By
Irfan Ullah Khan
Muslim women have been dressing in abayas for centuries. In Saudi Arabia, it is a must to be worn by women. But the significance of an abaya dress is no less in other parts of the globe.
It would be correct to say that abaya is a proud representation of the Muslim culture. Recently the abaya culture has shown a remarkable growth, both in the Eastern and Western world.
The basic idea of an Islamic dress for women is a long loose dress that drapes around freely and hides a woman from head to toe. It has many different formations in different parts of the world. Shawls and wraps are all part of Muslim code of dressing. But over the past few decades abaya has gained much popularity and different dressing styles have beautifully merged together giving the abaya a whole new level and meaning.
A traditional abaya dress used to be black, so primary color for abayas can still be caught as black. With its popularity spreading into the other parts of the world, the abaya incorporated new colors and design. Also, the main fabric used to be traditionally light weight linen or cotton or chiffon, but with its advent into the colder regions of the world many new warmer fabrics have now been introduced.
The Challenge in Buying an Abaya in UK
Muslim women living in regions other than the Arabian Peninsula find it difficult to shop for an abaya or a modest wardrobe as a whole. Not just the length and cuts of dresses become an issue, but the fabric too presents a challenge. This is true especially for women living in UK where the abaya culture has widely grown recently.
Reverts face the same challenges. If they are working women, it becomes all the more difficult for them to switch to and pick out a new wardrobe that is practical and comfortable, as well as concealing and covering.
Alhumdu lillah, these problems can now be addressed by using abaya online shops. There are many online shops these days working from all parts of the world, but many UK based abaya businesses have in the past few years started offering their services. This is good news for the local British Muslims as this helps them in paying lower shipping costs which comes in real high when ordering an abaya from an international online outlet, e.g. an outlet based in UAE, etc.
In a previous post, we reviewed top 5 abaya online shops with a global perspective. We also extensively reviewed a Turkey-based startup called Modanisa that delivers modest clothing internationally including to the UK. In this post, we focus mainly on UK based abaya shops that offer abaya online delivery services.
These abaya UK outlets are a blessing for the Muslim sisters living in the UK and around. They help them benefit in many ways, not just the low shipping costs but also to keep the attire in accordance with the weather and culture (in the sense of colors worn in UK and the long coat styles that are European but can be transformed into abayas considering the fact that a coat is just as concealing when paired with modestly tailored pants etc).
So, keeping all the above points in mind here is a list of top five online abaya shops in the UK that are ranked as the top with respect to many points. These sites belong to professional abaya designers; they have the most up to date, trendy and fashionable abayas, and they are also affordable.
Continue reading
