Sometimes I think the conflict between the Islamic world and the Western world is rooted more in the similarities between the two than the superficial differences that people seem fixated on. Tehran is a capital of fashion/culture, dramatic natural backdrop, and like the French, Iranians take to the streets in a show of political theater from time to time. Political theater involves the occasional barricade and pyrotechnics.
Tehran: Paris of the East
By GustavoMustafa - Posted on October 21st, 2007
So could Iran start sending some of that coolness this way? Shukr is doing OK with the modest fashion stuff, and Tekbir has some limited exports to the US, but we could certainly use more fashionable clothing that's modest, comfy, and well-made. I may have to visit Iran for the purposes of Fashion Jihad.
I watched a documentary on Iranian fashion a year or so ago, which showed how all the black chadors had an enormous variety of subtle designs and fashionable variety, yet remaining, at first glance, as black chadors. I ask my long time Iranian friend today if she ever wears a chador. She said she never does but she always wears a scarf and manteau when she goes out. But, she said, the scarf does not completely hide her hair.