FASHION = FREEDOM

Following the tragic events in Iran, it has got me thinking about clothes and their significance as a symbol of self-expression and freedom. Let’s not forget that it was ultimately a garment (or slightly lack thereof) that led to the brutal beating of Mahsa (Jina) Amini by criminals who have overtaken the country.


Prior to 1979, women in Iran were free to dress how they wished. The Shah even went as far as to ban the chador, a mistake in my opinion in that it created tension with more religious sections of society and took away the fundamental right for everyone to wear what they want. Images from the period show just how stylish Iranians were in flared jeans, high-waisted shorts and men in Gary Rossington-esque heels.

On 7 March, 1979, everything changed. One of the first acts by Ayatollah Khomeini when he seized power was the enforcement of the hijab and it has remained a pillar of the Islamic Republic since then, with the murderous cleric famously saying: ‘rousari ya tousari’ which means: ‘scarf on your head or a blow to your head.’ This saw tens of thousands of women take to the streets of Iran the very next day.
As the years passed, women and girls in Iran are subjected to lashes, imprisonment, torture and even death for showing the slightest bit of hair, as well as for wearing bright colours, tight clothing, not covering their arms and legs, and makeup. The morality police, or Gasht-e-Ershad as it is known, patrols the streets arresting women and men for not abiding by the strict dress code. Members of the public also take it upon themselves to attack others, including with acid.


There are currently hundreds of women languishing in jails across Iran for the crime of showing their hair, most recently, Donya Rad, who was arrested after posting this picture of her and a friend unveiled eating breakfast in a café alongside men, which has been compared to the iconic image of Rosa Parks resisting segregation on buses. In 2019, Monireh Arabshahi, her daughter Yasaman Aryani, and Mojgan Keshavarz were sentenced to 31 years and 8 months for handing out flowers to female passengers on a metro train without headscarves. There is a petition on Amnesty International UK calling for their immediate release that has received over 200,000 signatures.


Nasrin Sotoudeh, a human rights lawyer in Iran and one of Time's 100 Most Influential People in the World 2021, has been defending women like this and as a result has been locked up herself, first in 2010 for 11 years later reduced to 6 years, and again in 2018 for 38 years later reduced to 10 years, for 'crimes' ranging from 'activities against national security,' 'propaganda against the regime,' 'corruption and prostitution' and insulting Khamenei. Her husband, Reza Khandan, has also been sentenced to 6 years imprisonment for being a vocal campaigner for the release of his wife. 


Masih Alinejad is a prominent Iranian journalist and activist living in the U.S. calling for an end to the compulsory hijab in Iran. Founder of #MyStealthyFreedom which encourages women in the country to upload pictures of themselves without the headscarf in discreet areas, she has finally been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, as reported by Iran International. In an interview with Shelagh Fogarty of LBC, the The Wind in My Hair author says: 'It is all about women of Iran and Afghanistan. The first group that took to the streets to protest against the Islamic Republic over the brutal death of Mahsa Amini was the women of Afghanistan. They know the pain, they are one that is the same battle. It is not Iranian women fighting for themselves. Iranian people in the streets facing guns and bullets because they are trying to protect democracy from Taliban, from Islamic Republic, these are the more dangerous regimes.'