Iranian Women Bloody Well Know How to Keep It Stylish

Iranian women know fashion awfully well.

During the Pahlavi Monarchy, women wore skirts. Then in 1979, the Islamic Revolution came, with Ayatollah Khomeini at the helm. And they curbed all women’s freedoms. The veil was made mandatory and women’s rights were trampled upon.

This is a popular narrative about women’s lives in Iran.

But as Nina Ansary writes, even with the backdrop of a post-revolutionary patriarchal society, a full-blown feminist movement started. That’s partly to do with the mobilisation of women by the Islamic Revolution to topple the Shah empire in the first place, and the 8-year Iran-Iraq war (1980-88) that compelled women to join the workforce. Ironically, as this book says, the Islamic revolution gave women a keener sense of their rights.

These recent pictures are proof. Take a look at these skater girls as seen in Vanak Sq. in Tehran, Iran, who are called “modern day Iranian hipsters”.

Iranian women also know fashion awfully well BTW.

Iranian Fashion FTW

See how this woman totally nails striped pants with a peach jacket. Her scarf is H&M Manteau, no less.

While this woman nails the distressed denims look. PS: Check out her cool bag!

Are your eyes on the animated scarf too? Well, ours most certainly are!

She knows how to rock a Chanel, don’t you think?

Graphic tee, black pants and red blazer – need we say anything more?

This woman keeps it stylish with her camel brown jacket, white pants and shiny black shoes.

Not everything is black and white. Life, and clothes, must have a bit of greys.

Leather jacket, anyone?

Woah, aunty ji. Like a boss.

Check out awesome stories from Iran and break any stereotypes you had about the country on The Tehran Times, Stories of Iran and Humans of Tehran.