Date: 7th October 2021
Her plain black Abaya falls off her covered hair, her wrinkled hand moves hastily to place it back on her head again while mumbling a few words asking God for forgiveness for an unintended sin. “We were simple people” Umm Abdullah says, “we did not care for the way we dress-up, our Abayas are meant to cover us and protect us. Long dark black material, placed over the head with two small finger-hooks on the cuffs” with a determined look she points at her Abaya cuffs and continues: “see, like this sleeve here covered to my wrist, that’s how it should be”.
Umm Abdulla is a woman in her 70s, and like many other women who lived in the same era and place; her Abaya is her dignity. This dress she wears, symbolizes her strong attachment to her religion and traditions as a Muslim Emirati woman.
Yet deserts turned green and what once used to be the source of pearls, now became the source of black oil wealth. The last 20 years of UAE life has witnessed a remarkable change in the human tissue of this country. The mix of cultures has weaved a new fabric of traditions, new values system and an eager body to observe, accept and learn from the rest of the world.
With that transformation, the fashion fever erupted and hit the conventional world of the Abaya. Though still representing the essence of traditions, the restrictions are less and the imagination behind the contemporary designs, is nothing but wild and daring.
“A fusion of international and regional trends, draped in luxurious fabrics reminiscent of past fashion timepieces” that’s how Huda Al Nuaimi, the owner and designer of Malaak brand, describes her recent Abaya collection.
Malaak is one of many new-generation designers of Abaya to emerge in the new millennium. Other designers include Naberman, Hessa Al Falasi and DAS. Their liberal designs created a new wave of Abaya clients who are youthful, modern with high adventurous sense of fashion in their kept traditional attire.
With the famous ESMOD French fashion institute in Dubai and the constant scholarships to fashion schools like London College of Fashion, the Abaya business progressed rapidly in the last 5 years only to reach a surprising new height in early 2011 when DAS Abaya launched their brand in the famous Harrods, London.
Shortly after, Malaak Abayaa line was launched in Saks Fifth Avenue in Dubai and became an instant hit with both their Arab and European customers.
And little did Umm Abdulla know …
I said my goodbyes, picked up my notebook and left Umm Abdulla sitting on the corner table in a small Arabic café with her son. While I was striding away thinking of how different yet similar our two worlds are, I turned my head back to take one last look at my history resembled by one woman only to see a black humble dot in an ocean of colorful noise and state-of-the-art Abayas.
Comentários