Navy blue abayas with soft blue irises for work, visits and evenings

01

Navy as a softer dark than black

A navy abaya is one step away from black rather than a break from dark colours. It keeps what makes black so useful: it looks neat, it goes with almost everything and it suits any hour of the day. What it drops is the hardness. In daylight it shows as blue, so it is less severe under the chin, and pale lint and dust are less obvious on it than on black.

It is also easier to dress around. Next to black a pastel scarf can look stark, while navy takes cream, grey, camel, blush and powder blue without any fuss, and maroon or emerald when you want something richer. There are more ideas in what colours go with navy.

The Iris embroidery is low in contrast. Soft blue petals and silver-green stems sit close to the navy, so the pattern is clear at arm’s length and melts into the cloth from across a room. One abaya can therefore cover a whole day, from a morning meeting to a family dinner, without looking overdressed at either end.

02

Ten shapes, and where the irises grow on each

An iris is a tall flower, and these are drawn on long stems, so the motif looks its best wherever it has a long edge to climb. Pick by how much plain navy you want to see.

• Full height, down the front: the kimono, bisht and pleated abayas, with irises down both front edges that finish at the cuffs, around the ends of the wide sleeves or just above the pleated sleeve ends
• Framing the shoulders: the cape abaya traces the edges of its short cape with irises, then carries them down the front and onto the cuffs
• A single spray: the tulip lets a spray fall from one shoulder down the front, with more on its curved petal sleeves; the layered keeps the spray at the shoulder and works more irises into its two-layer sleeves
• Close to the face: the butterfly rings its round neck with irises that carry on around the back, and the bell runs them down the neck opening and onto the flared sleeves
• Mostly plain navy: the tailored keeps them to the shawl collar and cuffs, and the lantern to its stand collar, placket and cuffs

03

Navy for evenings, weddings and Eid

Under warm lamps or in a dim hall, navy drifts towards black, and in a phone photo without flash it can pass for black altogether, which makes it a dark evening choice that is not black itself. Because the thread is lighter than the cloth, the irises still show at a dinner table when the navy around them looks almost black.

For a wedding guest, navy is a sensible colour. It reads clearly as a colour in photographs, and it is neither white nor red, the shades some families keep for the couple. The cape and pleated abayas are the dressiest shapes here, and the bisht, with its full body and irises across the back of the neck, flows as you walk. Our wedding guest abayas set them beside dusty mauve designs, and the wedding guest abaya guide goes through each part of the day.

Silver and pearls pick up the silver-green stems and keep the whole look cool, while gold jewellery warms navy for an Eid morning. The Iris thread itself is soft blue and silver-green. If you want gold embroidery on navy, any of our abaya designs can be made in any colour, so you could ask for the gold scrollwork of our burgundy abayas on navy instead, agreed in your quote.

04

Getting the navy you picture: shade, fabric and screens

These ten are drawn in a deep navy, dark enough to look formal but still plainly blue by day. Navy is a wide family, though. Midnight blue is darker and close to black, a brighter navy shows more blue, and royal blue is vivid enough for a party. Name the blue you want and it is agreed in your written quote before cutting, along with the colour of the scarf. Navy, royal or midnight blue helps you put the difference into words.

Dark blues are among the hardest colours to show on a screen. Some phones push them towards black, others towards a brighter blue, and these pictures are design previews rather than photographs of a finished abaya, so expect a small difference in shade. Describe the colour in words, add a daylight photo of something navy you own, and say if it has to sit beside a particular scarf.

Fabric moves the shade as well. Nida is matte and gives an even, deep navy. Crepe has a fine grainy surface that soaks up light, so the same blue looks a touch darker and richer. Chiffon is light and slightly sheer, so a single layer looks paler and lets whatever is underneath show; a lining solves both. All three cost the same, and nida, crepe or chiffon compares them in more depth.

Prefer silver to soft blue on the irises? The thread colour can be changed, so name the one you want when you request a quote and it is written into your quote.