UICK, fetch me my abaya!” is a call that reverberates around many a Gulf household on the arrival of an unexpected male guest, as women scramble for the formless black gown that confers instant anonymity. But the plain robe intended to shield the female form from prying eyes and comply with Islam's requirement that women dress modestly, has become a fashion statement, with some bejeweled, gold-embroidered new designs out-blinging the flashiest rappers. “It's completely changed in the last five years. Everybody is buying these types of abayas, old and young, but mostly young women,” said abaya shop manager Mohammed Javeed, who has worked in abaya stores around the Gulf for 12 years. Originally a baggy black cloth that covered a woman from head to toe, an increasing number of tight-fitting abayas in an array of eye-catching designs now fill the shops. One garment sports a portrait of the Mona Lisa in Swarovski crystals. Sales of abayas that do not cover the head, and are only worn from the shoulders down, now outstrip those that do, abaya sellers said, with the latter mostly bought by older women. Most abaya adornments are concentrated at the garment's hem, highlighting the hands and feet with a swatch of crystals, or gold or silver embroidery. Usually made of crepe, the different grades of cloth, and the crystals and embroidery used to adorn it, influence price. Javeed's most expensive abaya sold for 650 Bahraini dinars ($1,728), to a woman who ordered it for a party. And women no longer buy just one garment to comply with Islamic mores, but now purchase abayas for weddings, parties, shopping, work and different seasons, abaya shop workers said. “These originally were just plain, and were worn for Islamic reasons, but now it's fashion,” Hisham Abul Ainain, manager of another abaya shop said. Abayas for her, Speedos for him Fashion or not, abayas are still required dress for women in more conservative parts of Middle East, and the more revealing and eye-catching designs have met with resistance. Wearing a fitted abaya with discreet swirls of embroidery, a student and part-time state employee said she would rather not wear hers in the Gulf summer heat, but wearing anything else while working a government job would be frowned upon. “They would think I was a bad girl... And it would not be good for some religious people to see one that's really tight,” Aisha Aldoy said. In a display of how women can do almost anything in a veil, footage from Iran shows policewomen in chadors, the Iranian version of the abaya that is de rigeur in much of the Islamic Republic, abseiling down buildings clutching machine guns. And a glance around any Gulf poolside shows many women sweltering in all-enveloping veils or even taking a dip in their abayas while the men splash around in Speedos. – Reuters __
