It’s wonderful to see the short flower-printed manteau still alive and well since its first appearance in 2005. It remains as rebellious as ever, paired with a turquoise open scarf with hair flowing out the back against an incomparable background- the famous North Tehran view from the mountains- so much like Los Angeles!
This 2014 article shows North Tehran cafes are going strong and getting more defiant than ever- and I love it!!!!
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Iranian coffee lovers flock to new wave of cafes
AP
By NASSER KARIMI
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Shoulder to shoulder, cheek to cheek, young women and men sit next to each other [check out the pic below- I love the hip-hop-inspired cornrow hairstyle on one of the girls!] while a thick film of cigarette smoke fills the dimly lit cafe in central Tehran. [Technically, smoking in cafes has been banned since 2006-07, so they could even get shut down for this.] Bob Dylan’s “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” blares from the speakers.
Young Iranians with slick smart phones [There she is, with her blue snood pushed back and a lovely short beige manteau!] and packs of American-made cigarettes who frequent the cafe come for the chance to hang out, away from the eyes of moralizing elders. They also form a bloc of strong support for moderate President Hassan Rouhani as he works to allow greater social freedom in the Islamic Republic.
It is a reflection of a boom in cafe culture that has led to a mushrooming of similar coffee shops over the past two years, providing an outlet for young middle-class Iranians who suffer from a lack of public places to meet.
With a box of black Marlboros on his table, Mahnaz Ghassemi, 20, who voted for Rouhani in June, said she comes to the cafe for the freedom it offers.
“Here, I can smoke freely. At home, both my mom and dad regularly complain about it,” she said.
Majid Rouhian, 24, sips his double espresso while chatting with his girlfriend Maryam. Both voted for Rouhani.
“In the past we had fewer chances to meet,” he said. “In recent years we have more chances simply because of increasing number of public places, like this.”
For years, Iranian authorities kept the number of cafes limited since they were seen as a symbol of Western influence and places to spread non-Islamic beliefs. But reports of cafes being shut because they violate “Islamic dignities” have dropped markedly in recent months, suggesting a growing tolerance by the authorities.
During his campaign, Rouhani vowed that young people would have more social freedom.
“We should not intervene in private life. … We should know that young people are energetic so we should not be tough on them. It will not lead to positive results,” he said.
Tehran-based economic and political analyst Saeed Leilaz believes cafes symbolize the network of young people who played an essential role in bringing Rouhani to power.
“The role of the young people, those who sit in cafes, was a significant … part of Rouhani’s success,” he said.
Leilaz said authorities learned they had to give youth more freedom and a bigger role in society as the economic failures of former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s administration grew more acute in recent years. The allowance of more and more cafes symbolizes that opening.
“If getting government permits for cafes gets easier, then their number would match the number of mosques in Tehran,” said Leilaz. There are some 2,000 mosques in Tehran, according to official statistics.
Cafe association head Eskandar Azmoudeh said the number of cafés has roughly quadruped over the past two years, from around 20 or 30 up to around 80.
Fashid Aslani, sitting in one of the branches of his Raees chain of coffee shops in northern Tehran, said the number of cafes is growing rapidly, reflecting a change in a society where tea was for centuries the main hot drink.
More than half of Iran’s 76 million citizens are under age 30. Many juice shop owners who have watched those young customers flock to cafes have converted their businesses to coffee shops to keep up with the changing times.
Authorities tolerate loud Western music in the cafes — a pleasure once outlawed as un-Islamic after the 1979 Islamic Revolution that brought Islamists to power. Many of the new shops are decorated with replica paintings and pictures of local and foreign celebrities. They typically offer free high-speed Wi-Fi — a major draw for many customers. [Unfortunately, none of the cafes pictured in this article were named, possibly for safety reasons. I have seen photos of similar cafes with celebrity photos on the walls before, but this may be a completely new cafe, so I will not make any guesses.]
The loosening of the reins started even before Rouhani’s election.
