UAE: Wearing Abaya

Abaya is a traditional arabic dress for women. It is more like a long but very light overcoat. Most often it is black, but made of high-quality and soft fabrics, which rather shields than warms Emirati ladies from the sun. I noticed that their abayas are also embelished, embroidened and customised more often than not. This would most likely not be acceptable in the Saudi Arabia.

Abayas are worn over normal clothes, be it a dress, trousers, jeans, t-shirts or shirts. Often, they also wear shoes with very high heels. Sheila or Shayla is a scarf-like cloth used to cover the hair. Usually it is made from the same color and material as abaya.

Abayas are also subject to fashion trends and are relatively costly. The quality one cost from 200 euro higher, but cheaper abayas can be also found, but from lower-quality fabrics. I wore such an abaya during my visit at the Great Mosque of Sheikh Zayed.

Here is the proof. 🙂