Abaya History and Origins

Abaya is a traditional Muslim wear for women and common more among Middle Eastern khaleeji women, which is like a cloak made of a single piece of cloth. They cover everything below the shoulders barring only the hands and feet. Traditionally they were available in black but these days they are also available in different vibrant colors.

Some think that abaya existed as long as 4 000 years ago in the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia and when Islam arose in the seventh century C.E., the religion absorbed local veiling practices into its culture, probably due to the dressing traditions of the women of Arab Jahiliya.

In culture and history terms, the idea of 'the covering' was more about class than it was about religion. In pre-Islam urban centers of the Arabian Peninsula veiling was seen as a sign of privilege and a luxury afforded to women who didn't have to work. They were distinguished from slave girls and prostitutes, who were not allowed to veil or cover, and nomadic and rural women who are too busy working to be bothered with something so impractical as a face veil and extra layer of clothing.


Muslim women have several restrictions on their clothing. They generally wear clothes that cover them from head to toe leaving only their face and hands bare. You can easily point them out in a crowd with their traditional clothes.

The term 'Abaya' has many definitions and often there is a difference over what an original Abaya looks like, what it consists of and what colours it comes in. The traditional Abaya is a black long cloak (one piece) that covers everything below the shoulder except hands and feet. This abaya garment is commonly worn among the Middle Eastern khaleeji (gulf) women.


An Abaya is quite similar to a Jilbab in the fact that both of them cover the entire body. But a Jilbab has the sleeves stitched to the main body of the cloak. Jilbabs are available in many designs; you may easily find hooded ones for a cold day, apart from these you have the ones you can use casually or formally. Jilbabs have a structure in which you can add frills, flares, ruffles, laces, cuffed sleeves, to stylize your garment. An Abaya is a single piece cloak whose sleeves are not stitched to the main body. These usually have embroidered neck lines, sleeves or base.

Abayas, on the other hand, are one piece garments with sleeves which are not actually stitched to the body of the garment but formed as one piece. This may sound as strange as it does but it is an age old custom amongst the Arab Khaleeji (Gulf) women to wear it like that. Abayas traditionally come with embroidery on the neck, sleeves or base hem.

Modern day Abayas worn by the younger generation are moving away from the traditional embellishment on the garment. The younger generation opt for more stylish geometric, floral patterns from silver or gold embroidery, bead, sequins, multi coloured crystals for standard or Swarovski for more expensive Abayas. These intricate patterns are added onto neckline, bodice, base and flowing flared sleeves with tassel to make it look more chic, trendy and elegant for younger generation to wear Abaya.

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