Her Modesty is a Muslim Fashion blog that will soon be a print magazine.

I’ve been reading Her Modesty, a Muslim women’s fashion blog. The project has a lot in common with Coilhouse: both Coilhouse and Her Modesty are blogs that will soon launch in print magazine format, both extoll the virtues of being covered vs. letting it all hang out (you may have noticed our obsession with covered necks, loosely-flowing clothes and total body coverage), and most importantly, both Her Modesty and Coilhouse are interested in the tenuous relationship between the “mainstream” and the “underground,” and where one stops and the other begins. They’re two different “undergrounds,” but the concerns are largely the same.

Primarily a fashion blog, Her Modesty’s main purpose is to display “how sisters can be covered but yet still feel good about themselves and how they look.” The blog author, Kima, obsessively catalogues her new favorite trends as inspired by street wear and the runway, follows the appearance of the hijab-inspired styles in Western fashion magazines, and offers readers tips on how to create the “modest version” of various popular styles. My favorite is this outfit, which in the author’s opinion walks the line, though her readers seem to love it.

Haute Hijab from the Her Modesty blog.

Kima’s writing tone reminds me of the sweet and upbeat Gala Darling, and similarly to Gala, Kima also challenges the readers by briging topics for discussion into the fashion mix. In one post, Kima posts a loose leopard-print D&G dress that resembles an abaya (the loose overgarment that’s worn by many Muslim women), and asks her readers, “would you rock it with a shiny red bag, black pumps, and a hijab?” In another post, Kima engages the readers in an interesting debate about the female “fashion police” in Iran. Similarly to my obsession with goths in TV commercials, there’s a post about a hijab-wearing girl in a Sunsilk TV ad. The most profound post, one where I almost felt like a voyeur when reading the impassioned comments, is the post where Kima asks readers if they’d still dress modestly if Allah didn’t will it.

But the best part are the hilarious Muslim Fashion Dont’s! Here they are, after the jump.

I’ve been feeling sort of… understated. As understated as one can remain with cobalt blue hair and eyebrows, anyway. Seriously, it’s gettin’ crazy. In another effort to make some sense of my belongings I’ve organized my wardrobe shelves by black, grey and color. The black pile, she grows. The rest is dwindling. What could it all mean?

Peeps, I have entered another era, an era of DARKNESS. Frankly, all i want to wear these days is black. This means two things:

1. I’m looking extra-fetching; everyone knows black is the ultimate in sleek stylish goodness.
2. WZW as you know it is drawing to an end.

Yes, it’s true, my dearest squids and squidlettes. I suspect you don’t want to look at me decked in clouds of carbon every week, so it is time to take an indefinite break. I may return with sporadic make-up and hair tips or random news stories, and if I do find an occasion to WZW once again I shall.

What’s that? Oh no, you promised you wouldn’t cry! Please, I.. I can’t bear it!

Well, okay. Just to ensure you know precisely what you’ll be missing after this week there will be a few more all-black installments What’s Zo Wearing. Just for you, you hear? I’m doing it for you.

Click below for the rest of the images.

Helicopter hair!

Don’t call them stylists – the term is “hair entertainers.” Today a hair show with a circuit of about 10 major American cities, Hair Wars began in 1991, and originates from nightclub events put on by one DJ Hump the Grinder. Today the event features some of the most multi-layered, hyper-detailed hairstyles I’ve ever seen. From haute-couture hair architecture to silly, surreal takes on everyday objects, images from this event convey artistry, humor and kitsch, all of which constantly flow into one another.

Photographer David Yellen has created a series of portraits of the hair show participants, which he published this past fall. Perhaps equally as fascinating as the hairstyles are the people wearing them. There are no fashion models here, just ordinary people having fun. They are young and old, male and female; many project the air of having been through a lot in their lifetime. There are little mysteries in each picture, such as in the image above, where the model has a visible scar on her neck. How did that happen? She could’ve hidden it with a scarf or a neckpiece (or with hair!) – but she didn’t, and the image is more powerful for it.

A good selection of images form this series can be seen on his site, and a further selection can be seen on Radar Online.

• David Yellen Photography – includes large section of Hair Wars
• Selection of Hair Wars images by Yellen on Radar
• Hair Wars on Amazon.com

This is actually what most of my wardrobe looked like for a couple of years – tons of thin layered basics. Things got so dire that I actually had to make a “no more buying basics” rule, which I observe even now.

