While mannequins at the mall still are decked in the last of summer’s spaghetti straps, the ones in the storefront window of Al-Hayaa Islamic Fashion are draped in loose tunic blouses and anklelength skirts. "Not everyone wants to dress like Hannah Montana," said Gabull Alhadhrami. She and her sister, Zarah Abdullah-Ali, opened Al-Hayaa — it’s named for the Muslim tenet of modesty — about two years ago in a shopping center on Lodi’s Turner Road.
The sisters launched the boutique to offer fashionconscious Muslim women a shopping experience that they didn’t have while growing up in San Joaquin County: The ability to walk into a store and find racks full of items suitable both to their tastes and religious values. To browse, to try on, to ask, "What do you think of this?"
In some ways, Alhadhrami said, wearing hijab — the term refers to both the head covering Muslim women wear as well as to a modest style of dress in general — is a more complicated choice than it was when she decided to do so as a senior at Lodi High School.
Yet, at the same time,tiffany bangles, there are more shopping options and new systems of support for young women who choose to dress in a way that identifies them as Muslim.
"This is a cover-up that a lot of little girls will wear," said Alhadhrami, holding up an abaya, a dark, robe-like dress.
She then displayed tunics and head scarves and gowns.
And also long denim skirts and buttoned blouses, garments that look more typically Western than other pieces in the shop, but that still leave the body mostly covered.
Besides the store, both sisters have full-time jobs in which they interact closely with the public — Alhadhrami is a nurse practitioner and Abdullah- Ali is a teacher. Many of their clients do, too.
"They don’t want to further distance themselves,tiffany necklaces," Alhadhrami said.
It used to be, she said, that strangers put more trust in her because she wore hijab.
"It definitely was not the political climate that it is now," she said.
Islam is not the only faith that stresses modesty in women’s dress. Eternity, a national designer of modest eveningwear, for example, sells long-sleeved, high-necked "temple-ready" gowns for Mormon brides as well as a white bridal hijab.
But the decision to dress according to religious standards of modesty has become an increasingly politicized one for Muslim women.
French lawmakers have approved a ban on face-covering veils,tiffany rings, and the results of a recent poll from the Pew Research Center show adults in many other European countries would strongly support such a bill.
Most Americans, though, said they would be against it.
"I’m always baffled when people bring politics into it," said Mariam Sobh, editor of the popular Islamic fashion blog hijabtrendz.com. "For me, I’ve never seen it as a political thing."
Wearing hijab as a child and teenager was sometimes a lonely experience at school, she said. But now, she manages a website where she posts photos
of garments from mainstream stores that can be adapted by hijab-wearing women. She also encourages women to share their fashion experiences — why they choose to wear hijab, or not.
"It seems like they love personal stories because they can relate," Sobh said. She started the blog in 2007. "With the Internet, there’s so much out there. There’s so much support."
Alhadhrami and Abdullah-Ali were raised by a Mexican-American Catholic mother and an Arab-American Muslim father.
When it came to Islamic clothing, Alhadrami said, they often were limited to what could be found on a rack in the corner of a Pakistani grocery store, or "someone would make a trip abroad and bring things back and hopefully, it would be in your size."
Jasmine Ali, a sophomore at Middle College High School, chose to start wearing hijab as a fifth-grader. Depending on the season and what’s trendy, it can be difficult to find clothing in the mall, she said.
In an era of skinny jeans, "All my pants are five sizes too big."
Ali, 15, was on the San Joaquin Delta College campus this week with her best friend, Amalie Dougish, who also wears hijab — but with a more bohemian flare. She was dressed in a long, patchwork dress over a blouse with thin pinstripes.
Both girls stressed that hijab is a choice for them. "Islam is not compulsion," Ali said. "It’s a choice between you and God."
But it’s a choice that can come with challenges. They sometimes worry about anti-Muslim sentiment. And, Dougish,tiffany cuff Links, 15, said, "When you wear it, you’re representing your religion," she said. "When people see you in hijab, they don’t see you, they see all Muslim people."
At the same time, they said, they have an opportunity to carve a distinctly American Muslim identity.
"In Saudi Arabia, it’s all about the glammed-out abayas," Dougish said. "In North Africa, you see a lot of bright colors. Each place has its own …" "Mix of culture and religion," Ali finished. "We’re making ourselves American Muslims."
Contact reporter Jennifer Torres at (209) 546-8252 or jtorres@recordnet.com. Visit her blog at recordnet.com/ torresblog.