France recently passed a ban on wearing abayas — the full-length, baggy robe that, like the hijab, is considered to be an outward and visible sign of religion, and thus violates the state’s principle of laicité. A Muslim girl has now called her abaya a “kimono” — a sleight of word designed to make it avoid the ban — and is suing the French state for the right to wear it. More on this attempt to get around the abaya ban can be found here: “Muslim girl banned from school for kimono sues France in UN court,