Day 17- Proper Women Attire, the “Abaya”

Saturday October 3rd, 2009

Many of you might already know what women in Saudi Arabia have to wear when they go out in public. However, for those who don’t, I will try to explain it now.

Basically, women here have to wear something called “abaya”, it’s a long, black, robe-like garment that goes from shoulders to toes and in some cases, women wear the kind that goes from head to toes. Any women, whether she is Saudi, non-Saudi, Muslim, or non-Muslim, MUST wear it when she is in public. That is a fact and no one argues that fact. The other thing that is worn is the head scarf and the “negab” or the face veil. Now, here’s the tricky part. There is no set rule on these two pieces. You can wear them, or not. You can wear one and not the other; meaning, you can cover your hair, but not your face (but not vice versa, I’m yet to see a woman covering her face and not her hair! Now that would look odd!)

Even more so, the negab can be worn in different ways and styles. There is the kind that covers all your face, but your eyes. There is the kind that covers everything, including your eyes, so you are basically trying to see through a light, black fabric (I tried that and got dizzy after 10 seconds). There is the kind where you just bring the end of your head scarf and cover the bottom half of your face with it (the way you would cover your mouth and nose with a scarf in the winter from the cold). This style is called “lethma”. For me, that’s the best way, because it’s easy to do and very convenient. Plus, you don’t have to have it on all the time, just in certain situations where you have to cover for a little bit.

Keep in mind, that not all abayas are the same. Actually, if you go shopping for one, you will be amazed with all the different cuts, styles, and designs they have to offer! It’s actually a hard decision to make. I have two right now, but I defiantly need more. So I went to the abaya tailor and order one a few days ago. I did a basic design, from shoulder to feet, and then I had him put little, black crystals on the sleeves. Well, I went to go pick it up today and it looked great! The good thing is you can have them make any design you want, even things you came up with. So even though every woman is wearing a black abaya, you can still be unique and design something strictly for you.

Also keep in mind, when women are gathering together, as in a party, wedding, work, school, the first thing they do is take off their abayas, so they do wear something underneath them! Since I work at an all-girl university, everyone takes off their abayas at the door. So again, the abayas are worn when women are in public.

Much Love, HKA in KSA