Fashion Week, Tehran!
Manolo says, once again, it is time for that most exciting date in the Ayatollahs’ fashionista calendar, Fashion Week Tehran!
In the name of Prophet, work it sister!
In the old house in Tehran, that was covered in vines, lived twelve little girls…
The Manolo is now confused, why are the Discalced Carmelites here?
P.S. The previous Fashion Week Tehran
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Comments
ed 17 years ago
Hmmmm.
Well.
They don’t have to worry about having a waiter get them a bib.
Atomic Bombshell 17 years ago
Thank you, my darling… I needed a laugh today!
furlagirl 17 years ago
I have been to Iran. Under those chadors the women are dressed like LA hookers.
anonymous 17 years ago
their eyes are terrifyingly vacant…tyra banks would have a field day with them!
The Atheist Jew 17 years ago
The last piece is the best. It really makes her breasts stand out, making the viewer wish for more.
Fausta 17 years ago
What, no gloves?
Counterfeit Chic 17 years ago
The Discalced (i.e. “shoeless”) Carmelites are the last order I would ever expect the elegantly shod Manolo to embrace — your cultural literacy is truly catholic (in the small “c” sense)!
Bon Mot 17 years ago
And let us not overlook the Burkini, developed not in the land of the ayatollahs but on the beach of Bondi, in Australia, to facilitate the frolicking of the modest and Allah-abiding swimmer: http://tinyurl.com/34zg7w
Anon 17 years ago
Hmmm. . . the burkini is vaguely reminiscent of the full-on body condom featured in the cinematic masterpiece, The Naked Gun.
mrs. dalloway 17 years ago
Verity Kindle Says:
July 27th, 2006 at 3:48 pm
Those women are forced to wear the chadors. They could be beaten or killed if they make any alteration to them, or take off any part of their chadors in the presence of any man who is not a close relative. The religious police, the mutawa, have absolute power in these matters. The above pictures are not of a “fashion show” in any meaningful sense of the phrase. They are of women being treated like chattel for thousands of years. It’s not funny and it’s not ” modesty”–the chador is a symbol of hatred and deep suspicion of women, all women.
Fausta Says:
July 27th, 2006 at 4:52 pm
While we all ponder color choices and all that, let’s also ponder that there are women whose male children have never seen their mother’s faces.
and:
‘The burkini is also supported by [Australia’s] highest-profile Islamic cleric, Sheik Taj Aldin al-Hilali, a controversial figure who last year sparked outrage when he used a sermon to compare what he viewed as immodestly-dressed women to “uncovered meat”.’
(sigh)
17 years ago
Belovedest of bloggers,
I was looking through the archives of teen vogue (which if I may say, is quite the stupidest magazine I have ever had the misfortune of soiling my eyes with), and I came across a question put forth by a high school student. She was interested in wearing high heels, but no one else at her school wore them and she was 5’6″. The editor who responded to the question said that her age and height were reasons enough for pause. Now, I (kind of, sort of, not really) agree with the age bit. I’m a sixteen year old and I’ve seen too many girls my age clomping around in shoes that were undoubtedly made from dustbin covers and Vitagen bottles (by those lacking the style and discernment of the Manolo). Not everyone is blessed with the brilliant fashion sense that made the Manolo the target of Eduardo “El Bruto” Sanchez. But the height bit: I’m 5’10” and I really, really (100000000x) like tasteful heels and I am really, really (times infinity) tired of people asking me “Waaah, you so tall ah, some more still want to wear high heels! Aiyah, aiyah!”. The last three matrons who exclaimed this were wearing crocs. Yes. Exactly. Help me, Manolo. I do not need any further reasons to wear super-fantastic shoes. What I do need is a snappy retort for those croc-wearing nutters who persist in trying to topple me off my well-heeled perch. Until then, I remain yours truly, La Lopez.
Mrs Muktiz 17 years ago
Thanks for providing such a nice pics, i usually visit it to check some new stuff and discussion
Mrs Muktiz 17 years ago
Thanks for providing such a nice new fashion loook, i usually visit it to check some new stuff and discussion
La Lopez 17 years ago
Ooops, I forgot to put a name on my previous post. Sorry for not mailing the Manolo directly, I don’t know how!
But Manolo, please! Don’t make fun of those women! They live under constant surveillance and are prevented from wearing what they want and displaying their latent super-fantasticness to the world. In certain places, they are barred from voting, from driving, from working, for choosing whom they want to marry.
