Why not hijab?

If you look at earlier blog posts, you'll see that the "modest" style of dress that I was originally considering adopting was hijab, or the style of covering up that many Muslim women choose to don (and some are, admittedly, forced to accept). (See www.wikipedia.org/hijab)

However, this would be a somewhat dishonest way of going about the central aim of this project, which is to wean myself off of the idea that I have to project a certain image daily with the way I look. It would be trading one "costume" for another, and I would be looked at MORE, not less, if I dressed this way for the full nine months. It would run counter to what I'm trying to do here.

So, my wardrobe will be more along these lines (courtesy of www.junees.com, www.headcoverings-by-devorah.com, www.hannahlise.com, www.alhannah.com, www.cbazaar.com and www.cjhats.com respectively):

Stuff without sleeves will be worn with something underneath.

As you can see, the problem here is that... well... this stuff is cute. I won't completely fade into the background; in fact, this is just a small sampling of the awesome stuff I've dredged up in my search for wtf I'll wear. So I guess my aim when it comes to narrowing down my categories of what I can and cannot wear is to don stuff that is a minimum of hassle and isn't an attempt to fit into what The Man says I should look like. They can't be attempts to express an image of who I am. (Although I'll be expressing who I am by being a part of this experiment -- so there's no foolproof way to NOT express myself by how I look. Which is part of the human condition anyway, that we judge based on appearances. So whatevs.)

I dunno. I'm conflicted about all this. I need to be sure this isn't just a big ol' attempt to get a new wardrobe. It needs to be genuinely challenging for me, but at the same time... men get to wear clothes that hide their imperfections, but they can still look "good." Is it still vain to look "cute" but not "stylish?" What do you think? I need some help here.

Thanks for reading!

-Lauren

P.S. I'm still going to wear hijab for maybe a week or something just to see what happens, but again, doing it the whole time would defeat the purpose of this project.