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Fashion in Iran

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Laleh-Zar street, Tehran, before 1979 Revolution.

Fashion in Iran is divided into several historical periods. The exact date of the emergence of weaving in Iran is not yet known, but it is likely to coincide with the emergence of civilization. Clothing in Iran is mentioned in Persian mythology. Ferdowsi and many historians have considered Keyumars to be the inventor of the use of animals' skin and hair as clothing. Some historians have also mentioned Hushang as the first inventor of the use of living skins as clothing. Ferdowsi considers Tahmuras to be a kind of textile initiator in Iran. There are historical discoveries in northern Iran from about 6,000 BC that refer to wool weaving at the time. Other discoveries in central Iran dating back to 4200 BC have shown that the animals' skin has not been the only clothing worn on the Iranian plateau since those years. The clothing of ancient Iran took an advanced form, and the fabric and color of clothing became very important at that time. Depending on the social status, eminence, climate of the region and the season, Persian clothing during the Achaemenian period took various forms. The philosophy used in this clothing, in addition to being functional, also had an aesthetic role.

History

Fashion in Iran is divided into several historical periods. The exact date of the emergence of weaving in Iran is not yet known, but it is likely to coincide with the emergence of civilization. Clothing in Iran is mentioned in Persian mythology. Ferdowsi and many historians have considered Keyumars to be the inventor of the use of animals' skin and hair as clothing. Some historians have also mentioned Hushang as the first inventor of the use of living skins as clothing. Ferdowsi considers Tahmuras to be a kind of textile initiator in Iran.[1] There are historical discoveries in northern Iran from about 6,000 BC that refer to wool weaving at the time. Other discoveries in central Iran dating back to 4200 BC have shown that the animals' skin has not been the only clothing worn on the Iranian plateau since those years. The clothing of ancient Iran took an advanced form, and the fabric and color of clothing became very important at that time. Depending on the social status, eminence, climate of the region and the season, Persian clothing during the Achaemenian period took various forms. The philosophy used in this clothing, in addition to being functional, also had an aesthetic role.[1]

Women's fashion

See also: Women in Iran
Iranian women's clothing (High end) before the 1979 revolution.

Attempts at changing dress norms (and perspectives toward it) occurred in mid-1930s when pro-Western ruler Reza Shah issued a decree banning all veils.[2][3][4][5][6] Many types of male traditional clothing were also banned.[7][8][9] Western historians state that this would have been a progressive step if women had indeed chosen to do it themselves, but instead this ban humiliated and alienated many Iranian women,[10][11][12][4] since its effect was comparable to the hypothetical situation in which the European women had suddenly been ordered to go out topless into the street.[10][7][8][9]

A far larger escalation of violence occurred in the summer of 1935 when Reza Shah ordered all men to wear European-style bowler hat, which was Western par excellence. This provoked massive non-violent demonstrations in July in the city of Mashhad.[12][3][5][7][8][9][13] This decision by Reza Shah was criticized even by British consul in Tehran.[14] Later, official measures relaxed slightly under next ruler and wearing of the headscarf or chador was no longer an offence, but for his regime it became a significant hindrance to climbing the social ladder as it was considered a badge of backwardness and an indicator of being a member of the lower class.[10]

A few years prior to the Iranian revolution, a tendency towards questioning the relevance of Eurocentric gender roles as the model for Iranian society gained much ground among university students, and this sentiment was manifested in street demonstrations where many women from the non-veiled middle classes put on the veil[2][10][3][15][16] and symbolically rejected the gender ideology of Pahlavi regime and its aggressive deculturalization.[2][10][3][4][16] Wearing of headscarf and chador was one of main symbols of the 1979 revolution,[3][4][17][16] Wearing headscarves and chadors was used as a significant populist tool and Iranian veiled women played an important rule in the revolution's victory.[10][4][6] Since hijab was legally imposed on all Iranian women in 1984,[16] post revolutionary Iranian women's fashion has seen Iranian women attempt to work within the narrow confines of the Islamic modesty code, with the typical attire gradually evolving from the standard black chador to a rousari (simple headscarf) combined with other colorful elements of clothing.[11][13]

Before the Iranian Islamic Revolution of 1979 (during the reign of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran), the hijab was not compulsory, though some Iranian women during this period wore headscarfs or chador.[18][19]

In the Islamic law of Iran imposed shortly after the 1979 revolution, article 638 of 5th book of Islamic Penal Code (called Sanctions and deterrent penalties) women who do not wear a hijab may be imprisoned from ten days to two months, and/or required to pay fines from 50,000 up to 500,000 rials.[20] Fines are recalculated in the courts to index for inflation.

Article 639 of the same book says, two types of people shall be sentenced one year to ten years' imprisonment; first a person who establishes or directs a place of immorality or prostitution, second, a person who facilitates or encourages people to commit immorality or prostitution.[21]

Agencies and Models

There is a range of fashion models from Iran (and Iranian-born) that made it to a high-level fame, such as Nazanin Afshin-Jam, Farzan Athari, Sahar Biniaz, Mahlagha Jaberi, Mandana Karimi, Aylar Lie, Leyla Milani, Elnaaz Norouzi, Shermine Shahrivar and Sadaf Taherian.

