Appearances Matter or Dress Locally Part 2

I recently had this conversation with my Iranian born but American raised co-worker about dressing in Iran.  Even though she grew up in an Iranian household she was raised completely in an American environment. When I told her I’d been to Iran we had a long discussion about the dress code and appearances. So I just wanted to share my and her experiences again and emphases some points I outlined in my previous post.

-Yes, you have to wear a veil. Make sure you are dressed “islamically” before getting off the plane.

-Yes, you have to cover your neck, shoulders and make sure your “manto” or  tunic goes lower your knees.

Scenario 1: I personally was stopped by the police once in Iran because my tunic wasn’t long enough. After looking at my passport they let me go under the condition that I would get a longer tunic.

Scenario 2: As I was entering a very busy metro station in Tehran I got hit by a police officer with a baton. I was more shocked than hurt. He was  walking around the station slightly hitting the women who were passing by and screaming at them ” Rosarit-o dorost kon” (Fix your headscarf). I know it may sound and look humorous but , frankly, I didn’t feel this way at the time.

Bad headscarf habits are officially called “badhejabi” in Iran

– Yes, no one is allowed to wear a “crazy”  (inappropriate ) type of haircut, and I am talking about men.

Scenario: I was hanging out with a guy who had a tiny mohawk. Actually it was so tiny that I didn’t think it would count as a mohawk. But the guy thought differently, he wouldn’t take his cap off outside because he was afraid he might be stopped by the police. Believe me he didn’t imaging things he got busted once or twice before.

– Yes, boys are not allowed to pluck their eyebrows.

Scenario: The same guy again. This time he was telling me a story from his school days. Once he showed up at school with plucked eyebrows . This resulted in a 2 week suspension from attending classes. His photo was also place in the school hallway as a warning for others.

– Yes, many Iranian women have a nose job done.

My coworker confirmed that her cousin had her nose fixed. Iranians say jokingly that among other things a father is supposed to do for his daughter is to pay for her nose job.

Little Observation

Happy Nowruz! Freer and Sackler Gallery Celebration

Haft Seen

Haji Firooz

 

Haft Seen Must-haves:

Seeb – apples as a symbol of fertility and beauty

Sonbol – hyacinth for its tender fragrance

Serkeh – vinegar as a symbol of immortality

Seer – garlic as a symbol of  long and healthy life

Samanoo – wheat sprout pudding to make life sweeter

Sekkeh – coins for wealth

Senjed – wild olives as a symbole of love

Sabzeh – wheat, barley sprouts symbolizing rebirth

Mahi-e Talaee – gold fish

Qoran – holy book of Islam

Aeeneh – mirror

Divan-e Hafez – love poems by Hafez

Sham’ – candels

 

Happy 1392 Iran! 😉

Argo: looking at the history to move forward

[Iranian] people respect all the cultures and civilizations and despise hostility and resentment’

Asqar Farhadi

While the White House is preoccupied with Iranian nuclear threat and the European Union continues to impose all kinds of sanctions the Academy Award for the first time in history officially acknowledges the beauty and depth of Iranian cinema by giving Asqar Farhadi the best foreign film award for ‘Separation’. Perfect timing! And though both the Academy and A.Farhadi point out that they strive to brush off the ‘political dust’ from the works of art and see beyond political matters I don’t think it’s really so.

Is the cinema indeed that agnostic about politics? For the past decade different filmmakers approached Iranian topic from different angles – they all tried to conjure up an idea of Iran which is hard for a country as alienated as this one. This year in continuation to Iranian theme Ben Affleck presents his work Argo. When I’ve lined up this movie with the other movies about Iran made in the US such as ‘300’ and ‘The stoning of Soraya M’ ‘Argo’ clearly stood out for me. Coincidences aside – Michelle Obama announces the best picture winner this year and it happens to be ‘Argo’. I can see a political stance behind it (laugh at me if you want, again perfect timing for the movie to come out and to get the highest cinematic award in the United States).

Seems like the movie has it all. It’s funny, it has a historical background, a lot of action and suspense, celebrated actors as well – it makes up a Hollywood success. Let’s dig a bit deeper. First things first, this film is not a documentary and for that reason exaggerates some facts though it aspires to portray the reality (that’s why the actual photographs are shown at the end of the movie). Secondly, Iranian hostage crisis still is a huge wound on Iranian-American relations that won’t heal, it set its boundaries and limitations. It was shocking, unexpected, brutal… The United States was stabbed in the back, the trust was broken, and the bound between the two countries was cut. During the crisis and after it Iranians living in the US unwillingly became ‘criminals’ and were discriminated against. Many of them were afraid to reveal their national identity saying they were Turkish or somebody else.

The movie makes us feel the American tragedy with all our body, we want to escape from Iran of that time, break free from the regime.

But what about the natives? The ones that didn’t have the opportunity to escape? The wheel of revolution in any country when set to motion can’t really be stopped eradicating anyone who happens to be in its way. The grim grip of the Iranian Revolution wasn’t looser on the Iranians but the film doesn’t touch upon this part. At the beginning we see a cartoonish version of Iranian revolution that reminded me of Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis. May be it was the right way to go: that’s may be how it all appeared from a distance.

That distance again, not only in time and space but also in perception.

Accepting his award, Ben Affleck thanked Iranian people who as he put it ‘are living in terrible circumstances right now’. The good news is the US is trying to show Iranian people their support through cinema. I hope I haven’t misinterpreted the message which to my mind is:”we are open and we want to understand”. I’d like to think that revisiting the story of the hostage crisis will help the US to move forward.

Reviving Iranian ‘Vogue’

There was a time when…

Iran was a Fashion Mecca of the Middle East

There was a time when…

Iranian women dressed according to the latest Paris fashion trends

There was a time when…

Iranian cinemas showed Western movies

There was a time when…

There ruled a King and his beautiful Queen in Iran

Vogue

These day are gone… But pictures are here to stay

I couldn’t wait to share these wonderful collection of photos made in December 1969 by Vogue photographer Henry Clarke. You will find more pics here and here.

Isfahan, 1969

Henry Clarke photographed his models in Tehran, Isfahan, Shiraz and ancient ruins of Pasargad and Persepolis. Just by looking at this beautiful shots don’t you feel like this is kind of what it was meant to be?

The history of Iranian Vogue finished after 1979  for the country but not for its people.

In 2010 a popular Iranian-American director and artist Shirin Neshat was photographed by Vogue Italy.

And in 2011 a famous and rather controversial (because she is now banned from visiting her homeland after her nude photos were published) actress Golshifteh Farahani also appeared in Vogue France and I would say having a quite similar look.  Again black-and-white and a bit masculine.

I have no understanding of whether the image was chosen on purpose or whether it has some under-the-surface meaning, I just fell in love with those feminine pictures of 1969 and I want those times back. Inshallah…