Yes!!!  For a month I was able to dress freely while on Phiippine vacation.  It was 30 days off in wearing abaya.   For information, abaya is a loosely black robe worn by Muslim women often matched with headscarf.   We are not exempted from wearing it since, we are based in SAudi Arabia.  It is a garment worn to hide the ladies figure and those who wanted to hide their full figure must be very happy about it.    I had resentment on my first time to use it but on the long run, I saw the advantage  of wearing one like it saves us from buying fashionable clothes knowing that it will only be hidden underneath that black robe.  So, nowadays abayas are keeping up with fashion, embroidered, appliqued and colorful because it serves as the primary garment.  Unlike before, it is a simple black robe, drab and uninteresting.  However, the downside is that you tend not to be figure conscious for you are wearing abayas anyway.  And you got used to wearing one that sometimes it is too late to find out that you have gained weight and will regret for the added pounds  on occassion that you need to take off your abayas. I realized that during my last swimming get together with my friends. 

Hmmmm. I am back now to wearing one.   No choice actually!