Dress Code

A colleague and I were visiting Dubai in July – he wanted to dip in the Arabian Gulf so we parked and walked across the sand. It was midday and hot. As we got to the beach, and he ran into the water, I noticed a couple walking towards us on the otherwise deserted beach. They were obviously European and, I supposed, in their forties; the guy had a golf shirt and slacks but the woman, a diminutive, plump, redhead, was bursting out of a string bikini.

“Lovely weather for a dip,” she said, followed by the inevitable: “Where are you from?” She offered that they were from Devon. “We always come to this beach,” she said, “the other beaches are full of guys ogling you – I never feel comfortable there,” oblivious to the fact that her behaviour may have contributed…

Dubai, Abu Dhabi and the UAE in general are populated primarily with men. There are a number of Emiratis and some Westerners but more than half are East Asians working to send money home – they can’t afford to have their families here.

Shopping at a rural festival souk

Modesty is the watchword in UAE. A local guidebook ‘Ask Ali’ (link) states that locals dislike immodest dress but tolerate it, as long as it’s restricted to the beach.

Local men all wear the full-length shirt (robe), the kandura (thawb in Saudi Arabia, dishdasha throughout Middle East), generally white, although other colours are seen (lemon, lime and even black). They always cover their hair with a scarf (keffiyah), which in UAE is also generally white. For formal wear (e.g. working in an office) it is draped over the head and kept in place by an agal (black cord). For casual wear the keffiyah is wrapped around the head like a turban. Several guys I spoke to said that they’d be sent home from work if they weren’t wearing their keffiyah with an agal. The other common keffiyah colour is a red and white check.

Mohamed in kandura,
keffiyah & agal

Under the kandura, men wear underwear and generally they wear sandals (no socks). But when it’s really cold, they wear socks and western-style shoes. You never see Emirati men in Western clothes, unless they are outside the country.

Emirati women wear black. A full-length, light, black gown, an abaya, covers their arms and legs. Under this gown, they tend to wear Western clothes; the trendier girls wear designer jeans and name brand high heels. But even their abayas are exclusive (Chanel, Dior, etc.); despite being black they are adorned with gold patterns or quilted sleeves. This is worn with a matching scarf (shela), a light, loose, black cloth often adorned to match the abaya.

Trendy Abaya & Shela  |  Hijab  |  Niqab  |  Shela as cover  |  Bedouin Burqa
Note: Carol illustrates some of these - it’s improper to photograph women

The chic Emirati’s, particularly in downtown Abu Dhabi and Dubai wear their shela so that the front of their hair shows. The more devout wear a hijab, a scarf pulled tightly around their hair to conceal all but their face. Out in the suburbs it is more common to see women wearing the niqab; combined with the shela this covers their hair and face leaving only the eyes. Surprisingly, it’s still possible to recognise someone when you can only see his or her eyes. Try it!

Occasionally, you’ll see women with their shela draped over their head completely covering their hair and face. In the various rural communities where we’ve attended festivals most local women wear the traditional mask-like Bedouin burqa.

Although most beaches are open to all, in order to protect the modesty of women, some beaches are designated ‘family’ beaches. Men can only access these areas if accompanying women and children. And, it is an odd sight to see young Western women in their bikinis alongside local women dressed from head to toe as their children play together in the sea.

On the beach at Dubai