FASHION and FABRIC IN DUBAI

Dubai is a mecca for Arab fashion and for exquisite fabric of all kinds. Women come from all over the Middle East and Africa to purchase fabric, have wedding and special occassion dresses made and to get the latest in jewelry, bags, shoes and other accessories.

The traditional regional dress for women is a black outer garment with flowing sleeves and a black headscarf. This is worn whenever the woman is out of her household or away from her family. But the black garment can have fabulous embroidery or jewel embellishments, especially on the sleeves, shoulders and the headscarf. But, underneath the black outer garment, the women wear very colorful clothing made from gorgeous fabric.

In the malls there are many, many fabric stores, each filled with fabric of all kinds. A lot of it, I am told, comes from China and the Far East. The colors, textures and patterns are just lovely. I've never seen anything like it. What seems strange, is to see women, dressed in their black outer garments, in the fabric stores purchasing lovely, colorful fabric to be made into the clothing they will wear only for their families.

Men, on the other hand, wear the traditional white tunic, with a white skull cap, covered by a red and white geometrically patterned piece of material held on their head with a black circular piece. Some men wear off-white or tan tunics. Most of the men sport some sort of facial hair, neatly trimmed. They all wear sandals.