Ahhh! Is your Hijab a Gucci?

It’s nearly February, the oddball month of the year that includes such idealized holidays as Valentine’s Day, Carnivale, Mardi Gras, and, of course, the Dubai Shopping Festival. This month, shoppers will be able to get their Armani suits, Very Wang dresses, and Chanel abayas for half price.

That’s right – Chanel abayas.

In case you think that all Muslim women’s clothing is called a burka, an abaya is a type of Islamic women’s dress popular in the UAE and other Gulf countries. It is a long, black, flowing robe usually made of some sort of polyester. Women are required by law to wear it in Saudi Arabia. It is always accompanied by a hijab, or headscarf, and sometimes a face veil.

Prior to moving to the UAE, most of my knowledge of Islamic women’s dress came from magazine articles and from talking to American Muslim women. Both stressed that the covering is about maintaining modesty. The Qur’an dictates that men and women “preserve their modesty,” but does not specify what that means. Therefore, veils and scarves of any kind are, technically, optional.

Though I see a lot of abayas and other types of coverings, I don’t see quite as much modesty. Rather, sequins, Swarovski crystals, and gilded embroidery sparkle on thousand dollar, hand-sewn abayas. The beadwork is more intricate than most of my Western friends’ wedding dresses. Looking at them is sometimes disconcerting. Even my nicest skirt seems quite underdressed when a trip to the grocery store requires a gown like a disco ball.

In addition to the abayas that would not look out of place on Oscar night, there are are the high couture styles. To date, I have seen women proudly strutting their stuff in Chanel, Burberry, Gucci, and Louis Vuitton abayas and hijabs. Down the front of the stark black robe is a vein of pink and green LV logos or tan plaid flannel (especially appropriate in a climate that rarely reaches below 65 degrees). CC logos adorn the hems and drape the face.

These women accessorize with Fendi handbangs, Jimmy Choo heels, caked-on makeup, manicured nails, and luxury cars. About half of the mothers at my school wear abayas that resemble evening gowns when they drop their children off at 7:30 in the morning. The other mothers wear simple, muted abayas, and they are the women that tell me about preserving modesty and protection from the “lustful male gaze.” For the other women, the abaya is fashion.

Designer and disco ball abayas are doubly ironic because the abaya came to popularity in Islam relatively recently. As I mentioned, the Qu’ran makes no specific statement about what modesty entails. Though veiling has existed in many cultures for centuries (including Christianity and Judaism), it only came to prominence in modern Islam in 1977, during the Iranian revolution. It came to represent an opposition to Westernization. And yet, a scant three decades later, it is a canvas for the most excessive form of Western materialism: insanely expensive designer clothing that promotes a distorted and unhealthy view of women’s bodies. Not only are flashy, couture abayas far from modest, they demonstrate that a number of Muslim women are proud to bow down to the false god of fashion.