Posts with tag iran

Sick of the immoral fashion industry invading your nation? Kick out that Western filth by showing your country's ladies how to look hot by covering up -- with a government-approved fashion show!

That's the plan according to Saffar Harandi, the Culture and Islamic Orientation Minister of Iran -- and apparently it's just as stupid as it sounds. Harandi was the driving force behind a first-of-its-kind fashion show for Iran, in which catwalk models ditched the traditional black for more colorful cover-ups. At first this sounds like a step in the right direction, but local critics weren't very impressed.

One of the show's photographers told the New York Post: "The music was awful, and the models were not professional models and not pretty enough for a fashion show," while another noted that "Iranian women...[are] much more fashionable than that in the street."

Not exactly high praise -- but that shouldn't be surprising. The "fashion" on display looked more like first generation Star Trek costumes than traditional Iranian outfits, and were unfortunately adorned in plaids and floral patterns.

Ugh.

Last month, a Swedish man named Jonathan Lundqvist returned from Iran with a collection of western magazines and newspapers, which he purchased from a stand near the University of Tehran. His copies of the Economist, National Geographic and Wallpaper were riddled with evidence of state censorship. And oddly enough, the magazines were censored by hand, meaning that groups of government workers were likely responsible for blackening in, one by one, objectionable articles and risque fashion advertisements. At first glance, this Dior advertisement seems funny -- like what in the world is Kate Moss wearing? Why is the handbag still visible? But then after that moment passes, it dawns on you that black markers, government censorship and state control is a very real part of what is like to live in Iran. And I have to say, even though I feel like Kate Moss is seriously overexposed right now with more than 14 advertising contracts, I'm still awfully glad that she can be exposed in the first place.

[via Gawker]