Tehran Times - Iranian Street Style Blog
March 11, 2014 11:49 PM Subscribe
Carry cash, take the metro and always look at people's feet – Araz Fazaeli, who lives in Paris but runs the street style blog Tehran Times with a team in Iran, offers his tips about how to make the most of the capital.
So first, the photos on his blog are amazing and I love the shift back and forth between art and street fashion. But also, the Guardian's "best city blogs", which includes this one, is an amazing rabbit hole in itself.
posted by Dip Flash at 5:31 AM on March 12, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by Dip Flash at 5:31 AM on March 12, 2014 [2 favorites]
Not to overlook the famous Iranian hospitality (which is also quite noticeable), but I think the way Iranian women use the appropriate Islamic hijab to make fashion and personal statements is very impressive.
Indeed. Instead of the hijab being a cover-up, the photos show it is worn more as an accessory -- and very tastefully at that. Persian women would appear to enjoy a great more freedom on the street than do their Arab peers.
I guess some more sanctions are needed.
posted by three blind mice at 5:51 AM on March 12, 2014 [1 favorite]
Indeed. Instead of the hijab being a cover-up, the photos show it is worn more as an accessory -- and very tastefully at that. Persian women would appear to enjoy a great more freedom on the street than do their Arab peers.
I guess some more sanctions are needed.
posted by three blind mice at 5:51 AM on March 12, 2014 [1 favorite]
Persian women?
Every person from Iran I've ever met has told me they're Persian. It's an ethnicity and a language.
posted by empath at 6:14 AM on March 12, 2014 [19 favorites]
Every person from Iran I've ever met has told me they're Persian. It's an ethnicity and a language.
posted by empath at 6:14 AM on March 12, 2014 [19 favorites]
And you are English, presumably. It's an ethnicity and a language, you know?
Can you tell the ethnicity of the woman in the photograph just like that? Fantastic radar.
posted by Wolof at 6:24 AM on March 12, 2014 [2 favorites]
Can you tell the ethnicity of the woman in the photograph just like that? Fantastic radar.
posted by Wolof at 6:24 AM on March 12, 2014 [2 favorites]
Most Iranians are Persians. This is not really a controversial concept.
posted by empath at 6:28 AM on March 12, 2014 [5 favorites]
posted by empath at 6:28 AM on March 12, 2014 [5 favorites]
A quick Wikipedia suggests that somewhere around 65% of Iranians are Persian - and I imagine more people in the capitol would be, due to regional differences - but it does seem like it's not nearly as much of a sure bet that someone in Tehran is Persian as I had assumed. (For me too, everyone I have met from Iran has been Persian and has referred to themselves as Persian.)
posted by Frowner at 6:40 AM on March 12, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Frowner at 6:40 AM on March 12, 2014 [1 favorite]
Informally I see "Persian" used as a synonym for "Iranian" all the time, though I have no idea if that is formally correct or if it would be irritating to the other 35 percent of the population there.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:43 AM on March 12, 2014
posted by Dip Flash at 6:43 AM on March 12, 2014
There was an AskMe about "Iranian" vs. "Persian" once. See also this Wikipedia article.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 6:59 AM on March 12, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 6:59 AM on March 12, 2014 [2 favorites]
I really love this street style blog epidemic - Tehranians look so cool!
posted by oceanjesse at 7:32 AM on March 12, 2014
posted by oceanjesse at 7:32 AM on March 12, 2014
empath: Every person from Iran I've ever met has told me they're Persian.
Then you've either only met Iranians who happen to be Persian or they are using the term incorrectly. Much like a lot of the Western media, Afghans sometimes refer to themselves as "Afghani", which pisses most Afghans off because that's the name of their currency, not their people, as the West (and Pakistanis) have bastardized.
posted by gman at 7:43 AM on March 12, 2014 [1 favorite]
Then you've either only met Iranians who happen to be Persian or they are using the term incorrectly. Much like a lot of the Western media, Afghans sometimes refer to themselves as "Afghani", which pisses most Afghans off because that's the name of their currency, not their people, as the West (and Pakistanis) have bastardized.
posted by gman at 7:43 AM on March 12, 2014 [1 favorite]
It's an ethnicity and a language.
