Contemporary outer dress and clothing market source use of Middle Eastern women

Contemporary Qatari women's outer dress and clothing market source use were explored using Hamilton's¹ dress as a cultural subsystem metatheory. Data were gathered by interviewing 50 Qatari female nationals. Dependent variables were traditionalism of outer dress worn in public and private situations and clothing information and acquisition sources. Independent variables were demographic characteristics of age, education, socioeconomic status, work status and travel. Analyses included correlations and t-tests. Outer dress was traditional in most public, but less so in private, situations. As age increased, clothing traditionalism increased. The most used market sources were store displays, TV, video, tailors and the suq. Store display use increased with age, while use of video, TV and salespersons increased as education decreased. Women travelled outside Qatar to acquire clothing and when travelling, most women wore non-traditional outer dress. Findings were compared with a study completed in Saudi Arabia,² Qatari women's contemporary outer dress was less traditional and they used both traditional and non-traditional information sources and traditional acquisition sources more than Saudi women.