The issue of what students should wear at schools has become one of the most heated public debates in Azerbaijan today, going beyond questions of classroom conduct to the issues of secular education and religious freedom in Azerbaijan. Amid the increasingly polarised discussion, another question has emerged: whether the debate should focus exclusively on religious clothing or also consider Azerbaijan’s own traditions of modest dress, particularly the kelaghayi, the traditional silk headscarf recognised by UNESCO in 2014 as part of humanity’s intangible cultural heritage.