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 long-sleeved 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.