The number of Western-type cafes — which first appeared in Iran in 1920s — began to increase in 2011, two years after Ahmadinejad’s controversial re-election that led to a massive crackdown on opposition activists.
In another cafe on Tehran’s Gandhi Street, Anahita Kazemi, a 21-year-old painting student, said the place is a refuge for her and friends to enjoy each other’s company.
“We freely sit together here for talks about galleries, movies and celebrities, like we did in parks or private places in the past,” she said.
Azemoudeh’s deputy, Mohammad Khoshniat, added that the cafes provide a place for young couples who have few options.
“Those who want to meet … or get engaged choose cafes for the first steps,” he said.
Mehrdad Khadir, a social columnist for the moderate Asr-e Iran news website, said cafes provide “fewer restrictions on relations between the genders,” compared to other places in the Iranian society.
“Girls and boys feel secure there,” he said, adding that cafe goers “supported Rouhani in the 2013 elections simply because Rouhani promised more social freedom.”
Pejman Mousavi, another Tehran-based social columnist working for pro-reform Etemad daily, said young middle class people seek nontraditional lifestyles.
“A new generation of middle class young people is after a new version of life, different from their parents,” Mousavi said.
2014 brings us another article about the new trend in Northern restaurants- the humble burger joint!
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Tehran foodies flock to American-style burger joints
By Jason Rezaian, Published: January 4
TEHRAN — At the Garage Grill in an upscale Tehran neighborhood, classic rock plays from the speakers, and photos of Paul Newman, James Dean and hot rods line the walls. It could be an old-time American diner, except that its hamburger prices reflect a wealthier target market here.
Right next door, Dukkan Burger serves its fare on butcher paper, with plenty of Heinz ketchup and French’s mustard supplied on request. The clientele includes young women clutching designer purses, arriving with their dates in European luxury cars. [Just check out the amazing open scarf with blond hair flowing proudly through it matched with a black and white ikat print manteau as well as the other “G print” scarf! This photo may be from Burgerland, which is mentioned further on, but you can see this is classic Northern clientele!]
Greasy burger joints have been part of Tehran’s fast-food landscape for decades, even in the years just after the 1979 Islamic revolution, when any symbol of U.S. culture was denounced as an example of “Westoxification.” Those eateries were mostly in downtown working-class neighborhoods, serving laborers in need of a blast of calories or students watching their budgets.
Now, though, high-end burger restaurants are suddenly popping up across the city, making the gut-busting American institution — and the quest for the best burger — the latest trend in Tehran dining.
Facebook pages dedicated to local hamburger outlets debate their relative merits, comparing them to McDonald’s, In-N-Out, Burger King and other U.S. chains. That fascination with brands has resulted in such blatant rip-offs as McAli’s, Superstar — conspicuously similar in appearance to Carl’s Jr. — [an article from TehranAvenue about it can be found here], and even a place calling itself Five Guys.
After a string of restaurants catering to Tehran’s rich opened and closed in recent years, observers of the capital’s culinary scene say the rise of the quality burger is not surprising, especially given Iranians’ love of grilled meat.
“Burgers are very simple. It’s a promise that’s easy to deliver on,” said Payam Kashani-Nejad, the founder of Gumboo Guide, a Web site devoted to reviews of Tehran restaurants. “And it’s a big market.”
David Yaghoobi, until recently creative director at a top Iranian advertising agency and now based in London, [I believe this is the author of that funny blog post about Northern neighborhoods] noted that the burger, while well-known here, is still somewhat exotic, boosting its appeal.
“In Iran, most things foreign are considered high-end, and as a burger is considered foreign, maybe there is some of that, too,” he said.
It is no coincidence, then, that most of the new hamburger restaurants are in the affluent neighborhoods of northern Tehran, in the foothills of the snowcapped Alborz Mountains — places such as Niavaran, where Garage Grill and Dukkan could dare to open side by side.
