Transposing appropriation as market opportunity and cultural reclamation: mobilizing abaya-led design for travel

When thinking about how fashion “travels”, the design journey is often considered to commence in the “west” and arrives at other destinations via processes of mimicry. Yet, when reverse appropriation by exoticization of familiar dress-codes targets peripheral fashion system, such as Dolce and Gabbana’s Abaya and Shayla Collection, this is applauded as inclusivity.

I investigate the impact of circulating fashion flows by examining the concept of “travelwear” developed by Gulf designers to mobilize local cultural tastes in abaya-led design. In one circularity, fashionizing “traditions” throws into question cultural authenticity. The replacement of black, diaphanous cut and opulently embellished Gulf abayas with all-colored, minimalist-inspired “coat” styles and coordinating separates has broken binarized dress practices of “outer-layer-local, under-layer-global” previously worn by Gulf consumers. New formats of commodification, whether this is a trench coat, kimono or “throw-on”, require designers to retranslate elements of external fashion trends whilst resiliently retaining or modifying distinctive elements of their own dress systems and replacing aspects deemed undesirable. The results, I argue, are not hybrid imitations but form new modes of dressing that resonate cultural ownership through design, manufacture, distribution and consumption practices. Designing for practical, stylish travel wardrobes broadens appeal for Muslim women consumers outside the region. Therefore, a secondary consideration is how travelwear design aesthetics circulate in an intra-Muslim alternative fashion system. This paper interrogates the complexities of fashion’s “here and there” and the re-branding of cultural embodiment by designers for modest travelwear.