Verity Kindle was correct : the religious police or muttawa are indeed powerful in those countries when it comes to female modesty. I’m from a moderate Islamic country, and even here the religious department can beat down your door if they suspect a Muslim couple of commiting khalwat (close proximity). My country is considered very moderate and even here, holding hands or kissing is not permitted in public places. Couples (Muslim and non-Muslim alike) who do so can be slapped with a fine.
As the sensitive and perspicacious mrs dalloway before me, sigh.
Annalucia 17 years ago
Greetings to the anonymous poster of sixteen years, who has the question about the wearing of high heels when one is five feet ten inches tall. As it happens, the Catalina (that is the younger daughter of the Annalucia) is also five feet, ten inches, and while she is a tunic-and-trousers girl rather than a wearer of dresses, she always wears the boot with the sturdy high heel. More importantly, she walks with head high and shoulders back, and with great sass and confidence. And while she has not the conventional pretty-pretty face, she has been known to draw the admiring glance on more than one occasion.
So the Annalucia ventures to say: yes to the high heel, yes to the good posture and the confident demeanour. To look like the runway model amidst the dreary wearers of sweatpants and crocs, that is a reward all by itself.
Cat 17 years ago
La Lopez, I do not think the Manolo is making fun of these women, but rather, of the mindset which forces them to drape themselves from head to toe in yards upon yards of fabric. I believe he is pointing out the ridiculousness of the misogynistic mullahs.
R C Dean 17 years ago
I have been to Iran. Under those chadors the women are dressed like LA hookers.
Under their clothes, all women are dressed like LA hookers.
Nancy Reyes 17 years ago
Hilareous.
In olden days a glimpse of stockings was looked on a something shocking…now heaven knows, anything goes.
raincoaster 17 years ago
On a serious note, it is NOT true that “there are women whose male children have never seen their mother’s faces”. I dunno where you’re getting your urban legends, but even the most fundamentalist of Muslims allow the children to interact with their unveiled parents; my mother lived in Riyadh for quite some time and the little boys were even allowed to see strange women unveiled. It’s puberty when the veil becomes relevant.
On a not-so-serious note, why in the name of all that is holy (in any faith) does the woman in pic #1 have that horrible, wrinkled seam running down the front? Is that supposed to be some cheapo rusching or something? If you’re going to wear a sack, the least you can do is make sure it’s made properly!
Frieda 17 years ago
As an Iranian, it just makes me mad to see these pictures. Iranian women Muslims and Non-muslim are forced to cover head to toe , does it make it better if they are forced more fashionably?? Iranian people are fed up with the Mullahs and are so desperate to get rid of them, they can care less about their fashion senses. Where are our Western feminist groups?
Spaniardinthewords 17 years ago
The Discalced (i.e. “shoeless”) Carmelites are the last order I would ever expect the elegantly shod Manolo to embrace
Indeed, the Manolo makes referen in a rollover to St Theresa of Avila, the founder of the Carmelites, who with her brother ran away from home as a child in order to go and convert the Moors.
The Manolo, he not only is a connoisseur of the true style, he also is the cultured gentleman of the kind which is sadly so rare nowadays.
La Lopez 17 years ago
To the Annalucia-Thanks! I thunk so myself!
Fausta 17 years ago
it is NOT true that “there are women whose male children have never seen their mother’s faces”. I dunno where you’re getting your urban legends,
From Arab News (Saudi Arabia), September 4, 2003, as posted in MEMRI:
Criticism of the Saudi Custom Forbidding Women to Show Their Face in Public
On September 4, 2003 Qusti published an article in Arab News titled ‘Tribal Custom Means a Husband Never Sees His Wife’s Face.’ The following are excerpts from the article:
“One of the most remarkable among the many and varied tribal customs that survive in Saudi Arabia is one that forbids anyone at all seeing a woman’s face. In parts of the Al-Kharj region, not even a woman’s husband and children are permitted to see her face uncovered.
“In interviews with Al-Kharj residents, Sayidaty, a sister publication of Arab News, heard that often the first time even a daughter sees her mother’s face is after the mother’s death. ‘I always dreamt of seeing my mother’s face because I am a woman like her,’ resident Hissa Al-Massareir told the magazine. ‘But because of customs and traditions in the family, this was impossible. It was only when my mother died that my dream came true,’ she added.
CyndiF 17 years ago
If I may express a philosophical disagreement with La Lopez, I not only consider laughter in the face of injustice appropriate, I think it is a valuable weapon in exposing the ridiculousness of such absurdities as the fashion chador.