“Our concept is purely American,” said Arash Farhadpour-Shirazi, co-owner of Garage Grill. “Burgers and cars.”
The young male servers at Garage Grill wear T-shirts from a classic-car rally that the restaurant sponsored last year. A neon Route 66 sign hangs in the front door above the back half of a classic Austin Mini. The car’s front half and the front of an orange BMW 2002 double as the restaurant’s grills.
“It’s a short escape into a different environment,” Farhadpour-Shirazi said. “Iranians love the American style. The grass is greener in the U.S.”
In nearby Farmanieh [known as one of the most glamorous and classic North Tehran neighborhoods], the most popular of Tehran’s new burger joints, Burgerland, was opened last year by the members of the Iranian underground band Barobax.
In 2010, Barobax produced the biggest domestic music hit in recent memory, the wedding staple “Soosan Khanoom.” But the group members say they started Burgerland because there is more money in the food business than in playing music.
Fans line up to take photos with them, but they deny that is the main reason Burgerland is perpetually packed.
“Maybe the first and second time people come it’s to see us, but if they didn’t like the food, they wouldn’t come again and again,” said Khashayar Moradi Haghgoo, who owns and runs the restaurant with his bandmates and cousins, Keivan Moradi Haghgoo and Hamid Forouzmand. He said Burgerland regularly sells 1,500 hamburgers a day, more than three times the output of most eateries included in this report.
Across town, in the western neighborhood of Shahrak-e Gharb, BurgerHouse sees itself as the pioneer of Tehran’s hamburger craze. In business for three years, owner Amir Javadi said no one else was selling quality burgers in the city when he opened, and then “this year, all of a sudden, burger joints started sprouting like mushrooms.”
BurgerHouse started as strictly takeout and delivery but accidentally became Tehran’s lone drive-in restaurant.
“We noticed that people would pick up their orders and then just sit in their cars and eat,” Javadi said. “There are extra costs for delivery, like the packaging, so we started giving the option of bringing trays to customers’ cars, and people got used to it.”
Every night, even during the freezing winter, the narrow street that is home to BurgerHouse is lined with cars of regulars waiting for their order numbers to appear on a screen above the tiny shop front.
To Javadi, the success of burgers in Tehran is unconnected to any particular cultural trends or preferences beyond the simple pleasures of the food itself.
“No one looks at a burger as something American or even foreign anymore,” Javadi said. “It’s one of the world’s favorite foods.” [That’s exactly the message! No food is exclusively “any country’s” any longer- neither is any fashion now; after all, that is what this blog is about. Eventually, all cultures will merge and absorb elements from each other].
This one falls into the “Don’t try this make-up at home” category- some of the Northern styles can be… how shall I put it…a bit “out there”! The zebra printed silk scarf is tied over a huge blond hair cone, the eyebrows are shaved off and drawn back on, and the eyeliner is piled on heavy, as is the purple lipstick. However, the black fitted dress manteau with an asymmetric hem, worn over jeans and black and white open-toed flat shoes is looking pretty stylish, and I love how it even shows off some neck! Kinda makes up for the make=up craziness…
The infamous Moaveni speaks out on the “manteau and legging” phenomenon that blew up in 2013 and shows no signs of stopping. This article shows how much the haters of manteaus despise this style because it finally distills the sexuality in manteau style and makes it obvious, in-your-face, and shocking. Also, this article was posted on my birthday- that’s kinda cool.
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Leggings and Their Discontents in Iran
27.08.2013
By Azadeh Moaveni and Parvaneh Masoumi
Several months ago, Nooshafarin, a 28- year-old resident of Isfahan, began wearing leggings under her manteau. She found the pairing of tight pants under a loose manteau the perfect fashion statement, a more pulled together look that also happened to be very comfortable. Across Iran, tens of thousands of women were coming to the same conclusion: leggings were the Iranian woman’s best friend, an affordable garment that lent the required manteau covering a more chic appearance, and were easy to coordinate. “They make my figure look better, and they’re affordable,” says Fatemeh, a young journalist in Tehran.