By year

  • 1970s
    1970s
  • 1972
    1972
  • 1972
    1972
  • 2005
    2005
  • 2005
    2005
  • 2015
    2015

See also

References

  1. ^ a b پوشاک در ایران باستان، فریدون پوربهمن/ت: هاجر ضیاء سیکارودی، امیرکبیر. 2007. pp. 24, 25, 57.
  2. ^ a b c Hoodfar, Homa (fall 1993). The Veil in Their Minds and On Our Heads: The Persistence of Colonial Images of Muslim Women, Resources for feminist research (RFR) / Documentation sur la recherche féministe (DRF), Vol. 22, n. 3/4, pp. 5–18, Toronto: Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto (OISE), ISSN 0707-8412
  3. ^ a b c d e Milani, Farzaneh (1992). Veils and Words: The Emerging Voices of Iranian Women Writers, Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press, pp. 19, 34–37, ISBN 9780815602668
  4. ^ a b c d e Paidar, Parvin (1995): Women and the Political Process in Twentieth-Century Iran, Cambridge Middle East studies, Vol. 1, Cambridge, UK; New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 106–107, 214–215, 218–220, ISBN 9780521473408
  5. ^ a b Majd, Mohammad Gholi (2001). Great Britain and Reza Shah: The Plunder of Iran, 1921–1941, Gainesville: University Press of Florida, pp. 209–13, 217–218, ISBN 9780813021119
  6. ^ a b Curtis, Glenn E.; Hooglund, Eric (2008). Iran: A Country Study, 5th ed, Area handbook series, Washington, DC: Federal Research Division, Library of Congress, pp. 28, 116–117, ISBN 9780844411873
  7. ^ a b c Katouzian, Homa (2003). "2. Riza Shah's Political Legitimacy and Social Base, 1921–1941" in Cronin, Stephanie: The Making of Modern Iran: State and Society under Riza Shah, 1921–1941, pp. 15–37, London; New York: Routledge; Taylor & Francis, ISBN 9780415302845
  8. ^ a b c Katouzian, Homa (2004). "1. State and Society under Reza Shah" in Atabaki, Touraj; Zürcher, Erik-Jan: Men of Order: Authoritarian Modernisation in Turkey and Iran, 1918–1942, pp. 13–43, London; New York: I.B. Tauris, ISBN 9781860644269
  9. ^ a b c Katouzian, Homa (2006). State and Society in Iran: The Eclipse of the Qajars and the Emergence of the Pahlavis, 2nd ed, Library of modern Middle East studies, Vol. 28, London; New York: I.B. Tauris, pp. 33–34, 335–336, ISBN 9781845112721
  10. ^ a b c d e f El Guindi, Fadwa (1999). Veil: Modesty, Privacy and Resistance, Oxford; New York: Berg Publishers; Bloomsbury Academic, pp. 3, 13–16, 130, 174–176, ISBN 9781859739242
  11. ^ a b Heath, Jennifer (2008). The Veil: Women Writers on Its History, Lore, and Politics, Berkeley; Los Angeles: University of California Press, pp. 66, 252–253, 256, 260, ISBN 9780520255180
  12. ^ a b Chehabi, Houchang Esfandiar (2003): "11. The Banning of the Veil and Its Consequences" in Cronin, Stephanie: The Making of Modern Iran: State and Society under Riza Shah, 1921–1941, pp. 203–221, London; New York: Routledge; Taylor & Francis, ISBN 9780415302845
  13. ^ a b Beeman, William Orman (2008). The Great Satan vs. the Mad Mullahs: How the United States and Iran Demonize Each Other, 2nd ed, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 108, 152, ISBN 9780226041476
  14. ^ Abrahamian, Ervand (2008). A History of Modern Iran, Cambridge, UK; New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 84, 94–95, ISBN 9780521528917
  15. ^ Gheiby, Bijan; Russell, James R.; Algar, Hamid (1990). "Čādor (2)" in Yarshater, Ehsan: Encyclopædia Iranica, Vol. IV, Fasc. 6, pp. 609–611, London; New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul, ISBN 9780710091321
  16. ^ a b c d Ramezani, Reza (spring 2007). Hijab dar Iran az Enqelab-e Eslami ta payan Jang-e Tahmili [Hijab in Iran from the Islamic Revolution to the end of the Imposed war] (Persian), Faslnamah-e Takhassusi-ye Banuvan-e Shi’ah [Quarterly Journal of Shiite Women] 11, Qom: Muassasah-e Shi’ah Shinasi, pp. 251-300, ISSN 1735-4730
  17. ^ Ramezani, Reza (2008). Hijab dar Iran, dar doure-ye Pahlavi-ye dovvom [Hijab in Iran, the second Pahlavi era] (Persian), Faslnamah-e Takhassusi-ye Banuvan-e Shi’ah [Quarterly Journal of Shiite Women], Qom: Muassasah-e Shi’ah Shinasi, ISSN 1735-4730
  18. ^ El Guindi, Fadwa (1999). Veil: Modesty, Privacy and Resistance. Oxford; New York: Berg Publishers; Bloomsbury Academic. pp. 3, 13–16, 130, 174–176. ISBN 9781859739242.
  19. ^ Abrahamian, Ervand (2008). A History of Modern Iran. Cambridge, UK; New York: Cambridge University Press. pp. 84, 94–95. ISBN 9780521528917.
  20. ^ "638". Book #5 of the Islamic Penal Code (Sanctions and deterrent penalties) (in Persian).
  21. ^ "639". Book #5 of the Islamic Penal Code (Sanctions and deterrent penalties) (in Persian).
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