Abaya Day: an expat's opinion of abaya after a day in one

Article: Last Monday, a group of my friends wore our (or borrowed) thobes and abayas to work, and at lunchtime to the food court of the closest mall.This was my first time wearing an abaya outside, and it was interesting to see people's reactions. I was a little worried that students would feel we were mocking their dress or treating it like a Halloween costume, but all the reactions I got were positive. One student even hugged me. At the mall, my friends and I got stared at a lot: we could see people wondering what four obviously non-Arab women were doing in abaya. The stares were definitely not hostile, though, and I personally feel we got checked out a lot more than we do in Western dress. Another interesting reaction occurred when Nikki and I were standing in line at Pizza Hut. A male, Muslim colleague passed by us, did a double take, said "Holy s***," and stopped to see what we were up to. He chatted for about ten seconds and then said he should move along before other people started wondering what he was doing talking to us. He's never said that when I've run into him while in Western dress....I think wearing abaya was a different experience for each of us. Caryl wrote about her experience on her blog. Another friend reflected that she had always disliked abayas and thought of them as unglamorous, but after spending a day in a rather gorgeous one she now wants to buy one.I found the experience fun but oddly unremarkable. Other people reacted to me very differently, but the abaya itself is unobtrusive enough that I didn't feel any different wearing it. (I did feel more aware of my clumsiness; I am not graceful enough to be an abaya girl.) The shayla, on the other hand, cannot be called unobtrusive. I think I spent about half my workday wrapping and rewrapping it.

Caryl: Yesterday a bunch of us decided to wear traditional Qatari clothes to work and around Doha. It was interesting, especially since I went to the grocery store, a small Arabic shop that doesn't get much traffic from Westerners, and a Kentucky Fried Chicken. Most people knew that I wasn't Arab, but a few thought that my pale skin and light hair (what little of my hair could be seen) meant that I was Syrian or Iranian or something.