Once only worn for aerobics classes, leggings have become standard fashion in cities across Iran, showing up in clothing stores everywhere, sold in home legging shows, and spawning a domestic market in Iranian-made leggings and a glut of imports from both Turkey and China. As Iranian women continue to push the boundaries of what can be worn within the state’s strict dress codes, looks that were risque even a decade ago are becoming, by sheer force of mass determination, ordinary today.
The nationwide popularity of leggings however, is provoking a backlash from hardline bloggers and religious websites, who fear the onslaught of tight pants is perilous for the country’s morals. “This year women’s fashion has changed yet again,” laments the conservative website Fater News. “They are now wearing leggings instead of pants altogether, not even tight jeans!” [Muahahah, remember when they hated skinny jeans and thought those were the apocalypse?? Now, they’re crying for skinny jeans to come back. It’s all relative, isn’t it?] The website News Base of Supporters of Velayat blames the trend on “spy agencies of the enemy and anti-revolutionaries.” [Spies in leggings? Someone is a little paranoid…well, a lot paranoid.]
The newest front in Iran’s long-running fashion wars is also being waged on social media, where devotees and angry critics are battling it out on Facebook pages like Supporters of Leggings-Wearers and I Hate Leggings, [all the photos here come from the prime source for “manteau and leggings” styles, Support Love!!!] , which worries that “what we’re seeing now with leggings is only the first phase of a horrifying project intended to denude Iranian women and normalize such an effort before officials.” The page also uses a play on words for the Persian term for leggings (“support”) to suggest that wearing them is equivalent to supporting free sex. [Well, at least, you will not have to pay- are you only accustomed to that kind of sex? This again emphasizes how much those idiots truly find this pure style sexy- if you really feel this way, then be a REAL MAN, go up and ask!!!]
If you ask Iranian women themselves, their reasons for wearing leggings are myriad. Iranwire spoke to a dozen women from around the country, and found motivations ranging from the obvious (they’re comfortable and look good) to the rebellious.
Fatemeh, a young journalist in Tehran, says she wears leggings because “they make my figure look better, and they’re affordable.” She favors both the imported Turkish and Chinese brands, and says prices range dramatically, from 7,000 to 60,000 toman.
The Iranian market is responding to high demand for leggings, and the go-to place is Norouzkhan Bridge in the Tehran bazaar, where domestically-produced leggings sell for as little as 6,000 toman. Fatemeh says she has never been stopped by morality policy on the street, but that if she’s wearing leggings she is often not admitted to press conferences, especially if they’re colored.
Farzaneh, a young woman from Rasht, likes the message they send. “I wear leggings because I’m tired of wearing pants, and because it satisfies me when I can manage, to whatever extent, to flout the dress codes of the Islamic Republic.” She says she has managed to evade the morality police to date….She notes that previously only black and navy leggings were to be found in Tehran, and says she’s thrilled that there’s finally freedom of choice to be had in style and color.
Not all women have gone unscathed. Mahsa, a 29-year-old in Tehran who wears leggings religiously (she says they are particularly comfortable for driving) has been detained by morality police once, while on a trip Isfahan. The authorities asked her friends to go home and get her looser pants to wear. She managed to extricate herself by faking a heart condition, but says the experience hasn’t discouraged her from wearing leggings. She has been upset recently at the influx of Chinese imports, which she says are ruining the leggings market; she prefers Turkish brands, and often buys from women who hold sales in their homes.
Some Iranian women are ambivalent towards leggings. Somayeh, a young woman living in Shiraz, says she also likes how much easier they make coordinating top and bottom, but she complains that many women only wear leggings so they appear more sexy for men. She still wears them, and says tight pants under a tunic-like top are traditional dress in southern Iran. Sanaz, a 26-year-old Tehrani, says she only wears them to parties, and then usually under a skirt, to complete the look. “I don’t wear them on the street, because they attract men’s attention,” she says.
