After finishing Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating I knew I had to see if Adiba wanted to collaborate on something. When I suggested a few ideas and Adiba picked the fashion one I was overjoyed! As someone who struggles finding a cohesive fashion statement, or look at all, I am in love with both Hani & Ishu’s lookbooks!
Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating
Everyone likes Humaira “Hani” Khan—she’s easy going and one of the most popular girls at school. But when she comes out to her friends as bisexual, they invalidate her identity, saying she can’t be bi if she’s only dated guys. Panicked, Hani blurts out that she’s in a relationship…with a girl her friends absolutely hate—Ishita “Ishu” Dey. Ishu is the complete opposite of Hani. She’s an academic overachiever who hopes that becoming head girl will set her on the right track for college. But Ishita agrees to help Hani, if Hani will help her become more popular so that she stands a chance of being elected head girl.
Despite their mutually beneficial pact, they start developing real feelings for each other. But relationships are complicated, and some people will do anything to stop two Bengali girls from achieving happily ever after.
Find Hani & Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating on Goodreads, Amazon, Indiebound, Bookshop.org & The Book Depository.
Hani & Ishu’s Outfit Lookbooks
Hani and Ishu are two characters who are so different from each other in almost every aspect of their personality. So, naturally, their style of clothing is also quite different.
Here are a few things you might find in Hani’s wardrobe:
Hani is quite feminine, so she’s definitely the type of person who likes to wear a lot of dresses, especially in the Spring/Summer (or the interim between the two seasons where the weather can’t make up its mind, aka when Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating is set). You can definitely find Hani sporting a dress like this to hang out with her friends when it’s a nice day out!
Hani is also someone who loves her comfort, so she likes wearing clothes like baggy jumpers and cardigans, and pairing them with midi skirts or even skinny jeans.
Since the weather is often chilly in Dublin (sometimes even in the throes of summer), an outfit like this would go a long way towards keeping her comfortable and warm while out and about.
And Hani’s wardrobe would not be complete without some South Asian clothes thrown in. In terms of South Asian outfits, Hani likes to wear bright and bold dresses, paired with her favourite pieces of jewellery. After all, Bengali events are the best to dress up for.
Ishu’s wardrobe looks quite different from Hani’s. Here are a few things you might find there:
Unlike Hani, who thinks long and hard about what outfits to wear, Ishu doesn’t care. Primarily because she doesn’t have many places to be anyway. Her #1 goal is comfort. Which is why her wardrobe is populated with comfortable hoodies and jumpers, jeans, and trousers.
It really works for any weather, and she gets to always be comfortable while she’s at home studying (because that’s really the only thing she’s doing anyway).
But of course, no Bengali person gets away with not having a wardrobe full of Desi clothes, and Ishu is not an exception. Just because you don’t go to parties with your peers, doesn’t mean you get to miss out on Bengali dawats. Which is why Ishu has plenty of salwar kameezes, like the one here. She prefers kameezes like this which are pretty, but not too intricate or heavy.
About Adiba Jaigirdar
Adiba Jaigirdar is a Bangladeshi/Irish writer and teacher. She lives in Dublin, Ireland. She has an MA in Postcolonial Studies from the University of Kent, England and a BA in English and History from UCD, Ireland.
She is a contributor for Bookriot. Previously, she has published short fiction and poetry in various journals and anthologies.
All her work is aided by copious amounts of (kettle-made) tea and a whole lot of Hayley Kiyoko and Janelle Monáe.
She is represented by Uwe Stender at TriadaUS.