Over the past few years, street style paparazzi and burgeoning writers have transformed into recognized and respected international photographers and journalists—a trend that, unlike the increased distancing from self-centered, ‘me, myself, and I’ fashion bloggers’, is still proving to have a major impact on the fashion industry, and beyond.
And some of these fashion and street style bloggers, they come from the most unexpected places. Among them, young fashion designer and blogger, Araz Fazaeli, is causing some ink to flow at the moment, with his online project The Tehran Times, “the first street style blog of Iran.”
Meant as a cultural and fashionable spin-off of the actual Tehran Times, Iran’s leading daily newspaper, Fazaeli’s blog focuses on fashion and culture-related topics, including regular street style posts to show how fearless women cope with the strict dress-code rules of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
“I think Iranian people are very interested in fashion, and they pull it off very well,” Fazaeli told The Atlantic Post in an interview, his first since he founded his blog nearly a year ago. “To wear a scarf and these long manteaux (overcoats) and still manage to make it look very sophisticated is, in itself, a fashion trend in my eyes.”
“The government has a rule that you should cover your hair and not show the shape of your body,” he added, “But the way you choose to cover is up to you.”
As of today, The Tehran Times has over 18,000 likes on Facebook, and nearly 13,000 Instagram followers. Fazaeli also stated that he aims to contribute to a cultural movement within Iranian fashion by launching a concept store in the future.
“I have realized that people have the wrong understanding of us [Iranians]. They believe what they see in the news, and even though a lot of it is true, there is much more to see,” Fazaeli added. “I believe it has a stronger aeffect if artists send their messages with positivity and hope, rather than through sadness and despair.”
—Elisabeta Tudor
