They each wore a hijab to show their support for Zarifeh, who has covered her hair throughout her high school years. On the morning of the school vote, they huddled together to pass out dozens of colorful scarves. A few held balloons printed with “Don’t be a baddie, vote for the hijabi.” Among the more than 2,000 students at the school, just four girls typically wear the head covering.
Before her friends told her about the nomination, Zarifeh had fantasized about making it to her senior prom, imagining herself in a flowing beaded cheap homecoming dresses dress she had once spied in the closet of a family friend, a traditional Muslim gown usually reserved for weddings.
Weeks before the dance, she pressed her mother by showing her a flier with school rules: no dirty dancing, no strapless dresses, transportation by bus. Her mother, still not convinced, spoke with aunts, uncles and friends from the local mosque before finally giving in.
“She was begging me, but we are very old style,” her mother, Manal Haifa, said. “I’ve never given in to something like this.”
“I had no idea how much she is really respected and loved at the school,” her mother said.
Ms. Haifa suggested they go to the local department homecoming dresses 2016 store to find a dress. Zarifeh said no.
“I knew if I went and bought a dress it would be tight, or I would have to change things,” she said, standing in a local park one recent afternoon, wearing her prom dress — the beaded one she saw in the closet. She raised her arms to show off the flowing sleeves of the white, floor-length dress. “This was perfect, like a butterfly.”
Then came the next fashion question: What hijab? Nothing she found felt special enough, so she asked her grandmother if she could look through her collection.
On the night of the prom, Zarifeh and a large group of female friends rode a school bus to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, where they danced through the night.
