Advertising in Iranian newspapers was a new phenomenon in the late 1920s. Advertisements introduced Iranians to some other new phenomena such as cars, radio, instant cameras, and the European-style outfit that revolutionized how Iranians lived and interacted with each other.
The ads here are selected from the newspapers published between 1926 to 1931.
Three photographs of Armenian families, most likely taken to be attached to travel documents. The photographs were taken in Isfahan by Minas Patkerhanian Machertich in 1920s-1930s.
In May 1887, the American periodical “Harper’s New Monthly Magazine” published an article about a trip from Tehran to Baghdad. The following images are from that article and show the outfits of Iranian women in that period. The photographs show the clothing of different minorities, as well as outfits for indoor and outdoor use and the different seasons.
Portraits of Iranian women from the late Qajar period (late 19th century to early 20th century). The images are from the photo archive of Institute for Iranian Contemporary Historical Studies.
Discussing her pictures the photographer, Samin Ahmadzadeh, says: “This series was taken from a single location in Tehran on a street famed for its shopping. The movement of people as they negotiate their way through the crowds provided a sense of theater from the everyday. Light from the shop windows illuminates single faces in this flowing crowd, guiding the eye around the picture and allowing a focus on a personal space.”
Discussing his pictures of the Friday flea market in Darvazeh-Esfahan, the photographer, Kamran Heidari, says: “This is the only place that you feel life is going on. If you want to see the real Shiraz you have to see this place. [The touristic] Zandiyeh complex is always there to visit but this [flea market] is there only for three hours.”
The pictures are taken between 2008 and 2013.
Here are some original and reproduction of the women’s clothing in Iran – from different regions and historical eras. The images are taken from the book Negar-e Zan, published in Tehran in 1973 by the International Women’s Club of Iran.
Edwin Lord Weeks (1849-1903) was an American artist. He made many voyages to the East, including Iran. In 1895, he wrote and illustrated a book of travels, From the Black Sea through Persia and India, which has many illustrations of Iran (Persia).
Photographs from Gholam-Hossein Saedi’s “Ilkhchi”, an ethnography of a village located in Iran’s East Azerbaijan Province (1963, Tehran).
In August 1927 Iranian men were required by law to replace their Iranian-style hats and turbans with a new hat, designed based on the French military kepi, called Pahlavi.
