Journal

Why a hand-written sheet of Arabic calligraphy is worth what it costs, and what happened to the Indian craftsmen who used to make them for a living.

I had four silks in front of me and I only kept picking up one of them. This is about texture, and why that one won.

Go and look in the mirror. If your breakouts follow the line of your scarf rather than your T-zone, it was probably never your skincare. What I learned about fabric, sweat and skin — and why it changed how I make everything.

Malmal is muslin — for centuries the most coveted cloth in the world, woven so fine it was compared to running water and woven air. What the word actually means, how khadi differs from it, and how to tell the real thing from a soft finish that washes out.

In ihram you cannot use perfume, which means sweat cannot be masked — only managed. Why linen's moisture regain and heat conductivity make it the fibre best suited to Makkah, and practical packing notes for pilgrimage.

The dyes most often behind textile rashes are the ones used on synthetic fabric — and your hijab sits against your skin longer than almost anything you own. Why we colour our cloth the way we do.