Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Gowns and Winter on the Desert

I wasn't prepared for the winter here in Riyadh. I thought Fred was just exaggerating when he told me before that he used two Korean blankets on winter nights. Now, I realized how true it is and how lonely it was not to have someone to hug on a cold weather like this.

The other night, the temperature fell to -1°C. I usually go home from work at 10 pm and that night, I had to walk briskly from the building to Fred's car because it was shiveringly cold. Brrrrr...I have to endure this cold weather until maybe first week of March.

I think I badly need knitted gloves. I browsed through the fashion magazines for winter fashion collections to check how Arab women here in Saudi dress during this time. Of course, they have their abayas over their clothes but I think that underneath those abayas are fashionable and signature dresses. Having met some Arab women here, I can say that the portrayal of them wearing Dior collections in the Sex and the City 2 movie has some truth in it. I was surprised to see these pages from Layalina Magazine issued on April last year. (April is neither hot or cold here, they say.) The models are donning fashion designers' bridal collection. There is something common with these pics. All models/celebrities seemed to be wearing inner clothes under their gowns and dresses. But they do not. The magazine's layout artist purposely put those inner wear because conservative dress codes of some Arab countries require that women don't expose too much skin, even if it's on print. 

These are bridal collection from known fashion designers.

Gowns as overalls. Despite the inner wear effect,
these Hollywood celebrities still look stunning wearing these.

Just like the models and celebrities above, layering clothes is a must for me now. It is kinda inconvenient but I need to do it to make myself warm. A combination of blouse and pants, an abaya and a coat or jacket is my dress code these days. Better warm than sorry (for the cold), right?

2 comments:

riablahgs said...

First winter... :) Dito naman sa Dubai bearable kasi it does not drop to less than 10 degrees celcius. Pero come March, bearable na yan because it will be the onset of a very brief stint of spring then back to flu season again with the onset of summer.

Enjoy the cold weather while it lasts... Ingat! And wear warm clothing.

Hugs,
Ria c

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Beth said...

@Ria: Hi Ria, I thought it was summer na nung nagsandstorm dito the other day, but di pa pala, cold pa din! Yes, I'm enjoying the chilly air while it lasts! :)