Chunky knits, full sleeves, warm jackets and coats are available in abundance, so dressing for hijab is fairly easy. But it's a different story when spring comes around and the rest of the world is peeling off the layers. The challenge is to keep covered, keep cool and look good. A shopping trip is clearly in order - but

what to buy? "Cardigans to cover your bum, trench coats, and lots of bangles," advises Hasna Abby, 22, who works at H&M in London's Oxford Street. "When you're wearing hijab all the attraction goes to the face." So, she says, "create an alternative focus. Shoes, bangles ... And then all my money goes on bags, bags, bags." There are plenty of Abby's favoured trench coats on the shop floor, but I think colour-blocking - as seen on the catwalks of Richard Nicoll, Ossie Clark and others - is going to be the way I go. This is a fairly easy look to pull off with hijab - my outfits usually consist of at least three pieces anyway. Browsing through the rails at Topshop's Oxford Circus store, there are plenty of vest tops and micro-shorts, but not much in the way of long-sleeved, thigh-length tops. That's to be expected, I guess. So I head to Uniqlo, where I know I can find plenty of longsleeved cardigans. In Dorothy Perkins I spot a floral tunic I've had my eye on for ages (flowers being big this season) and a purple maxi-skirt. It turns out to be not quite so maxi though, so it is cast aside in favour of (yet another) striped scarf that I can use as a hijab. On the street younger girls are already sporting bright headscarves, which reminds me to dig mine out of my wardrobe. When a hijab-friendly trend does come along, I stock up in case it doesn't stick around. Last season almost every Yves Saint Laurent model was sent down the catwalk in a polo neck. Good news for me, as the extra neck coverage allowed me to be more creative with the way I tied my headscarf. This season there have been hijab hits too. Reem Acra and Gucci featured beautiful, long kaftans. Inspired by the full-length ruffled skirts at Chanel, Mango swiftly brought out its own version. A little fussy maybe, but paired with a simple white blouse and silk scarf it would do the trick for special occasions. And there is another alternative. I've been following carefully the emergence of Islamic clothing companies. Whereas a few years ago, Islamic clothing was limited to imported black abayas (or full-length gowns, popular in the Middle East), new designers are starting to cater to the diverse needs of Muslims living in the UK. Most of these companies trade online. Losve.com is a favourite, offering a combination of on-trend styles and the right level of coverage. It launched in April 2008, because its founder's wife "loved the style of French Connection and Zara but found it difficult to find pieces that were loose or long enough". "The more I researched," says Abdulrahman Hummaida, "the more I found a need for trendy long women's clothing." He estimates that 45% of Losve's customer base is non-Muslim. But this season, in theory at least, there is an answer on the high street. Harem pants have emerged, against the odds, as a key trend for spring. They should be just the thing for someone looking for loose clothing. Back in H&M I found a couple of pairs that were not too baggy at the crotch. I ventured into the fitting rooms and five minutes later was critically appraising my reflection. They weren't quite as horrendous as I'd first feared, but the sagging fabric wasn't doing me any favours in the height department. Factor in the need for a long-sleeved loose top and headscarf, and the look came across as more fashion-victim than modest-chic. I hurriedly handed the trousers back to the assistant and left with the safer option of yet another shirtdress. I had to admit, though, they were rather comfortable. And perhaps that was the reason that not so long ago, men (yes, men) of my grandfather's generation wore the sherwal (as we call it in Lebanon) in many a Levantine village. Just the thing for hard manual work in hot climates - and perhaps Beirut's fashion elite are jumping on the trend too, which, if my suspicions are correct, began not on the spring 09 catwalks of Temperley, Michael Kors and DKNY, but with the revival across the Arab world of TV programmes such as Bab al-Hara (The Neighbourhood Gate), which is set in 1930s Syria, where the sherwal was standard clothing for all men. There, you see: sometimes fashion works the other way too Hijab Style in The Observers If you hadn't had enough of hijab articles, check out my interview with France's The Observers: Hijab blogger lays claim to style 04/03/2009 Talk about the Islamic headscarf has long been the preserve of acrimonious debates over fundamentalism, womens rights and fr eedom of expression. Blasting intolerance on all sides, Jana Kossaibati presses her right to dress as she pleases and to do so hijab style. Janas blog, which claims to be the UKs first style guide for Muslim women, is one of a growing number of websites where wom en may find out how to mix cultural heritages from different Muslim countries to complement Western styles. Jana says she first set out to fill a void: there was simply nothing around to tell women how to take care of their appearance while meeting Muslim requirements for dress.Her blog offers tips for girls eager to anticipate seasonal trends and combine fabrics tastefully, without being ostentatious. But, she says, hijab style is not about whats hot or the latest fad. Jana, 19, is a medical student in London and the author of the Hijab Style blog. If I were to use one word I would describe hijab style as dignified, though it varies hugely from country to country. The difference is in its aim, which is primarily to remain modest, and cover the body appropriately as my faith has taught me to do. If I were to try something that turned out to be tight-fitted, I wouldnt buy it. I would describe myself as style-conscious as opposed to fashion-conscious. I dont wish for my appearance to be dictated by trends. But I do take an interest in the way I present myself Some critics say I am contradicting myself. But our religion is very clear about this: the Prophet took care of his appearance and encourages us to do the same. I dont think the hijab actually attracts more looks from other people; it attracts different looks. Some are looks of interest, others may be hostile. But overall the hijab protects me from the people who might judge me by my looks, and treat me as an object. It opposes the use of the body, and especially of women, as a commodity. I illustrate this point with the simple fact that if you walk down any street in Europe, women's bodies are being used to sell everything from cars to cooking oil. I disagree completely with the French ban on headscarves in schools and public buildings. Its no better than forcing someone to wear a headscarf against her will. At the end of the day, both are restrictions to our freedom. In Islam, your actions are judged according to the intention behind them; so one shouldnt wear a hijab just to please her parents. The whole point of my blog is for Muslim women to take the headscarf into our hands, out of the political sphere and firmly back where it belongs as part of our clothing choices and nothing more. I feel it is a sad reflection of the misunderstanding of hijab when I am posed questions like do wearing the headscarf and fighting for women's rights contradict each other?