good for young girls to watch!

a cute short cartoon on an abaya hijabi vs a pants hijabi vs a non-hijabi:

and another cute cartoon on getting girls to dress modestly and to cover:

Abaya gets a makeover from John Galliano and Blumarine

Top European fashion labels, including John Galliano and Blumarine, have sent models in couture abayas down the runway in an effort to lure wealthy Muslim women.

from the Telegraph (UK)

A horsewoman in a flowing, made-to-measure Islamic gown atop a snorting steed opened the fashion show on Thursday at the George V Hotel in Paris.

Abayas are the body-covering black robes some Muslim women don over their clothing in public, usually accompanied by a head scarf or niqab, the face veil that covers all but the eyes.

Designers who tried their hand at making over the abaya, which is required in Saudi Arabia, included Christian Dior's artistic director John Galliano, French luxury labels Nina Ricci and Jean Claude Jitrois and Italian houses Blumarine and Alberta Feretti.

The show began with a bang, as the carrot-topped cavaliere - decked out in a Galliano-designed abaya exploding with firework of coloured sequins and dangling fringe - rode her mount into the hotel's subterranean salon.

Twenty models followed on foot, wearing abayas heavy with rhinestones or airy in gauzy fabrics.
"I realised that most of the Saudi clients are wearing designer brands, but they're covered by a black abaya," said Dania Tarhini, the show's organiser and a general manager of Saks Fifth Avenue in Saudi Arabia. "It is an obligation to wear the abaya there, but let them feel good about it."

The timing of the Paris show was propitious: four days earlier, Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, struck a nerve in the Muslim world by declaring that full-body veils such as the burka are "not welcome" in France, saying they make women prisoners. A top Muslim group in Britain called Mr Sarkozy "patronising and offensive." Lebanon's most influential Shia cleric called on Mr Sarkozy to reconsider his comments.

Ms Tarhini, a Lebanese who has lived in Saudi Arabia for the past seven years, acknowledged "it wasn't easy" to convince designers to take part in the project.

At first, "they couldn't imagine how to make a designer abaya," she told The Associated Press in an interview. "I explained to them the concept is to (make women) look good and also to promote their brands .... Then they accepted."

She said the initial batch of made-to-measure abayas - worth between €4,000-€8,000 ($5,500-$11,150) - would be given as presents to Saks' most faithful Saudi clients.

Ready-to-wear versions of the robes by the 21 designers featured in the Paris show are expected to go on sale in Saks stores the Saudi Arabian cities of Jeddah and Riyadh in September. The gowns, which are to retail for €1,800 ($2,500), could later be sold in the store's branches in neighbouring Bahrain and Dubai, she said.

Most of the gowns on display adhered to standards considered appropriate for wear in Saudi Arabia: all were black, most were floor-length and many had a built-in head covering or matching veil.

The few translucent abayas, like a bell-sleeved gown embroidered with white and yellow flowers by Carolina Herrera, the Venezuelan designer favoured by Renée Zellwegger, were meant to be worn over evening gowns, Ms Tarhini said.

"Everybody's waiting for a change in a good way," she said. Some women in Saudi Arabia "don't want to feel obliged (to wear the abaya). They want to wear it to look fashionable, as well."

John Galliano, Carolina Herrera, Nina Ricci, and More Design Fancy Abayas

by Amy Odell in the New York

Last week, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said full-body veils, like burkas some Muslim women wear over their clothes, are "not welcome" in France. Four days later, the George V Hotel in Paris hosted a fashion show consisting entirely of designer abayas. John Galliano designed the abaya worn by the red-haired model who opened the show by riding down the runway on a white horse. Twenty models followed wearing abayas by Nina Ricci, Blumarine, and Alberta Ferretti, among others. The first batch of abayas, ranging from $5,500 to $11,150, will be given as gifts to Saks Fifth Avenue's most faithful Saudi clients. Ready-to-wear versions of the robes will hit the sales floor in Jeddah and Riyadh in Saudi Arabia in September, retailing for around $2,500.

Dania Tarhini, the general manager of Saks in Saudi Arabia, organized the show after she realized women were running around all day with their lovely designer clothes hidden by plain black abayas. "It is an obligation to wear the abaya there, but let them feel good about it," she tells the Telegraph.

Ms Tarhini, a Lebanese who has lived in Saudi Arabia for the past seven years, acknowledged "it wasn't easy" to convince designers to take part in the project. At first, "they couldn't imagine how to make a designer abaya," she told The Associated Press in an interview. "I explained to them the concept is to (make women) look good and also to promote their brands ... Then they accepted."

Most of the abayas in the show were suitable to wear in Saudi Arabia — black and floor-length with a built-in head covering or matching veil. A few translucent styles, like the bell-sleeved gown by Carolina Herrera embroidered with yellow flowers, are meant to be worn over evening gowns.

Middle Eastern-inspired Fashion Pushes Buttons

by Kristin Young in the Luxist

Even as the great veil debate raged on this month in France - President Nicolas Sarkozy supports a ban on Muslim women wearing them in public- Paris couturiers paraded all manner of burqas, abayas and niqabs. Now that the shows have ended, we're left with more questions than answers.

Were designers stating they were for or against the ban? Do they endorse freedom of religious expression or were they speaking out against the oppression of women? Besotted with so many images of the controversial garment in the news recently, perhaps they were simply inspired to put a piece or two on the catwalks. Or, were they out to get press?"

When I ask designers questions like these, they always look confused," says David Wolfe, creative director of The Doneger Group, whose job is to predict trends for fashion professionals. "They operate so much from their gut. Whatever the media focuses on, the sensitive designers pick up the vibe, whether consciously or subconsciously. Fashion is an endless drug and designers look for the new high-anything that hasn't been seen or worked to death."

Givenchy, in particular, took the Middle Eastern route sending out models elbow-deep in gold cuffs and weighed down in heavy veils of ornate gold jewelry. The collection also featured billowing harem pants paired with sharp-shouldered blazers. Evening gowns were embroidered and topped with crowns of metal thorns, hard to miss the religious commentary there.

With or without the veil debate, the fashion world has already been pointing to the East and the Middle East. Celebrities and fashionable women from London to Los Angeles have been stepping out in harem pants for the better part of this year. The trend is so pervasive, even mainstream retailers like Urban Outfitters carried versions.

When American designers were working on their spring collections last year, presidential debates were heating up in the U.S. and there was much talk about the war in Iraq. To the fashion community seeing these same media images, Ralph Lauren's spring 2009 collection of djellabas, turbans and black veils felt perfectly timed.

Still, the irony that Western women could soon be slapping down the Amex for Givenchy-designed gold veils at a time when the Islam world and secular governments wrangle over the burqa's meaning is striking.

Some Muslim women will rebel against the French government by refusing to remove their veils. Other women will continue to suffer because of religion-imposed dress codes. Just this week the AP reports: In the Sudan that enforces strict Islamic law, police arrested 13 women and flogged 10 of them in public for wearing trousers.Is being forced to wear something just as bad as not being allowed to wear something and how does Western fashion play a role?

An Abaya in Hollywood? - i never thought i'd see the day

x-files star gillian anderson at the 2006 emmy awards show - heavily pregnant and obviously wanted something looser, so she went for an ensemble that very closely resembles a open butterfly abaya.

i think she looks very glamorous in this long gown: