Omani Traditional Dress on the Runway

Oman has managed to preserve much of its original culture, including the differing and colourful varaiations of regional dresses for women. Now more or less reserved for special occasions or hidden under black abayas, the traditional dress is being reinvented and influenced by the different regions brought together in workplaces and schools. The kind of jewelry once worn by women in Dhofar is now worn by women in Buraimi, ect. Designers of the "new " traditional dress are influenced by the other regions or other media, and this has always been the case in Oman, due to the import of Indian craftsmen and trade in Zanzibar, and a policy of welcoming foriegners as valued guests.
Traditional Muscat/a form of Al Batinah regional dress is constantly adapting, but has strongly influenced the perceived form of the 'national dress' along with the interior Ad Dakliyah region. Often worn for state occasion and by school children for His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, the Al Batinah and Ad Dakliyah dresses could most commonly be considered the majority Omani dress.

Mistakenly referred to by expats and non-Omanis as "Hindu" or "Pakistani" influenced dresses, due to the predominance of the tunic top and sirwal, Omani pants, being tighter at the ankle, are in no way similar in cut to the churider pants of India, nor is the cut of the Omani tunic, though the embroideries of these dresses today, are predominately Pakistani and Indian due to the tailors originating from those countries in Muscat.

*In the 1900s it was quite common for the women of Muscat to wear the birqa face covering now more closely associated to Beduoin culture in other regions.*

Traditional Muscati dress consists of a knee length tunic dress and worn over sarwal /pants, a headscarf often fringed called waqayah or lihaf, worn under another longer rectangular scarf without fringe called the leso or a kanga by the Zanzibari/East African Omani population dependent on the textile used. Al Batinah and Ad Dakliyah Regional Dresses

Dresses of the Muscat and Al Batinah region also typically feature what are called zarrie laces running from the shoulder to the hem as a means of decoration, on the sirwal, and at the neck fastening of the tunic. This is also consistant from Muscat, Al Batinah, and Ad Daklihaya region/governates, only difference being Al Batinah and Ad Dakiliyah typically have a textile trimming the bottom of the tunic additionally called, I believe, the sinjaf??? Al Batinah usually use purple fabric to form the sinjaf traditionally, while Ad Dakliyah tunic styles are hemmed on the longer side, mid calf rather than knee length. Ad Dakliyah dresses ALWAYS include the leso and the yarn fringed warqiyah/lihaf, and this is the Omani style you will most often spot OPNO sporting.uscat style, are also, now being influenced by Western and Indian culture, as these artistic expressions below bear testment to:

Dhofari dress: The outfit worn by Dhofari women is made up of three parts: the sarwal (the trousers), the loose dress which is shorter in the front and longer in the back called abuthail "father of the tail", the shayla/headcovering. It differs from the regional dress of other parts of Oman, mainly because of the area's classical relation to the Hadramout Kingdom.
Traditionally, the sarwal were not worn in areas of Dhofar further away from Yemen, although they always WERE worn in Yemen. Today, however, women in Dhofar wear the sarwal when leaving the house. For more casual occasions they are made of cotton and for special occasions velvet, silk or another more valued textile, and often decorated at the ankle hem.
Daily worn, the abuthail dresses are made of cotton with no embellishment and with a shorter tail hemline as exampled in the below, albeit, the below being a highly embellished example of the shorter, more practical day-wear hemlines.For special occasions they are made of velvet and silk chiffons, and highly embellished with crystals or embroideries. Traditionally, black velvet was worn for the abuthail with edging embroidered with bright alternating coloured threads in pointed and straight lines. Though new styles have evolved, originally the dress had a square neckline with no sleeves, only openings in the side seams. With the back trailing behind and the front hemmed above the ankles, legend in Salalah says the dress evolved this way to erase a woman's footsteps. Of course, it wouldn't have been made of silk in the past, if the legend holds true;)
The headcovering in Salalah is traditional worn loose but is now securely wrapped, this having evolved from more Northern Omani styles.
Having just covered one of the most often produced traditional dresses reinvented by designers on the runways, after the Dhofari dress, the other dress most worn by my Omani friends who aren't ACTUALLY from Dhofar or Sur in Ash Sharqiyah region, is the traditional dress of Sur, the suri.

Ashsharqiyah Dress from Sur is traditionally of the same function as Northern Omani dress, consisting of a tunic dress and sarwal pants, but the way that these items are embellished is distinct to the region. While other Omani regions typically embellish the bottom of the tunic and its chest, this region only embelished the garment on the wrists and on the bottom hem of the Sirwal. Additional embroidery for the chest panel was left for the suri.
The suri, better described pictorially in its traditional form in this post http://howtolivelikeanomaniprincess.blogspot.com/2010/12/suris-traditional-sharqiyah-dress.html is a loosely woven (traditionally black) wide sleeved overgarment, usually extensively embroidered along the chest, and often minutely on the sleeve hems. It is worn over the embroidered traditional tunic and pants by pulling the sleeve edges up and over on the head so that they criss-cross eachother. This can leave the arms either covered to the elbow, or to the wrist, depending on how far back on the head the garment it tied/pinned. It may also be used to fully envelop the face. It is very breathable, and easy to move in and usually covers to the feet or ankles, unlike the shorter tunic worn beneath.

Barka Al Jig Baluchi dress- There are no concrete facts as to the origin of this design but popular opinion is that it originated in the city of Barka in the Al Batinah region. However, there are numerous other cities where the Baluchi women also wear this style.

Unlike traditional Baluchi dress with ruched siding seams at the waist, this dress is not worn beyond Omani borders, and the embellishments on the chest, wrists, and hem all demonstrate an Omani influence, including the two vertical lines that run from each shoulder to the hem.

This style dress usually includes a lihaf (headcovering), tighter sirawal than traditional Baluchi pants embroidered Omani style with laces and zarrie, and a mid-calf dress without set-in sleeves called a Juma. Similar to the Dhofari abuthail, it has side seam openings instead.

Although I could not find any pics of traditional Baluchi dress at this fashion show, I posted about it here:
http://howtolivelikeanomaniprincess.blogspot.com/2010/10/not-traditional-omani-dress-but-close.html

and this Muslim woman whose blog I enjoy also did: http://muhajabat.wordpress.com/2010/10/07/dress-of-the-balooch-women/

Beduoin Al Wusta Dress traditionally consisted of a long dress mainly embroidered at the wrists called a jalabiyia, with sirwal that could hardly be seen that were rarely embellsihed, and shayla/headscovering made from sheer black cotton mesh.

The burqa/facial mask is always worn by married women in Al Wusta region, and traditionally dark colours like indigo and black are preferred for the burqa.

Overtop of the jalabiyia a ghabaah is worn. A ghabaah is a fine black mesh covering worn over the full-length of the jalabiyia and unlike the Suri version, is not used to cover the hair and so, is much narrower in cut and unembellished traditionally. This covering is completely sheer but tends to protect the clothing underneath from being scratched by sand and dust.

*These are the runway fashion pics I could find thus far depicting regional dressing, though I will still endeavor to include regions thus far neglected.*

I miss when the beduoin of Oman had tents... really I do

"If there wasn't enough water for everyone, we'd pour the water that we had into the sand"

I miss the days when Beduoin in Oman still had tents. Really I do. And I know that is selfish. You ask the men at the edge of Rub Al Khali (Empty Quarter) about the old days before government housing and they'll tell you when they had to drink camel throw-up because there wasn't enough water and the like, and your Orientalist longing for old black goathair tents will subside if you have an ounce of humanity and intelligence in you.

I guess I don't.

My sis and me went to Beduoin weddings as kids. We learned traditional dances and got gifts from the bride and the men fired off their rifles, and I got accustomed to goat's milk and meat and weaving mats and baskets and am rather good with camels. Which makes Omanis in Muscat laugh alot, and tease me.

I kind of fit in, in Sharqiyah, in a way I never have anywhere else, which is funny but, really I feel that.

Anyways, should you encounter a Beduoin tent these days (rather unlikely though an old work aquaintance G is a Beduoin and grew up without ACs) here is a fun article for you to read:

These black tents that seem so romantic on the landscape are called in Arabic "beit sha'ar" or "house of hair". They are familiarly referred to as a "beit" or "house" (the same word of course as a house in a village).

They are woven by the Bedouin women out of goats' hair, in separate sections; a woman will normally weave the sections for her own "house", and also prepare the fabric strips in advance in anticipation of future need by her family or perhaps her children later. Goats' hair shrinks when it is wet, so in winter the tent is protected by the closely woven fabric. When it is dry, this fabric often sags, seeming to have holes everywhere, and allowing a breeze to enter.
You might like to look at the page concerning Bedouin weaving for more details on the looms and techniques used. There are also some photos in the Photo Galley page on Bedouin.

In summer, you may notice that many tents are in poor condition and even eked out by cardboard boxes, bits of sacking or sheets of wood or metal. In fact, when it is warm, all that is required is shade from the sun, shelter from any wind and privacy from passers by. Hence the old tents are usually used in summer, and the "good" tents reserved for winter. One is tempted to think that the poor tents are a sign of poverty: absolutely not necessarily, just prudent management!

A normal tent is apt to be large: often 30 or 40 meters long. It is divided into 2 sections : the public area, usually left open to the world during the day, and the women's area on the right hand side (when you face the tent), which is usually kept closed when any strangers are likely to be around. Nobody from outside the family would ever venture to intrude upon the women, even other women do so upon invitation. The public area is normally arranged to receive guests, who sit, lounge or lie upon mattresses arranged around a small fire. The women are free to join in any talk, and usually do so. When it is cold, this area is closed at night by dropping the sections of cloth which are rolled up during the day.

No discussion of money or business, no bargaining will ever take place inside the tent which is "to be kept inviolate" from outside matters. A guest will be received inside, will sit and drink tea or coffee, but if he has come to discuss business, eventually, when the talk becomes serious, the whole party will move outside, taking mattresses and tea etc. with them. If the affair interests them, the women will often join the men here as well.

Coffee is prepared in advance, the beans are roasted at the end of a long shovel before being crushed in a mortar and the grounds solemnly dropped into hot water. Just enough cardamon is added, and the infusion is left to stand for several hours. When a visitor arrives, the coffee is boiled on the long spouted coffee pot and the coffee poured ceremoniously into small cups. The visitor drinks off the hot light coloured liquid in one gulp and will usually be offered a second.

Accepting a third cup of coffee means that you consider yourself one of the family and that you are ready to fight for it if necessary. Deliberately to refuse an offered third cup is a very serious thing to do.

Good manners are very important to the Bedouin. The worst sin is to cause a quarrel in somebody else's tent (or wherever could be considered somebody's home), and invariably people will go to great lengths to avoid this. A polite man will try to avoid visiting anywhere near to a meal time - there is no way his host cannot invite him to stay, however scarce the food supply.

The polite man will also arrive protesting he is in a great hurry and must leave as soon as possible, thus cutting off his host's offer to "kill a goat" in honour of the visit. Several minutes are always spent in enquiring after each other's health and family, before any mention is made of business.

Obviously non-Arabs are not expected to know the nuances of "Bedouin behaviour", all allowances are made for them - even for those who sit with their bare feet pointing directly at the host.

http://www.jordanjubilee.com/meetfolk/bedouin.htm (He also has a page on Beduoin customs and really, an informative page on basic Beduoin life). Though alot of this is fading out.

Shopping for face veils in Oman: I need tips

I just bought myself a present, a. because it was such a good price, and b. because there was a reason. A new abaya, like the one above. Very affordable, very chic, and plain black. The drape is amazing.

BL I found a tailor!!!! He is now my tailor. One for abayaat, one for Omani traditional clothes. I still need to find my fabric guy, but one day, one day.So if you want any style, send me your pic and measurements and I'll see the price for you and send to you.... Same to you my FIG&Olive girl.

I also found Salalah style niqabs (stringed [nose string] or stringless) for 700 baiza. The salalah style has wider, stiffer headband and a short face veil, falling just pass the chin like in the pics below, and may be ornamented with a further sheerer or longer veil behind it. I was wondering if you munaqabat girls in Oman knew places to get good quality niqabs and different styles. The ones I own are very basic, like the first pic, and the ones below:
I own this one [but better quality]: Emirati gashwa (UAE) [but is there anywhere IN Oman to purchase the same??? and how much].Yes, I have my birqa. LOL, I get teased by my Muscati girls because I know some Bedu families well enough to know how to sew these. I have never bought one so no, I don't know how much they are worth. Classic elastic half niqab (purchased in UAE and online). Very cheap, and I only like to wear them under gashwa because I don't believe in showing the eyebrows when wearing niqab.
Stringless flip niqab (they sell for 5.8 OMR in Al Motihajiba in City Center Muwalla but the headbands are too stiff for my liking. Does anyone know where they sell softer good quality ones (not too pricey).????
Soft headband longer niqab (with or without string) do you know where to find good quality, soft fabric ones with softer headbands? Oman has a trend for a very stiff band while Saudia and UAE have a trend for softer.
Longer style flip niqab with string (my fave for personal ease and comfort). I bought in UAE but haven't found a good quality soft version yet in Oman. Do any of you ladies who have tailors that make niqabs for you or where do you buy them and get different styles?

I've seen niqabs with the flip edges with coloured piping trim. I loved it. Who does that? My tailor doesn't. Let me know:)

I know this style below (worn VERY wrong) is Saudi and I love it: I am going to start wearing niqab again fulltime. Is a good thing for me, and I do so out of a love an Islamic reason to do so, and is easy to do so in my current situation.

So help me out if you can ladies. My thanks to you.

BTW, I personally find the veil very comfy and actually cooler to wear walking out on a very hot day in Oman. Really. And I have no troubles eating so long as it is a dark colour (black-green-navy-brown-berry ect). Anyways, this is a VERY random and uninformed post.

I would appreciate your feedback.