Zahra, 31, a resident of the island of Kish, says that morality police there are now sensitive to leggings and scout for them, but that women don’t pay them any mind. She doesn’t wear them herself, because she says the hot island weather of Kish makes anything tight uncomfortable. [This girl is posing in Kish in yellow leggings, and she does not seem to mind.]
It’s not only modern women who are into leggings. A survey of religious sites affiliated with the seminaries of Qom suggests that traditional women are also fans, and often wear leggings with their families’ approval. One woman inquired on a religious site as to Islam’s view on leggings: “I’ve been wearing leggings outside the house instead of pants for a couple of weeks now, and my husband doesn’t mind. I wanted to ask, is it all right to wear leggings, and these new tight manteau that are figure hugging?” [LOL at “my husband doesn’t mind”. How about you think for yourself once in a while???? You aren’t a sheep. Think for yourself, spit on those “shepherds'” faces if you must, and buy something you love!]
The response of religious sites to such questions is usually pretty clear, and bears the authority of senior clerics who are considered sources of emulation: “Apparel that provokes lust, the attention of men who are not direct relatives, clothes that are vice-inducing, or that pave the way for sin, wearing such clothes outside the house, before non-relatives, is not correct or permissible. A manteau that is figure revealing, in that it reveals the outline of limbs, is also haram before a man who is not your husband, father, or brother.” [Even the humble student outfit has been “support-ified” with leggings- how do you guys love that?]
Hardline and conservative bloggers and websites are recently besides themselves. One blogger, writing on Facebook, sought to find out how leggings caught on in Iran, and concluded that satellite television was to blame, specifically the popular Googoosh Music Academy show.. “I sat and watched the entire season, and I noticed that in every sequence, on every show, the women are wearing leggings! Now I know from where we’ve been struck.” He goes on to write about two women arrested in Tehran’s Vanak Square for wearing leggings patterned with the Israeli flag. [Lies yet again! There are US and British flag leggings officially sold which I have seen many times, but I have never seen Israeli flag leggings anywhere officially, unless someone just made bootleg leggings in their home with this flag. I don’t think Israel would like those kinds of items being sold anywhere. It was most likely star printed leggings, which “they” chose to call this way to spew their hatred. I don’t have any photos of US and UK flag leggings being worn outside, however, but I do have some beautiful ikat ones below.]
Iran’s religiously radical blogosphere, from news sites to blogs, is rife with such legging hysteria.
Mehran Mozoon, a hardline blogger, [It’s really funny when someone with a classic Persian name tries his hardest to ignore his culture, isn’t it?] dedicated a report on his blog to the calamity, and his prose is worth quoting at length: [it sure is- we can see exactly how these idiots think!]
“From winter of last year, the street women of Tehran began a suspicious and systematic movement of wearing tights that offered a view of their limbs from below the knees. Come spring, this gave way to the wearing of manteau with nothing below them but what were formerly known as tights, but have now taken on the name leggings. Slowly these leggings crawled out into broad daylight, covering the limbs of Tehrani Barbies in colors and patterns. Sometimes, when these leggings happened to be skin-colored, they gave the impression that some woman was wearing a dress with nothing underneath! After the results of the June presidential election were announced, the percentage of women wearing leggings, who had even discarded manteau in favor of dresses, sharply increased. These days colored leggings are conquering Tehran.”
Mozoon goes on to complain about how aggressively women are pushing the boundaries of the state’s dress codes. He notes that it has now become commonplace to wear dresses “which bear no resemblance at all to manteau” (requisite coats), and that it has become ordinary to reveal the bottom half a woman’s body through the wearing of leggings.
