move over Barbie!

When I was at the store looking for a doll to buy Ivy for her birthday, I saw these:

Meet Jamila, her husband Jamil, her friends Sunayana and Kareema (I believe Sunayana is from India and Kareema from Ethiopia). I thought they were cute and worth posting to the blog since multiple people have asked about how everyone dresses here. I'm more comfortable taking a picture of dolls than real people. If you're curious (because I was), these dolls are actual knock off's of Fulla who is the "Barbie of the Middle East".

She comes wearing variety of modest "indoor clothes" and from what I saw, often comes with an abaya and head scarf. They even sell Fulla brand prayer shawls and prayer rugs for little girls. I like her, she has many friends, a couple children, she's stylish, modest, and her signature color appears to be pink!

As to the question of what people wear here- it's similar to the dolls up above, but I also see the "normal" clothes that Barbie is wearing in your toy store (although, I haven't seen anyone prancing around in an evening gown). I've seen everything from the Muslim women in full veil, head scarf, and abaya to Indian women in their saris to western women in tank tops and short shorts. No clothing standard is enforced (by the government anyway) and I like to think that many of the Muslim women here dress the way they do because of the love they have for their beliefs and their culture. I respect it a lot.

I don't know a lot of the "norms" as to when and where the women take off their coverings or at what age they start wearing the traditional clothing. I did see a handful of women at the beach the other night swimming in the water with their full black abaya and scarf. They appeared to be having a blast, I might add. AND, last night there was a woman on the treadmill next to me working out while wearing a colorful head scarf, long sleeves and long pants (covering everything but her hands and face).

And back to the dolls, this is from Fulla's website. I think I'll pick one up for Ivy someday. Want one for your little girl?