Fay Tellaoui Turquoise Abaya

I saw a recent abaya from Australian designer Fay Tellaoui and instantly fell in love with the design and more importantly the colour.


Anyone who regularly reads this blog knows I am an avid abaya lover and wearer, but that all of my abayas tend to be black. I usually don't go for coloured abayas because the ones that stick out in my mind are the atrociously ugly ones I always see when visiting Egypt - mismatched, blind-person-made-these type designs with huge unnecessary pockets, bells and ridiculous zippers in random places that serve no purpose (with slashes of tartan thrown in). They made me want to throw up. This on the other hand I wanted to grab with both hands, swing it around my head and scream "It's mine! It's mine!" like one would in an old 1950's horror flick. You can imagine my delight when Fay messaged me, sending me one over to review. Here is one quick combo pic I took on Instagram when I received it:
I got it within a couple of days, tried it on and loved it even more. At first I was a bit hesitant because most abayas/long dresses I am sent are always custom sized for me and this was one of the first times I have been sent an item that wasn't tailor made to perfection. You see, I always have a problem with length. I'm not Frankenstein tall but at 5'8 pre-made maxi dresses and the like are never adequately long enough. This one was. Huge surprise. Loved it. Not only that but it was a perfect fit, which brings us back to the controversy over the original photo.

The controversy was over the sizing of the piece in the image. The designer very clearly commented multiple times that there was a sizing issue on the day of the photo shoot (the gorgeous model ended up being curvier than expected for the smaller sized abaya sample she had) hence the form fitted appearance. Straight away I knew the remedy was as simple as "buy a bigger size" but unfortunately many people on Facebook are not too good at reading comprehensively and/or lacked common sense, even when another photoshoot image of a much looser version was floating around on Facebook too. Not once did anyone say that this image promoted "proper hijab" (actually the designer stated quite the opposite), yet many people still protested. I understand why some people had an issue over the image, but a lot of people got way too worked up over something they could simply click away from. I knew it was a simple sizing issue and was more than ever determined to prove these closed minded people wrong.

Please take into consideration that at the moment I am 6 months pregnant, so of course the abaya will a lot looser on me in general after I give birth and deflate in pretty much every area I own. I was surprised to find it still comfortably fit my very pregnant figure and wasn't tight at all considering the baby that is hiding underneath that fabric.


Before it arrived I was actually considering getting my sister or a friend to model it because I thought there was no way I could get my pregnant self into the size I ordered. It was genuinely a complete shock to see my ballooning belly fit into it so easily and nicely, with ample room left over. I could probably do a few lunges in it, if my legs knew what lunges were.

This is still the most comfortable abaya I now own. The tactile material is of a stretchy type, yet it is not clingy or thin at all. It gives a very smooth appearance to the body, is extremely comfortable to wear and covers easily from neck to toes. The colour is as vibrant as it is in Fay's photoshoot and perfectly suits the oncoming summer months here in Australia, although I'd be more inclined to wear this on cooler days because the usual 40 degree celcius weather we get here in Perth will make you melt and sweat unless you are wearing tissue paper thin material.

The abaya costs $130 and is available for purchase either from her Melbourne based shop or by contact via email or Fay's Facebook profile. It's well worth the money for the unique design, gorgeous colour and great quality workmanship. Plus it's Australian, so you know it's going to be good ;)

Just a quick word of warning - it is selling out very fast due to the hype over the design via Facebook. Some sizes are completely gone so if you wanted to order I suggest doing so ASAP. Also, Australian clothing sizes run concurrent to UK sizes but are different to US sizing so beware of that if purchasing. You can order via her facebook page that she has just opened up or by emailing: faytellaoui@live.com.au.


What do you think of Fay Tellaoui's turquoise abaya? Would you wear a coloured abaya?