All store mannequins in stores in Saudi Arabia are headless. When out in public, Saudi women must wear floor length loose-fitting black cloaks called abayas over their normal clothing and cover their heads with scarves called hijab. In advertising, on product packaging, and in magazines, women's faces and skin are often marked out with black markers. It seems to be perfectly all right though for store mannequins to wear sexy clothing and show off their cleavage, arms and legs, even though I feel it sends a confusing mixed message.
Be sure to visit
OUR WORLD TUESDAY, where family-friendly bloggers share a unique glimpse into what life is like all around our ever-amazing planet.
abayas is just a part of Customs and traditions of Saudi Arabia and not part of the religion i know Saudis are very strict on this subject but is their another country forcing women to wears them other than the kingdom ? even in the region non of the gulf countries are strict about this subject
ReplyDeleteHi Mohamed - Abayas are actually very new to Saudi Arabia and were not worn until 30-50 years ago. Saudi women's outer wear used to manage to be modest but at the same time colorful and individual. Saudi Arabia and other ME countries have turned women's outer wear into a type of uniform where no one can express her own individuality. I find this very sad.
DeleteSo many contradictions. I just don't get t.
ReplyDeleteMe either, Gaelyn - me either.
DeleteIt all looks strange to me.
ReplyDeleteHi Jerry - KSA is definitely a confusing place to live. So many things here don't make sense and are very inconsistent.
DeleteWhen males in the US comment on the physical characteristics of women, they don't usually discuss faces. (In all fairness to Islam, womens garments are not supposed to show the figure.)
ReplyDeleteWhy they show mannequins at all is something I cannot figure out.
Hi Jerry - The headless mannequin is supposedly a religious edict enforced here to eliminate idol worship. As long as the figure is not in its complete form, then they think no one would worship it. I personally have never heard of anyone in the world worshiping a store mannequin, headless or not. Seeing little headless child mannequins makes me feel sad and it disturbs me.
Delete