#GRWM: Afghan Style! ~ PLUS ~ Product Review - @Naaz_Boutique

Two women in shalwar and burqa.

Assalaamu alaikum! Today's video and blog is both a brief survey of some prominent styles of Afghanistan, as well as a review of the Kucchi dress and jewelry sent to me by @Naaz_Boutique of Instagram!

Woman in Kucchi dress

Styles in Afghanistan are similar to styles in other parts of South Asia - shalwar kameez, anarkali-type dresses, long tunics with leggings or jeans for the younger crowd. But the more elaborate traditional clothing from Afghanistan is unique, especially those from Kucchi and Pashtun culture. The dresses are elaborate and voluminous, flaring out in ways which almost defy physics. Of course, Pakistani-style traditional clothing, with their long and slim silhouette, are also prevalent, especially in northern Afghanistan toward the Pakistani border.

I've been planning this video for some time, and spoke with my friend Ayshea about her family. Ayshea is Pashtun and has family in Afghanistan, all of whom wear burqa outside of the home. She said they wear jeans or shalwar kameez, and Ayshea herself wears shalwar suits primarily, even in the UK. While "back home" in Afghanistan, Ayshea wears niqab and prefers a wrapped style like mine in the video, as opposed to a one-piece niqab or a burqa. This kind of casual, everyday look is what I was trying to depict in my original outfit, which is something seen all across South Asia.

Photo by Steve McCurry

The iconic blue burqa, a symbol in the West of all that is Afghanistan, obviously had to make an appearance in my video! As I'll explain in a subsequent post (which I will link here), burqas actually come in a variety of colors, though blue is the most common. But I'll get into all of that in my burqa review!

So now onto the review!

When @Naaz_Boutique agreed to work with me, I was ecstatic! I had been wanting to do this video for a while, but was having difficulty compiling all of the pieces needed. Not to mention I had been drooling over Kucchi dresses on other venues which I could never afford. Alhamdulillah, @Naaz_Boutique is extremely affordable. Total, I spent about $250. Yes, that is still quite a bit of money. But it should be noted this purchased my Kucchi/Pashtun outfit (anarkali/dress, shalwar, and dupatta), the blue burqa, a jewelry set, and two Kucchi bracelets/bangles, plus shipping, which was extremely fast! I placed my order August 5th, my package was mailed on August 13th, and it arrived August 20, the day before Eid al-Adha. Alhamdulillah, they use DHL which is not only extremely fast and affordable, but is also very easy to track on your own.

The pants seemed pretty ridiculous.

When I received my package I immediately tried everything on, in part due to my extreme excitement, and in part due to the fact that any alterations needed to be made quickly so I could wear the outfit for Eid prayers in the morning! When I tried on the pants I was shocked - there was so much extra fabric and I was trying to figure out how I would need to alter the pants in order to make up for the extra 40" total of fabric. Alhamdulillah, I noticed that there was an opening in the center of the pants; it appears that there was meant to be elastic or drawstring in the waist of the pants which didn't make it into the pants themselves. Luckily this was an easy fix once my co-wife told me the trick of attaching a safety pin to the elastic or drawstring in order to help it go through the pants easily.

This helped me easily get elastic into the waist of the pants. 

Once through, I was able to secure the elastic by tying a double knot. Now the pants fit wonderfully in the waist and can expand if needed!

The other issue I had with the pants was the bottom cuffs. The cuffs came with buttons on the inside of the legs. However, the cuffs were large and the buttons only left gaps which showed my legs, something I wasn't comfortable with. Luckily this is also a super easy fix. Buttons were easily removed using scissors, as were the button ribbons. Then I used what my co-wife calls the "Build-a-Bear stitch" to close the cuffs at their seams. This is also called a ladder stitch and is used to close seams without being seen. 

Pants before buttons and ribbons were removed. 

Ladder stitch in progress. 

This worked out really well for me! Upon closing the seams of the pants cuffs, they became just the right size for me to slip on and off. They were still a little loose, so they slip down at times, but not so much that it's overly cumbersome to wear them, nor that it is especially dangerous or a safety hazard. They are easy to tug back up if they slip too far, and wearing shoes typically keeps them from slipping below the heel at all. After this, the only other issue with the shalwar was that they had an ink spot, likely sustained during packaging. It is minor and covered by the dress.

The buttons I ended up moving to the sleeves, which were also too large. They, too, had the ribbons but they had no buttons for closure. So I measured the cuffs around my arm to see where I needed to place the buttons and sewed them on by hand. This gave a less bulky silhouette on my arm and kept the sleeves from slipping over my hands. The Kucchi cuffs/bangles I was sent were perfect to keep the sleeves further in place so I didn't have to worry about them during prayer. The rest of the dress fit beautifully, even after concern by Waheedullah that I had perhaps given him incorrect measurements (to help with this, when ordering, use cm instead of inches; I forget, but the rest of the world does use the metric system, so we need to try and remember this when ordering from other countries, in shaa Allah). 

The cuffs themselves were something I had been wanting for a long time. I've always found Kucchi and other similar bracelets beautiful and I love that they are large and solid rather than small jingly bracelets (mine still jingle due to the dangly-bits on the pins - yes I know, my words are so scientific 😂). They are large on me, in that I can actually slip them on and off over my hands. However, to put them on for most people, you would remove the pin from the bangle, open it, close it around your arm, and replace the pin. This is how I put them on over the sleeves of my anarkali. 

Waheedullah also sent for me a jewelry set which included a necklace, headpiece, and two earrings. Unfortunately, one of the earrings apparently fell out of the package during travel, as at some point the package sustained a small hole. That's ok though, since I wear niqab it's generally difficult to see any earrings I wear anyway. 

The jewelry itself is extremely delicate, and I unfortunately had several gems fall out almost immediately. However, I feel these could be easily replaced with some hot glue or other adhesive. The necklace and headpiece were secured using what I consider earring hooks rather than a clasp. In order to close the necklace more comfortably, I removed one of the hooks in order to allow me to use the hook as a clasp with one of the rings in the back (I'm sorry, I don't have a picture of this and it's hard to explain. If I take a picture tomorrow I will insert it, in shaa Allah). 

Overall, I am in love with this outfit! I can't wait until my photoshoot next week, which will feature this gorgeous piece. Alhamdulillah I received this the day before Eid so I had an occasion to wear it (though I have been assured that this also counts as everyday, casual clothing! However, since I work from home now I have been living in jeans and t-shirts rather than my normal, "my casual is business casual" look). In shaa Allah I can't wait to wear it for many more occasions.

To check out what @Naaz_Boutique has to offer, head over to their Instagram here!

Is there another culture's clothing you would like to see? Let me know!

Jazakum Allahu kheiran, 

Sajida. 

Eid selfie where you can mostly see the jewelry.