A Tale of Two Cities
Above are some photos of dresses we found around town. I won’t say that they are typical per se, but you find a lot of stuff like this. It’s hard to say what is “typical”. What sort of clothes are “typical” of the west? You can’t really point to a certain design… there is too much to choose from. The same goes here.
Fifteen years ago apparently there wasn’t nearly as much to choose from. Little business was done “off the rack”, tailors made nearly everything and they followed traditional designs for the most part (I have posted pictures of traditional dresses elsewhere in this blog). These days everything is here. A woman is as likely to be wearing sweat pants and a T-shirt as she is a dress under her abaya. Dresses are too diverse to even talk about, but the ones above are “typical” in this sense... They are ornate, they are colorful, they are floor-length, and they have long sleeves.
Women commonly dress to the nines here… men never see it of course, but the women see each other at the many get-togethers that happen here. On the other hand, some women never doff the abayas, even in private with only other women around. A good piece of information to acquire is which tailors are especially talented. A good tailor is meticulous, artistic, and can work from photographs or diagrams. A good tailor may or may not be efficient, but it doesn’t really matter because if he really is good, he is probably back-logged anyway… you’re going to have to wait.
My wife goes through the drill quite a bit. First you see something you like, or come up with an original design. You make a sketch of it, and consult with your tailor to get his input. Then you buy the materials…either from the same tailor or from the souqs… tailors can’t carry everything. You get measured, then you wait a couple of weeks or so… and you have a one-of-a-kind, hand-made piece for a very reasonable price. It’s hard to generalize about prices, it depends upon what you want done, but a simple dress using a couple of different materials should be less than 100 rials, including the material. Stuff like you see above is much more, but prices are on a case by case basis.
A lot of what goes for normal clothes here would only be seen in the west at a wedding. They are big on shoes too, even I know that because I can see those, even when I “lower my gaze”. Cosmetics and beauty salons are a huge industry here. For you westerners, don’t get all excited when you see a sign saying “Double Diamond Saloon”… it’s a beauty parlor.
I think these are some of the most pampered women I have ever come across. They are bedecked in jewelry and fine garments, coifed and perfumed, …most don’t work, and they almost always have maids (a lady of my wife’s acquaintance has nine!), in short, these are “ladies who lunch”. Did I compare this place before to 17th century England? While there may be some political similarities, socially this place is 18th century France, and Qatari citizens are the aristocracy.
On the other hand, I would imagine that it gets to be much like living in a gilded cage, if you are Qatari. Family is of supreme importance here, and family obligations are many. I don’t mean simply attending dinners, but also how you comport yourself, what you do, where you go, etc. Qatar is a small town in so many ways. It’s common for grown, married children to live with their in-laws. Houses here are huge, so an extended family may live under one roof. Once the couple has been married awhile, they can usually scare up the resources to buy their own house, but then it’s not too long before they have young newlyweds of their own under their roof.
This is an aspect of Qatari society that we are immune from, having to carve a niche for ourselves in the family structure. The same applies to customs and traditions, we can take them or leave them and either way it’s okay, …call it American Muslim privilege.
Fifteen years ago apparently there wasn’t nearly as much to choose from. Little business was done “off the rack”, tailors made nearly everything and they followed traditional designs for the most part (I have posted pictures of traditional dresses elsewhere in this blog). These days everything is here. A woman is as likely to be wearing sweat pants and a T-shirt as she is a dress under her abaya. Dresses are too diverse to even talk about, but the ones above are “typical” in this sense... They are ornate, they are colorful, they are floor-length, and they have long sleeves.
Women commonly dress to the nines here… men never see it of course, but the women see each other at the many get-togethers that happen here. On the other hand, some women never doff the abayas, even in private with only other women around. A good piece of information to acquire is which tailors are especially talented. A good tailor is meticulous, artistic, and can work from photographs or diagrams. A good tailor may or may not be efficient, but it doesn’t really matter because if he really is good, he is probably back-logged anyway… you’re going to have to wait.
My wife goes through the drill quite a bit. First you see something you like, or come up with an original design. You make a sketch of it, and consult with your tailor to get his input. Then you buy the materials…either from the same tailor or from the souqs… tailors can’t carry everything. You get measured, then you wait a couple of weeks or so… and you have a one-of-a-kind, hand-made piece for a very reasonable price. It’s hard to generalize about prices, it depends upon what you want done, but a simple dress using a couple of different materials should be less than 100 rials, including the material. Stuff like you see above is much more, but prices are on a case by case basis.
A lot of what goes for normal clothes here would only be seen in the west at a wedding. They are big on shoes too, even I know that because I can see those, even when I “lower my gaze”. Cosmetics and beauty salons are a huge industry here. For you westerners, don’t get all excited when you see a sign saying “Double Diamond Saloon”… it’s a beauty parlor.
I think these are some of the most pampered women I have ever come across. They are bedecked in jewelry and fine garments, coifed and perfumed, …most don’t work, and they almost always have maids (a lady of my wife’s acquaintance has nine!), in short, these are “ladies who lunch”. Did I compare this place before to 17th century England? While there may be some political similarities, socially this place is 18th century France, and Qatari citizens are the aristocracy.
On the other hand, I would imagine that it gets to be much like living in a gilded cage, if you are Qatari. Family is of supreme importance here, and family obligations are many. I don’t mean simply attending dinners, but also how you comport yourself, what you do, where you go, etc. Qatar is a small town in so many ways. It’s common for grown, married children to live with their in-laws. Houses here are huge, so an extended family may live under one roof. Once the couple has been married awhile, they can usually scare up the resources to buy their own house, but then it’s not too long before they have young newlyweds of their own under their roof.
This is an aspect of Qatari society that we are immune from, having to carve a niche for ourselves in the family structure. The same applies to customs and traditions, we can take them or leave them and either way it’s okay, …call it American Muslim privilege.
posted by dervish at Friday, May 06, 2005
8 Comments:
Those are beautiful dresses - but don't the women overheat? Though I suppose if they are covered in multiple layers the outer layer might adsorb most of the heat.
No one goes out in the heat! It sounds funny but it's true... it's air con all the way during the day. You see people outside in the parks and on the corniche (the waterfront) after about five PM.
A lot of outdoor activities go until very late, after midnight in some cases. Our kids rarely last much past nine or ten but Qatari kids are night owls. They nap during the day.
those are magnificent dresses - what a shame that they get covered up :(
Zoe, they're only covered up during the short time that a woman is riding from her house to wherever she's visiting.
You see women outdoors here quite a bit, there are lots of places to walk, and lots of parks. Qatari ladies stay covered when outdoors or shopping. Muslim ex-pats (most of the population) usually just wear hijab, but some wear abayas and niqab too.
Most of the people you've met are probably from the ruling family, or extremely rich. I mean c'mon, 9 MAIDS?! that's just extreme, and nowhere near the average. The most i've seen is 2 or 3, and that's if there are many children, the woman works and there's an elderly person to take care of!
You're quite right. From what I have seen, pretty much everybody has one, and a few have two or three if it is a big house with lots of children (I can already see where two would be handy!).
Only among the most privileged Qataris are you likely to see more. It's common for these families to hire a maid specifically for each one of their children. The maid will dress them, follow them to school, etc.
Then of course two or three are needed for general cooking and cleaning (the maids assigned to kids will help with that too). It's not the norm, but neither is it rare... there are a lot of very wealthy people here.
Assalaamu alaikum,
But when women go shopping or out to a park or something, they don't wear these kind of dresses - that's what I meant.
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