Are abayas worn as a cultural or religious garment?

Hello,
Actually they wear Abaya for both reasons religion and and cultural. In the same time women are forced to wear it anyway because of the country laws.

When they travel aborad some women would still wear Abaya and some other would take it off.

Yea for both. It depends on the woman's intention. If it is to follow the command of her Lord and be known as a chaste woman in public, then she would never take it off no matter where she traveled. These are the ones who wear it properly ie, it properly covers her. As for others, they do it for cultural reasons or family reasons or fashion, etc... and the list goes on. Those, you can even see from how they wear it (by it having many decorations on it or how loosely they wear it) that they don't care about modesty, just culture or fashion.

Thank you for the asnwers so far. ^^ How common for Saudis would you say is it to wear it for other than religious reasons?

menotyou wrote:

Thank you for the asnwers so far. ^^ How common for Saudis would you say is it to wear it for other than religious reasons?

Abayas has become a fashion these days, I seriously find the new colorful ones as curtain and drapes.

I'd say less than 50 % wear it for religious reasons.

And to my surprise, these days I have seen lots of them wearing abayas of different colors, which wasn't a Usual practice here in Riyadh !!