During fashion week in France last week, not only were all the latest haute couture fashions on display, but so were two black abayas, made by a Paris designer, created with the Saudi market in mind.

As France — home to Europe’s largest Muslim population - considers banning full facial veils such as the niqab and the burqa [abaya], Reuters reports, the country is still a major exporter of couture abayas. Burqas are loose-fitting robes that cover women completely from head to toe, usually with mesh over the eyes. France banned the donning of head scarves in schools in 2004.

"In our country, we cannot accept that women be prisoners behind a screen, cut off from all social life, deprived of all identity," French President Nicolas Sarkozy said this month, while announcing plans for the ban. "The burqa is not a religious sign; it’s a sign of subservience, a sign of debasement."

Fashion designers say they’re simply making another garment to be proud of. But to many, the garments represent oppression of women and are items forced upon them in Muslim fundamentalist countries. Many Muslim women in France say they get insulted and called a "terrorist" if they wear the veil voluntarily around town. Some of their families try to dissuade them from wearing it in public out of fear of being a target of verbal or physical attacks.

"The real reason for this is Islamophobia," said Ikram Es-Salhi, a 20-year-old student. "There are a lot more sisters who are wearing the veil now. If the niqab is banned, they will just stay at home or emigrate to the U.S., to Britain, to Morocco."

You can read the whole controversial story about the burqa in France here. You can be sure the world will be watching France as it moves forward on this ban. What do you think of countries banning certain clothing?