The language is Farsi and Persian is not a pejorative term by any stretch of the imagination. Yeah, not all Iranians are Persian - but most of the good-looking ones are and this blog shows a lot of good looking people.
It was the rat bastard Shah of Iran - an ethinc Persian put into power in 1953 by the CIA - who insisted on his country being called Iran which is good enough reason to refer to it as Persia.
posted by three blind mice at 9:09 AM on March 12, 2014
The language is Farsi and Persian is not a pejorative term by any stretch of the imagination. Yeah, not all Iranians are Persian - but most of the good-looking ones are and this blog shows a lot of good looking people.
It was the rat bastard Shah of Iran - an ethinc Persian put into power in 1953 by the CIA - who insisted on his country being called Iran which is good enough reason to refer to it as Persia.
posted by three blind mice at 9:09 AM on March 12, 2014
three blind mice: "Yeah, not all Iranians are Persian - but most of the good-looking ones are and this blog shows a lot of good looking people."
I think the 40% of Iranians who aren't Persian would consider that to be a very racist statement.
It was the rat bastard Shah of Iran - an ethnic Persian put into power in 1953 by the CIA - who insisted on his country being called Iran which is good enough reason to refer to it as Persia."
The demerits of monarchy notwithstanding, Iran has always been the name used by people living in Iran. "Persia" is old Western terminology that incorrectly conflates all of the domain considered Iranian with one small province known in Iran as 'Fars'. Calling the whole country Persia denies the existence of very large populations of people who are not from that region or part of that ethnic group. That's besides using a name imposed on it from outside powers.
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 9:44 AM on March 12, 2014 [2 favorites]
I think the 40% of Iranians who aren't Persian would consider that to be a very racist statement.
It was the rat bastard Shah of Iran - an ethnic Persian put into power in 1953 by the CIA - who insisted on his country being called Iran which is good enough reason to refer to it as Persia."
The demerits of monarchy notwithstanding, Iran has always been the name used by people living in Iran. "Persia" is old Western terminology that incorrectly conflates all of the domain considered Iranian with one small province known in Iran as 'Fars'. Calling the whole country Persia denies the existence of very large populations of people who are not from that region or part of that ethnic group. That's besides using a name imposed on it from outside powers.
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 9:44 AM on March 12, 2014 [2 favorites]
All this is a derail anyway: Iranian women really know how to dress, and this blog doesn't even show some of the more risque outfits I've seen in some of the trendier areas. I'm talking barely-there headscarfs, bare midriffs, calves on display, cleavage. Granted, they can only get away with stuff like that in specific circumstances, but I remember seeing it and thinking wow, those women have guts.
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 9:47 AM on March 12, 2014
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 9:47 AM on March 12, 2014
this blog doesn't even show some of the more risque outfits I've seen
I think the aesthetic of this particular blog is less sheer/midriff/sex and more of what's currently on-trend and kind of a "global street" outlook.
What strikes me is that the men generally look like they'd be at home on the streets of Milan, while the women have a much more non-Western look. They're dressing similar to women I saw in Istanbul (though the headscarves are really different), and there's a lot of overlap with South Asian fashion. I could see a more extreme version of these looks almost being on the level of Tokyo style.
In general I'm always surprised when the image of Iranian women in Western media is of a burqa-clad faceless victim, because that bears so little resemblance to reality.
posted by Sara C. at 10:07 AM on March 12, 2014
I think the aesthetic of this particular blog is less sheer/midriff/sex and more of what's currently on-trend and kind of a "global street" outlook.
What strikes me is that the men generally look like they'd be at home on the streets of Milan, while the women have a much more non-Western look. They're dressing similar to women I saw in Istanbul (though the headscarves are really different), and there's a lot of overlap with South Asian fashion. I could see a more extreme version of these looks almost being on the level of Tokyo style.
In general I'm always surprised when the image of Iranian women in Western media is of a burqa-clad faceless victim, because that bears so little resemblance to reality.
posted by Sara C. at 10:07 AM on March 12, 2014
The blog is talking about contemporary Persian culture. The creator of the blog has an Arab name, btw.
posted by KokuRyu at 2:47 PM on March 12, 2014
posted by KokuRyu at 2:47 PM on March 12, 2014
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posted by empath at 4:18 AM on March 12, 2014 [7 favorites]