Where to Buy an Abaya in Dubai 2026: Shops and Prices

Sellers use abaya, kaftan, jalabiya and prayer dress as if they meant the same thing, and they do not. Here is what you are actually buying, what it costs across every tier of the market, and the one measurement to get right before you order online.

What an abaya actually is, and what it is not

Start with the word itself. Traditionally, an abaya is an outer cloak: it goes over what you are already wearing when you leave the house. The traditional Gulf cut is close to a double square, roughly 1.5 m each way, with a front opening and two side slits for the hands.

Modern designs have moved on. The Zay Initiative, a foundation that documents Arab dress, wrote in 2019 that the abaya has become an outfit in its own right, and many pieces sold today are cut to be worn that way. So a listing that shows one styled as a complete outfit is not necessarily mislabelled. Read the description to see how it is cut and what you would wear with it.

Two consequences worth spelling out. A Moroccan djellaba sold online as a men’s abaya is neither an abaya nor Emirati dress. And a prayer dress is made for prayer, not for a day at the mall, however the listing is titled.

On fabric, the default is nida, which is not a fibre at all but a trade name for a synthetic, generally polyester or a polyester blend. Labels selling in Dubai now use linen, crepe and silk as well, and, as The Zay Initiative noted in 2019, women had in recent years started moving away from all-black abayas. Cut names like butterfly, kimono or A-line are retail vocabulary with no standard definition behind them, so judge the garment in your hands rather than the word on the tag.

What it costs in Dubai

Every figure below was read on 16 September 2026. Several of these retailers showed reduced prices when we checked (Namshi, You Design DXB with a 15% banner, Hanayen with clearance pieces, and a few pieces at Habayeb), so read the low end as promotional rather than as a catalogue price.

Where to buy

Four routes, and they are genuinely different experiences rather than four price tiers of the same thing.

The Dubai Mall

The mall’s own store directory lists five abaya retailers: Habayeb, Hanayen, Hareer and Mauzan on the Second Floor, and Shaira on the First. Galeries Lafayette and Bloomingdale’s, both department stores on the Ground Floor, are worth a look for designer pieces. Shops open 10:00 to 23:00 Monday to Thursday and 10:00 to midnight Friday to Sunday. Prices are marked, and with four of the five abaya houses on one floor, you can compare them in a single visit.

Deira and the older districts

Naif Souk on Naif Street is a two-storey indoor market that Visit Dubai says is popular with local women for its abayas, and its shops also sell sheilas, jalabiyas and kandooras. The nearest metro stop is Baniyas Square on the Green Line, and Visit Dubai gives the walk as about six minutes in its guide text and 14 minutes in its FAQ. Al Ghurair Centre, which Visit Dubai puts about a 20-minute walk away, is a mall whose official directory lists women’s fashion stores. The souk is the place to bargain, and Visit Dubai itself tells shoppers to.

Abaya Mall, and having one made

Abaya Mall in Mirdif is known for its abaya shops and has tailoring shops inside. It opens Saturday to Thursday 10:00 to 22:00 and Friday 16:00 to 22:00. For made-to-measure, go where the fabric is. At the Textile Souk in Bur Dubai, Visit Dubai says it is easy to find a skilled tailor who will make a garment from the material you choose, and Satwa, whose main strip is Al Dhiyafah Street, has shops for both textiles and tailoring.

Online, from inside the UAE

Ounass, Namshi, noon, Amazon.ae and AIVI all deliver here. AIVI catches people out: it is the former 6thStreet, renamed in summer 2026 (the app’s 18 July 2026 update already announced the new name), so old links now redirect. Return windows differ and they matter. Ounass gives 30 days with free returns, as long as the item is unused, unaltered and still has its tags. Amazon.ae gives 30 days on clothing. Namshi gives 14, and if the security tag is removed or damaged, it can cut your refund by up to 30% of the price you paid.

Buying online without getting it wrong

The trap is not the price, it is the length. On one listing we checked, sizes added width and then stopped adding length. So if you are tall, going up a size may not make the garment any longer, and if you are short, even the smallest size may pool on the floor. Many labels here size by length instead. Basic Abaya sells one free width in lengths from 49 to 60 inches, and You Design DXB labels its sizes Medium-54, Large-56 and XL-58. CAS Abaya asks for a length in inches as well as a letter size on almost all of its abayas.

If you do not want an abaya

Plenty of readers arrive here wanting something to cover up in, not a Gulf outer cloak. A common substitute is a prayer dress, which is a different garment doing a different job: one or two pieces with the headcovering attached, designed to be pulled on over your clothes for prayer, for a mosque visit, or for Umrah. It is made for prayer rather than for a day at the mall, and we would rather say so than sell you the wrong thing.

If that is what you actually want, and you are buying before you fly rather than after you land, these are worth a look.

Choosing for the occasion

For summer. A study published in Nature in 1980 found that a Bedouin in the desert gains the same amount of heat in a black robe as in a white one. The researchers reported that the black robes absorbed 2.5 times as much solar radiation, yet the extra heat was lost before it reached the skin. They put this down to air moving under the robe, a bellows or chimney effect, or to some process they had not pinned down. So colour matters less than you might expect. Buy loose, so air can move, and buy light.

For a mosque visit. At Jumeirah Mosque, which runs public visits, you do not need to buy anything. It asks women to cover their arms, legs and hair, provides abayas and sheilas for visitors who need them, and states that all garments are hygienically cleaned and maintained. Visit Dubai says only some mosques let visitors borrow abayas and advises women to carry a headscarf, so take one of your own.

For Umrah. There is no fixed pilgrim garment for women. Nusuk, the official Saudi Hajj and Umrah platform, says wearing the ihram attire is mandatory for men, while women can wear regular clothing.

For a wedding or Eid. Traditionally, Emirati women wear the thawb, an ornate over-dress, for religious celebrations and weddings, with an abaya over it in public. So buy a dress for the occasion and keep the abaya as the outer layer.

For children. The abaya is not part of the UAE public school uniform, and the Ministry of Education’s 2026-2027 guide does not include one. Public schools do allow older girls, in Cycle 3 (Grades 9 to 12), to wear a black, white or navy blue shayla with the approved uniform.