From the pages of Middle East Online
Call it abaya chic. Abaya fashion takes glamorous turn in Gulf. From butterflies to crystals, women in Gulf region take pride
in their trendy abayas.
By Lydia Georgi - DUBAI
They come with sparkling crystal beads, pearls, satin flowers, embroidery,
or patches in colored fabrics. Abayas, the long black robes worn by women in the
Muslim Gulf region, have become trendy.
For a wedding or other special occasion, the abaya must be as stylish as
the dress underneath - and the shinier, the better.
But add to the abaya what you will, one thing remains sacred: it must be
made of black fabric, with crepe the top choice in the United Arab
Emirates.
"We here must wear abayas. So, much as other people like to show off their
clothes, the only thing we can take pride in is our abayas," said Hana Mohsen, a
26-year-old Emirati broker picking a new outfit in a Dubai shopping mall.
"Since the abaya is black, they (designers) introduce novelties on it. If
you go to a wedding, you will see abayas more expensive than the gowns," she
said.
"I choose my abayas as I would choose a bag or a ring. I have a cupboard
just for abayas. My relatives in Saudi Arabia do the same," said Mohsen, adding
she would spend up to 3,000 dirhams (820 dollars) on a wedding abaya and half
that amount on one meant for other outings.
The abaya, though, is only part of the story.
The "shaila", or large scarf wrapped as head cover, must be matching.
Alternatively, a fancy shaila will liven up a plain abaya worn at work or on
daily errands.
A 19-year-old Emirati university student, who asked not to be named,
explained why one of the patches on her head cover was in jeans fabric.
"It's because I'm wearing jeans," she said, slightly pushing back the front
of her plain abaya to show her trousers.
"The cuts differ too," said Amer Batah, a Syrian sales manager at an abaya
boutique.
"You've got the French cut for instance, which fits the body and becomes
wider at the bottom. And there's the butterfly, which is trendy at the moment,"
he said, showing off a sample of the "butterfly" with a wings-like cut under the
sleeves.
"Kuwaiti women love the 'butterfly'," said Hassan Humaidi, another abaya
salesman.
While classic black lace is still used, Swarovski crystal beads, single or
multi-colored, are the hit for dressy abayas.
"They have a special sparkle. And they don't fall if you wash the abaya,"
said Humaidi, explaining why these particular crystal beads are so
popular.
Saifullah Nouraei, an Iranian designer and branch manager at one of the
leading abaya retailers, said things had changed a great deal since women in the
oil-rich region wore only plain abayas that came in a single piece covering them
from head to toe.
"They now follow the fashion in everything. You can't be wearing a Giorgio
Armani dress with a 100-dirham (27-dollar) abaya on top," he argued.
"We can't change the black color of the abaya, so we work on the design,"
he said.
Nouraei, whose displays include dazzling hand-made abayas fetching between
1,000 and 2,000 dollars apiece, said many customers choose their own designs,
and the price depends on the load of precious metals they want sown on their
garment.
"Of course, not everyone wears crystal ... Not everyone drives a
Rolls-Royce, right?," Nouraei said.
"Some ladies design abayas at home and sell them. It doesn't cost much that
way," said Aysha Abdullah, an Emirati housewife who wore an abaya embroidered
with thick thread in different shades of gray.
The simple traditional abaya, costing in the range of 55 dollars, is still
holding its own even in liberal-minded Dubai, especially among the older
generation.
But advocates of fancier versions are convinced they can combine fashion
and modesty.
"I cannot have my wife going around in a short dress while I am wearing a
dishdasha," said Rashed Mohammad, a Kuwaiti man in the long white garment worn
by men in the Gulf as he strolled with his Moroccan wife in a shopping
mall.
Never mind that his elegant consort, sporting an abaya decorated with
golden metal and matching head cover, could cause more heads to turn than a less
attractive woman in a short skirt.
"Abayas are now both decent and fashionable. Everyone follows the fashion
nowadays," Mohammad said.
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