Neday-e Enghelab, another conservative website, [this is a “website close to the security forces”…yeah, THOSE forces…] warned women who wear leggings that they might face….death as a result of their sartorial choices: “Don’t these so-called fashionable women ever skim the newspapers and read about the bitter experiences at the hands of those unable to control their impulses? Men who kidnap a woman just because of her appearance,….tossed her burned body at the side of the road?” [Yeah, you guys should know those- they are called Ministry of Interior and Basij! Can’t control their impulses, huh? Come on over to this website- something will definitely lose control over here!]
Another website warned authorities that if they did not respond seriously to the threat, then they would have to take matters into their own hands. [I am ROFLMAO! Someone will definitely be taking SOMETHING into their own hands- can you guess what???]
One blogger warned about social media sites that have emerged in defense of leggings, acting as enablers of the garment. “On many of these sites we’re facing even more serious problems. Recently some people are trolling the streets to find the most offensive examples of leggings and taking picture with mobile phones, uploading them on these sites, and awarding points to the most provocative images.” [Go on, rate this one!]
A number of religious and conservative sites have come to explicitly demand that authorities ban the sale of leggings in the country, filter websites and blogs that promote the fashion, censor foreign television shows and dramas in which women wear leggings, police the streets more seriously for leggings, and demand that universities and workplaces refuse admittance to women wearing them. [Then I should be able to censor you for wearing your baggy garbage! Here you go- choke on this! EIGHT manteaus with leggings- count them, eight!]
[Not enough??? Here’s EIGHT more manteaus with leggings in an amusement park, no less. Oh no – you imagined girls riding a roller coaster in leggings, and something “exploded”???]
Amidst all the furor, online legging advertising on Iranian websites is burgeoning, with advertisers promoting new looks and colors, and warning women not to fall for poor quality Chinese leggings. At the same time, hardline sites warn women not to be tricked by the American plot and threaten that they’ll soon be coming after them. Iranian women, for their part, say they want to live well, and that it’s not at all clear who’s being tricked by whom.
[This blog has a whole category on the “manteau with leggings” and “manteau as dress” phenomena, which can be found here…and the writer owns approximately 10 pairs of different leggings, from the basic black to leopard, ikat, and see-through black lace, which she wears proudly all year- in winter, under pants for warmth, in summer by themselves with tunics and long cardigans for style and NOW for solidarity with manteau style, too!]
Do not try this one at home, please! This is as extreme as Northern-style make-up can get. What can I say? She managed to match the fuchsia scarf to the top, earrings, and eyeshadow. 🙂
You know it’s truly spring when you see manteaus in these gorgeous pastel colors! This girl is playing badminton in a park while wearing a light pink knee-length manteau with a beautiful peach scarf and black skinny pants (the photo really reminds me of this one from a few years back).
This outfit is super-bright, spring-like orange- both scarf and coat! and funnily enough, it is also worn with black skinny pants. The hige concrete blocks being built behind the girl are residential highrises for District 22, a brand new planned mini-city in Northwest Tehran. It already has an artificial lake with a park and will have 5 or 6 malls alone when it is finished! You can find more information about and photos of District 22 here.
The sheer mini-dress manteau with huge yellow flowers looks gorgeous over a black three-quarter-sleeve top (or “shell”). Two styles I explore combined in one is always awesome to see. Yellow scarf showing off black hair, yellow watch, and yellow sneakers flow well with the outfit, and the gilded Northern-style satin chair…well, it’s part of the style and it puts a smile on everyone’s face, so why not?
The two towers below are both North/Northwest Tehran’s symbols, and both are complemented by lovely outfits. The Azadi tower monument is coupled with a fuchsia trench coat, an open black scarf flying in the wind, and a bowl of goldfish…
…while the Milad tower is coupled with a joyful sparkling fire, a black manteau paired with military-style olive pants, a pushed-back snood, and, of course, LOVE!
..first comes the bright emerald green coat covered with stylish gold studs worn with a matching emerald green scarf with gold edges…
…and then comes the defiant fire, burning brightly with a flame of hope, the black manteau flying open in the air, and the scarf of what color?…but of course…green!
Manteaus Daily 