While we think of women's suits as a product of women entering into the workplace, it's worth remembering that women's suit actually have a much earlier origin.

The first women's suits were outfits for horseback riding and appeared in the mid 17th century. Additionally, women's suits modeled on the designs of men's military wear (but featuring a skirt instead of trousers) were also popular for fancy dress parties and other festive, but not necessarily formal, social occasions at the time.

These suits often featured floor-length skirts that could be buttoned up or draped to make walking and riding easier while also maintaining a woman's modesty.

The suit was not just worn for riding, but also for traveling and any other activity that might be considered challenging. While these suits were significantly more ornate than today's suits for women, they were distinguished by their use of durable fabrics and limited (for the time) trim in an effort to make them more practical than other women's clothes of the era.

Suits took their next step in evolution in the mid-19th century, as practical feminine attire for women became important during and after the American Civil War. By the end of the 19th century, some women had started working in offices, and suits for them, as well as the walking suit for ladies of leisure, became prevalent.

In the 20th century, the suit became fashionable for ladies both in and out of the office. With suits being the dominant look for women in the 1950s and 1960s.

Pants as a part of women's suits did not exist until the 1960s, and even then these suits were considered more casual than skirted suits. It took two decades for such pants suits to gain wide acceptance as office attire.

Today, thanks to the business casual movement of the 1990s, suits are less a stable of both men's and women's wardrobes in most professions. However, a return to structured tailoring and an interest in retro looks has helped revive the suit for women as a fashion statement, if not a practical one.

The idea of seeing a fashion show in Riyadh fascinates me! From what I've heard, Dubai is the shopping capitol of the universe, which is noteworthy, because this is a part of the world where women are expected to cover themselves from head to toe. Dubai Fashion Week would be an excellent change of pace if I could afford the plane tickets and the cost of staying in a hotel room with solid gold toilets.

Dubai Fashion Week will take place from the 5th to 9th of October, 2008 at the Godolphin Ball Room in Jumeirah Emirates Towers, another good reason to visit if you're middling royalty (Jumeirah owns the Essex House in Manhattan, the hotel I got married in, and their service and amenities are completely peerless). Designers that showed in Riyadh at the most recent Fashion Week in March include Amal Murad and Hend Halawani, who design high-end hijab, Arifa Ali, who presented red-carpet worthy draped gowns that reminded me of Rami Kashou's collection at New York Fashion week, Deeya Nanda, whose collection looks like she designs for rock royalty, and Lamia Asudari, whose ideal customer seems to be a hot mom (you know the acronym) with a penchant for science fiction movies.

I love the fact that ancient and modern, Eastern and Western, modest and sexy are all mixed up. It's even better that most of the designers in this masculine-dominated world are women. But my favorite collection for clothes I would actually wear is Charu Parashar, whose fall palette of plum, gold ,grey and periwinkle was so sophisticated it would suit royalty (and it probably will do that, literally).

Ms. Parashar's fall fashion show was clearly influenced by her Indian background and consisted of modern interpretations of classic Indian dress merged with a hippie look featuring flowing skirts, ombre and wallpaper pattern fabric and offbeat accessories. It kind of looks like the teenaged daughter of a Bollywood superstar raided her grandma's suitcase and put together something fabulous. It's so against the perfect stylist aesthetic that I just have to love it. I can't wait to see what she shows for spring!