Government to Control Attire

Shahram Rafizadeh, Rooz Online:

A member of Cultural Committee of the Majlis (Iran’s Parliament) says a committee in the Ministry of Culture plans to control Iranian fashion and clothes people wear. The creation of this committee gains importance because radical and conservative newspapers including the Jomhurie Eslami voiced complaints about what Iranian women wore in the West Asia sports competitions in Doha during the first 10 days of December.

The ultra hardline daily claims that people were upset when they saw photos of Iranian women runners in the press and on internet sites. “The wearing of extremely tight clothes and those with short sleeves by Iranian female athletes focused the attention of foreign media on them, leading to extensive reporting of the issue,” wrote Jomhurie Eslami. It criticized Iranian sports officials for allowing this to happen.

Following the Jomhurie Eslami report, Mohammad Rahbar, the ultra-conservative cleric and Majlis MP from Isfahan who has taken up the task of designing a uniform dress for Iranians also criticized the tight outfits and public participation of women who in his words wore clothing that “reveals the feminine features of the human body” to outsiders. He also warns textile manufacturers and distributors of women’s clothing to take his advice seriously and not undermine the culture of society. READ MORE

Imposing a dress code has a long history in Iran. It began seventy years ago when women were forced to remove their hejab (prescribed clothing in Islam that covers everything except the face of a woman in public). But history has shown that Iranian women are very fashion conscious and thus strive to be fashionable while the government’s efforts to cover them up has not had much success in internalizing its code. During the last three decades the Islamic Republic has taken every measure to force Iranian women to wear or observe the Hejab. But to little avail. More recently, the arrests and punishments of those who did not fully practice the dress code have waned as women continue to defy the morals police and the imposed official dress code.

Despite the warnings by individuals who have read their history on the reactions to such practices, the plan to come up with an official Islamic dress code and control the way Iranian’s follow fashion has once again emerged on the agenda of the fundamentalist Majlis MPs. Even common folk nowadays say that the days when governments dictated their taste onto the public have long gone, and that the new efforts will be as unsuccessful as the earlier ones. Analysts point out that even the generation of Iranians who grew up after the Islamic revolution and was witness to the hejab, in addition to the constant propaganda on the issue, does not accept the government imposition.

Many observers believe that the events of the last 5 years in Iran, ranging from the students crackdown to the imprisonment of political activists, show that the government has been trying to copy the Chinese model of social control. What is happening now regarding women’s clothing was predicted by many when the new hardline administration that is supported by conservative clerics won the elections in June 2005.

A conservative female MP recently stressed that the Majlis committee will support clothing manufacturers that follow the dress codes in their clothing products. She appears confident that the plan to present a national Islamic dress code will be welcomed by Iranians which will be presented to the public through permanent and seasonal fashion exhibitions with an eye on all Muslim countries, not just Iran.

Rahbar warns that the dress code will be enforced in schools, universities, and work places, and that everyone will be obliged to observe them. He believes that Iranian girls have become street dolls which he says has no foundation, and thus legitimacy, in Iranian or Islamic culture. He scorns Iranian men's indifference that allows women to dress the way they do and believes the forthcoming dress code program will eradicate the moral corruption in society.