Pastel abayas for spring: mauve, blush and soft blue

Six pastel shades for an abaya

A pastel is a colour mixed with plenty of white; a dusty pastel also has a little grey in it, which makes it calmer and easier to wear in bright daylight. Our pieces on what pastel colours are and muted or dusty colours explain the difference.

• Dusty mauve: a greyed purple-pink. Grown-up and soft, it suits most skin tones and hides marks better than the clearer pastels.
• Blush: a pale, warm pink with a hint of peach. Flattering near the face and lovely with rose gold.
• Lilac: a cool, light purple. It looks crisp in spring light and pairs well with silver and grey.
• Powder blue: a chalky, soft blue. Calm and cool to look at in hot sun, and good with cream or white scarves.
• Mint: a pale, cool green. The most playful of the six, happiest in daytime and with plain accessories.
• Peach: a pale orange-pink. Warm and cheerful, it suits golden skin and gold thread.

What shows through a pale abaya

Light colours are less opaque than dark ones in the same cloth, so a pastel abaya can reveal the outline and colour of what is beneath it in bright sun. Plan the inner layer as part of the outfit: a full-length inner dress in the same pastel, or in a shade near your skin, keeps the colour even from shoulder to hem. An inner dress can be quoted with the abaya so both shades are chosen together, as described in an abaya with a matching inner dress.

Our guide to white and pale abayas has the opacity tests, and lined or unlined abaya weighs up a lining against a separate layer.

Chiffon layers, nida or crepe

Chiffon is the most spring-like of our three abaya fabrics. It floats and catches the breeze, and in a pastel it looks almost like watercolour. A single layer is sheer, though, so it needs the right layer under it, and two layers of chiffon deepen a pastel noticeably, which helps when a shade looks too pale on its own. Chiffon and georgette abayas explains layering.

Nida is the practical choice for a pastel you will wear often. It is light and smooth, resists creasing and shows a pastel as a clean, even colour; what nida fabric is describes how it wears. Crepe is the most opaque of the three and a little heavier, useful for a pastel abaya in cooler weather.

Thread colours for soft shades

Strong yellow gold can overpower a pastel, so gentler metals and pale threads usually work better. For a full list by base colour, see abaya and embroidery colour pairings.

• Rose gold: made for blush and dusty mauve; pink metal on pink cloth looks warm and quiet.
• Cream: a soft contrast on lilac, powder blue and mint, and the base of the Rosebud vine.
• Silver: cool and fresh on lilac, powder blue, mint and pearl grey.
• Pale or champagne gold: for peach and ivory, as in the gold touches of Magnolia.
• Tonal: a shade deeper than the fabric, so the motif shows as a soft pattern rather than a contrast.

Spring in the UK, cooler months in the Gulf

A British spring is cool, bright and changeable. That suits a pastel abaya in nida or crepe worn open over a long-sleeved inner dress, with a light coat on cold mornings. Our UK abaya page explains how delivery and import charges are handled for Britain.

In the Gulf, pastels look fresh through the cooler months from late autumn into spring, at daytime gatherings and weekend family visits. Pale colours also take in less heat from the sun than dark ones, which you notice on warm afternoons in Bahrain or Oman. For ideas by occasion, see Eid outfits and weekends and gatherings.

Keeping pastels clean, and ordering

Pale colours show what a dark abaya hides: make-up around the neckline, grey at the hem, colour rubbed in from jeans or a new handbag. Dusty mauve and pearl grey are the most forgiving; blush, mint and powder blue show the most. Deal with marks before they set, wash pastels away from dark clothes and dry them in the shade so the colour stays even. The step-by-step routines are in how to wash an abaya and pressing and storing abayas.

When you are ready, start from the custom abaya service or ask for a quote for the Rosebud butterfly abaya. Collection designs start from £80, each with a matching scarf, and are made to measure in Pakistan. For pale shades without the colour, see our guide to neutral abayas.