My friends and relatives seem to have suddenly noticed this shift [or they think I look particularly uncomfortable] because this year I’ve received soft, thin layer items from both my dear friend Lumi and my mom. To be honest, it’s really kind of nice.

Photo by: Tatiana Guillaumet. Turbine jewelry: atomefabrik.

Everything that designer Freyagushi makes is a bit kinderwhore, prescription a bit medical, viagra and all pink. Many alt designers today try to present themselves as something more than what they actually are, embarrassing themselves in the process by doing things like erroneously adding the word “Couture” to the end of their business name. There’s no effort on Freyagushi’s part to look professional at all; she’s just like, “come into my zany world!” The result is honestly fun.

The designer is also the model in some of the pictures above (that’s her with the pink circuitry tattoo!). For her next trick she’s doing the Animal Hospital Fashion Show at the Torture Garden.

Model: Ulorin Vex. Photographer: Russell Coleman.

The freak shall inherit the earth.

Dear Mr Nomi,

We’ve never met, and your ashes have long since been scattered above Manhattan, so I guess it’s pretty weird for me to be writing you this letter. Then again, everyone always says you seemed to hail from another planet. Let’s pretend for a minute that you didn’t die alone in a hospital bed in 1983. It’s comforting to imagine that you simply returned to your home world and maybe, somehow, you can read this.

If you were still here, you’d be 64 years young today. No doubt your friends would be gathered around you at the piano to sing Kurt Weill and Chubby Checkers tunes. Perhaps you’d share some of your delicious homemade pastries with them and spend hours reminiscing about those hazy, crazy post-punk days in NYC.

Ruff and ready.

I wish I could fold time and space to sit in the balcony at Irving Plaza the night your brief, bright star ascended during a four night New Wave Vaudeville series. It was 1978. Up until then, you’d been supporting yourself as a pastry chef for well-to-do Hamptons types. They say that you emerged from the fog machine vapors like an alien from another planet, stiff and somber in a silver space suit and clear vinyl cape. My old friend Jim Sclavunos was there, manning the spotlight. He once told me that when you opened your Clara Bow mouth and sang, no one believed it was really you. The MC had to keep assuring the audience that you were not lip-syncing…

Caroll Christian Poell’s website simply shows a floating boot, its distressed leather and stitching dim in the murky water. An obsession with drowning, flesh and its deterioration comes through everything this Austrian-born designer creates. I actually hesitate to call CCP a designer, because so much of what he makes looks like it belongs in an art gallery. Accurately described as “elegant armor” on jcreport.com, some of his clothes are so stiff they stand up on their own, or so awkward and restricting that wearing them is often impractical.

The notoriously secretive Poell does not talk to media and is only sold in a handful of shops throughout the world. None of his lines are mass-produced, which makes them even more desirable to his growing [and wealthy] cult following.

You must have the right boots for a proper lunar adventure, this much I know. These asteroid-stompers don’t hover or have any sort of built-in propulsive devices [yet], but they do actually make me walk even faster. Something about the physics of their height and weight! It’s a start.

“A Louis XIV confection or occasional Nancy Sinatra-esque chanteur/chanteuse in gold glitter boots with world-class vocal talent. No lip-syncing for Mr. Quale, who is a true artist and transforms himself Klaus Nomi style once he graces the stage. Nina Hagen would be proud, as would Diamanda Galas.” – Roy Rogers Oldenkamp for WeHoNews.com

I’m surprised to have wated taken this long to mention the luminous Prince Poppycock. I’ve been amused, enamored and confused by this marvelous creature ever since the pleasure of sharing the stage with him last spring in La Belle Époque.

Part randy dandy, part rock star, part drunken courtesan, Poppycock instantly owns the audience with but a glance and a wiggle of bedazzled pantaloons, and that’s just the beginning. His operatic prowess, glamourous costumes and ostentatious prose leave not a heart unstirred. A masterpiece of self-transformation, the Prince is also recording artist John Quale, but I’m secretly hoping Poppycock will take over completely one day, to reign supreme in a glittery victory of feathers and gold spandex.

• Official Myspace of His Royal Fanciness
• Buy Prince Poppycock merch
• Prince in Paper Mag
• Watch the Prince in action as he opens for the Dresden Dolls

I’ve been dying for a pair of wide-leg slacks ever since my trip to Tokyo and finally found these last week for a measly $10 on sale at a Melrose Ave. shop. Ten bucks is a small price to pay for this much excellence, even if I do end up having them hemmed. For the moment I’m enjoying the stilt-walking dandy look by wearing them with 5″ platforms.