Burqua vs Abaya

[randomdream]

Scene: present day central Texas, hot spring day at a farmer's market. A yuppie woman is confronted with a young lady dressed in striking purple Muslim clothing

Comments

[tylik]

You might search on "hijab", being a general term for appropriate Islamic dress for women, and the name of the country she's from. Both what it looks like and what it's called is very culture specific.

[randomdream]

The only problem is that I don't know the name of the country she's from. I can write her as a character from Saudi to Iraq, I don't mind either way--I just was so struck by the particular physical appearance. I want to get that right, but I don't know where she would be from. Does that make sense?

I shall edit the original post to clarify. Thank you!

[robling_t]

My brain served up the word "chador", and Googling that does turn up some image results that are purple, if that helps...

[melyanna]

I think possibly what you're thinking of the niqab, which can be very long, but it is a separate garment. That's the one with the narrow slit for the eyes, though I believe some leave upper portion of the face uncovered.

If the girl you saw was wearing a matching niqab and other garment, and you weren't very close to her, it could easily have looked like a single garment.

[threnody]

Agreed. Niqab is the only garment I know of that hides the face but not the eyes. They're actually pretty niftily built; a woman I babysat for was stationed in Saudi with her Army husband, so I got to check out hers up close and personal.

[enismirdal]

Agreed on niqab. A reasonable number of girls on our campus wear the niqab.

[notadate]

I think what you're looking for is an abaya combined with a niqab. FWIW, Wikipedia says the words burqua and niqab are used interchangeably.

Maybe try this list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_types_of_sartorial_hijab

[dedbutdrmng]

In Afghanistan I think it's called a Chadri. This is one garment though it has mesh to cover the eyes.