Check Print Abaya: The Texture Trend Worth Building Into Your Wardrobe

I went looking for a houndstooth abaya this month, the kind of fine woven check you see on a good blazer, and kept landing on something close instead: check print. It turns out check print abaya pieces are already doing the job I wanted houndstooth to do, bringing a tailored, almost menswear texture into a wardrobe full of solid color. Once I started looking at the three check pieces we have right now, I realized they cover three completely different ways to wear the same idea, from office-ready to weekend to a genuine statement piece.

Why Check Print Reads as Considered, Not Casual

A check print does something a solid fabric cannot. It reads as structured even before the cut does any work, because the eye already associates checks with tailoring, with blazers and coats and things built to last a season or two beyond the trend cycle. That is why it photographs so well on an abaya. It borrows credibility from menswear without borrowing anything else. You are not dressing down or dressing up, you are just wearing something that looks like it was chosen on purpose. I think that is the real appeal of check print over a louder pattern, it does the work of a statement piece while still behaving like a neutral underneath everything else in your closet.

Three Check Print Abayas, Three Different Jobs

The Rawa Tailored Check Wrap Abaya is the one built for the office. It has a front-wrap closure and a check pattern fine enough to read as texture rather than print from across a room, which is exactly what you want in a meeting.

Featured Product: The Rawa Tailored Check Wrap Abaya

The Suha Soft Linen Open Front Check Abaya takes the same idea and relaxes it. Open front, soft linen, a looser check that works as a layer over a dress rather than a piece on its own. This is the one I would reach for on a weekend.

Featured Product: The Suha Soft Linen Open Front Check Abaya

And the Lina Orange Check Abaya is the version for someone who wants the texture to actually show. The check here is bolder and the color is warm rather than neutral, so it reads as a statement piece first and a check print second.

Featured Product: The Lina Orange Check Abaya

How I Would Build One Into a Wardrobe That Already Works

Check print does not need a reason to coordinate, it already looks coordinated. I would keep the layer underneath simple, a plain inner dress in cream or black, and let the check carry the whole look. Gold jewelry works here the same way it works with brown, quietly, nothing competing with the pattern. Shoes are the one place I would stay neutral too, a tan or black flat rather than anything with its own pattern, since two prints in one outfit start to compete for attention. If you only buy one check piece this season, start with the Rawa. It is the most versatile of the three and the easiest to build everything else around later, and it is the piece I would wear into an office without a second thought.

Related reading

• 5 Timeless Abayas That Never Go Out of Style
• How to Wear Colour Confidently
• White Abayas: Can You Actually Wear Them Daily?

Check print is the closest thing to a tailored texture that exists in abaya form right now, and it earns its place next to every solid piece already in your closet. The Printed Abayas Collection has all three of these pieces if you want to see how they compare side by side.