I also heartily approve of black humor, which is not to the taste of many, either.
la petite chou chou 17 years ago
I find this posting odd.
First off, to someone’s point, how can something one is FORCED to wear ever be fashionable? And does making different patterns somehow alleviate the fact that it is force?
Also, I didn’t know there was a fashion show in Tehran, and, furthermore, I’m shocked that the models aren’t outcasts…maybe they are?
Cat 17 years ago
la petite chou chou, the “fashion show” itself is forced. It is staged by the religious police in an attempt to “[promote] female modesty and [counter] the influence of western clothing,” as per the article the Manolo linked to in his previous “Fashion Week Tehran” post:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,,1820248,00.html?gusrc=rss
You are correct; it is not about fashion, but rather, oppression.
sapote 17 years ago
Of course I disagree with anyone being forced to wear the veil or the chador for no better reason than their gender, and Fashion Week Tehran looks pretty oppressive to me. (though I noticed the Manolo has not posted a picture of the one outfit that was prettier than funeral-home curtains.)
I do however think Muslim women’s fashion for people who have freely chosen to cover up, in countries where they have other options, is very interesting. Here are some interesting Western-adapted Muslima clothes, and there’re some traditional Afghani embroidered dresses (I can’t find the link right now) that I think are rather pretty, in a only-worn-in-the-US-by-hippies sort of way.
GETprada 17 years ago
I love this blog..heheh… at least I know they have patterns too. Try looking up for Malaysian Islam women fashion too. Might be interesting.
lizwhiz 17 years ago
Being as I have very little of merit to say on this subject, I will just say that the Madeline reference made me smile very widely.
Prayers for the poor women who have to live in an oppressive society, and prayers of thanks that I live so freely that I can comment on this blog and say whatever I think without fear, while clad comfortably in sweatpants and slipper socks.
Sara 17 years ago
I believe the Manolo is right to ridicule this. It’s the same as what Charlie Chaplin and Mel Brooks have done with Nazis. If the Iranian religious police are going to be ridiculous, they should be ridiculed!
amy 17 years ago
Anyone defending this vestige of the 7th century when women were chattel needs their head examined and is essentially a hypocrite.
It’s amazing that we are this far past 9/11 and not a peep from feminists, not in an y meaningful public manner, protesting the mistreatment of Muslim women.
Cat 17 years ago
Amy, it was through feminist organizations that I first learned of such horrors as “honor” killings, FGM, and the Taliban. Before 9/11, feminist groups were pretty much the *only* people railing against the Taliban and its mistreatment of Afghan women.
Anonygirl 17 years ago
Before 9/11, feminist groups were pretty much the *only* people railing against the Taliban and its mistreatment of Afghan women.
I call B*llshit. Feminists work up much more fervor any day of the week against Bush and Christians (who they perceive as uniformly sexist and pro-life) than they ever have against the murdering, raping, and mutilating cultures of the Middle East.
Cat 17 years ago
Call bullshit to your heart’s content, anonygirl, but it won’t change the fact that I learned about the Taliban several years prior to 9/11 thanks solely to feminist organizations who were protesting their treatment of Afghan women and calling for action. During the 2000 Presidential campaign, while watching one of the debates and lamenting the fact that neither candidate had uttered a peep about Afghanistan or the Taliban, I was greeted with blank stares and “The whatiban?” from my peers.
Furthermore, I cannot help but notice that you accuse feminists of having a blanket perception of Christians, yet meanwhile, you are making a blanket judgment of feminists and feminism. Oh, the irony.
La Maltese 17 years ago
Dearest Cat and Anongirl,
femminists of the kind you are spking, before or after 9/11, what they did, do and are doing is to bring to the attention of the world that muslim women are being mistreated. Thats absolutely great!
What is appalling is how these women continue wearing their burkas and chardors, they continue being mistreated by the man (and men) who is meant to love them!! They have no identity! Being dressed as LA hookers under their burka means absolutely nothing! Their consolation is that between girls they can “party” and enjoy themselves, and of course be fashionable!
isnt it a sorry sight to see these rich arab woman, without an inch of flesh showing, with bags and bags (shopping bags) of LV, Chanel, and the like, when they cannot show it off (they can in reality with their girlfriends and their husband) and their husbands … loving and caring (they pay for what is in the bags and bags do they not?) …. wearing pur comfort shorts and tshirt! i guess its acceptable to them!
At the end of the day they dont need femminists to stand up for their rights because they dont stand up for their own rights they are more than happy to be treated as doormats!!