Sunday In A Black Jalabiya Dress

 The jalabiya dress is one dress that in the past I associated with Religion. It is a traditional Arab dress worn by both men and women, pronounced Gellabiya in Egypt.When a woman is seen in a jalabiya, she is automatically a hajiya to me, that’s before I got some lessons on Jalabiya. This dress predates Islam. It’s worn over other clothing but not me o, in this hot Abuja weather. I only have my black camisole and pair of tights in there. The male version of Jalabiya is called Kandura in the United Arab Emirates and they look lovely in white. The Jalabiya dress can be sewn in various styles with varying length of sleeves and distance from the floor.

Although the Kaftans and Jalabiyas have a deep root in the middle East and Asia, in recent years,
they have come to be loved by many including me. It took a lot of convincing by the seller to get me pick this dress because I thought it’s strictly an Islamic attire, not until the lady educated me that now, any woman can wear and even showed me pics of her in her own blue jalabiya dress. I love the regal feel, that very dressy feel like one is going for a very serious event. I just hope it’s not inappropriate for a normal Sunday service. I think occasion appropriate, I don’t think age appropriate, because, any one, any age can wear anything if the occasion is right.

Come to think of it, nothing beats covering up properly in church, just in case you find yourself in the front row facing the preacher.  However, while walking down into the auditorium, I kept telling myself that I hope no one starts looking at me suspiciously o, some people just ignorantly think that suicide bombers wear this type of covered clothing.

I love this traditional type, however, my favorites for now are Moroccan Jalabiyas.

 I wish I can just tell you that what I’m posting here is not how I wanted it. I took pictures with my nicely tied turban and the black piece of jalabiya scarf wrapped around to enable me do this post but behold I open the camera and it reads … NO IMAGES. My curious little girl while trying to take mummy’s pictures just kept clicking on the delete button and wondering bto herself where all the pics have gone. She just confessed when no one could tell why images disappeared and I had to put on the dress again for pics without the scarf cos no energy right now.
Ok,  just found some pics in my phone. I’ll add them now: