PhotoDude.com

Mon. Nov 11, 2002

Frederick's of Riyadh

Frederick’s of Riyadh – I’m not a big fan of Maureen Dowd … at all … but she’s got some interesting anecdotes from her trip to Saudi Arabia: "On Wednesday at 11:30 p.m., I walked to the mall connected to my hotel to verify that there is a ’women only’ lingerie section in Harvey Nichols [...] The three-story mall was so chockablock with designer stilettos, bondage boots, transparent blouses and glittering gowns with plunging necklines that it would have made Las Vegas blush."

"I felt drab, dressed in black to suit Saudi standards with a scarf over my hair, a long skirt, a sweater over a T-shirt and flats. An earlier outing with a pink skirt had caused my Ministry of Information minder to bark: ’Get your abaya! They’ll kill you!’ [...] Suddenly, four men bore down on us, two in white robes, one in a brown policeman’s uniform and one in a floor-length brown A-line skirt (not a good look). They pointed to my neck and hips, and the embarrassed diplomat explained that I had been busted by the vice squad."

" ’They say they can see the outline of your body,’ he translated. ’They say they welcome you to the mall, which is a sign of our modernity, but that we are also proud of our tradition and faith, and you must respect that.’ The police took my passport and began making notes about the crime, oblivious to the irony of detaining me in front of the window of another lingerie shop displaying a short lacy red slip."