is it frowned upon in doha to wear local clothing
By Buddyguy10 •
hello i am moving to doha in days and would like to purchase a thobe and ghutra . would the locals take offence to this ?
hello i am moving to doha in days and would like to purchase a thobe and ghutra . would the locals take offence to this ?
Lots of people who are not Qataris wear traditional Qatari dress here in Doha. It is often difficult to tell who is a local and who is not when there are so many Saudi, Omanis, Emiratis, Egyptians, Syrians, Lebanese and others wearing traditional clothing that is either the same as, or very similar to the Qatari traditional dress.
I personally like to wear Indian or Pakistani style clothing, loose fitting cotton but find that this is something that does attract stares in public. I would not wear Qatari traditional dress mainly because its a bit impractical, the headgear is about as sensible and useful as a tie and takes more maintenance!
When I came here my Qatari friends bought me the 'national gear', and they loved it, when I wore it. They wanted to make me one of them.
Anyone in a thobe along with the traditional headgear is considered to be a local without a doubt. So donning one means you are posing to be someone you are not. Although I am not aware of any rule that prevents one from donning the whole attire or the locals taking offense on that. However a man in a thobe without the accompanying headgear could be any national as a convention.
If you're not an Arab man, it may not be considered apropos - unlike the ladies, who can wear abayas without giving anyone offence.
If you are a white westerner, I would reconsider wearing it in public. You may certainly buy the clothing, that's not a problem for anyone.
no problem at all you can wear what you like
no body cares
a lot of foreigners here every body wear his local or favorite clothing