An increasing number of Malaysian Muslim women and girls wear the ‘tudung’ – headscarf *, framing their faces and hiding their hair.

It’s part of the uniform for (ethnic Malay) public servants. Post office ladies wear a plain red tudung. (Except the woman whose scarf is a subtly different red, with a gold trim and pinned with a shiny brooch. What’s going on there, I wonder? Supervisor? Subversive?) Policewomen have navy blue scarves matching their uniforms and tucked neatly into their collars, usually with a natty little hat perched on top. (I do wonder though, why they don’t wear a beret, as policemen do, I imagine that would be more practical). Occasionally the tudung looks a bit incongruous (to me, anyway) – I saw one woman wearing a headscarf with a hoody, another with a motorcycle helmet….

Some women wear their scarf with a little black cap underneath, a lot choose a neat pin or two to secure it (almost) invisibly. Many opt for a plain colour. Some jazz it up with a discreet border or a subdued brooch.

And then – then there are the ‘hijabistas’. Wonderful word, isn’t it? The fashion statements I’ve seen include: two-tone, flowered, or check fabrics, fringes, beads, sequins. Gold borders, glitzy jewellery holding it all in place. And fancy ‘wrapping’ – surely all those folds must take for ever in the morning? How on earth do they stay in place all day?

Ah, the mysteries of fashion…

*(means ‘cover’ in Bahasa Malaysia)