I haven’t got a thing to wear
4 February 2011…One of the fascinating aspects of life in the Middle East – and one of the most obvious clashes between east and west that is evident in Dubai – is the wide range of clothing people wear. We’ve all seen the movies and watched the highlights on CNN but what do these unique dress standards really mean? While we were there we learned a lot about the local traditional dress and Julie got some first hand experience.
In Dubai, and in many other Middle Eastern countries, it is common to see Arabs that have adopted western attire but still dress quite modestly. Men’s western clothes might not be much different from any other western city but the women who wore western clothes would sometimes still wear a stylish scarf as an accessory to a skirt or pants.
But a large share of people still wear traditional clothes and it is not limited by age, sex or (we’re told) social standing. Men wear the long white disdashas with sandals and a head scarf called a Gutrah which is held in place by the black band called the Ogal around the top. You know the look. It is said to be very cool in the hot summer but we saw many men wear jumpers or jackets over the top in this cool winter weather.
No matter how women dress it is always very conservatively. The traditional dress is the long black Abayah which makes all women look exactly the same (which I think is the general idea). They also traditionally wear a head scarf, called a Hejab. But it was obvious that women wear the scarf (and sometimes other items such as creation that looks like a mask from the middle ages) in a variety of ways, always covering their hair, sometimes also their neck, sometimes everything except a little slot for their eyes, sometimes even their eyes.
We learned on a tour of the Jumeirah Mosque in Dubai about what women wear and how they cover their head is purely a personal choice, with no other influences or rules. This sounded a little more convenient than accurate, especially about the head scarf, but it was true that you could randomly pick ten women and probably see seven or eight different ways to cover their head and face.
We suspect the reality is a little different. Despite the claim that it was a personal choice Julie had no choice but to wear the full Abayah and Hejab when we visited the Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. She even got in trouble from our guide one time for showing a bit of hair hanging down in front. That Julie lives on the edge, she’s a little rule breaker.
So yes, in Arab countries heavily influenced by the west – such as the United Arab Emirates – there are a wide range of dress styles and standards, the only guiding principle being that they are all very conservative. No bare shoulders or short skirts here I can tell you (and I was looking). And the men in their disdashas cut quite a good look, if you’re into that. But we left very sceptical about the ‘choice’ women had in their attire and in particular how they covered their face. The justification seemed a bit thin and it didn’t look much fun.