دختران شایسته ایرانی‌ در سراسر جهان

۱۳۹۱ اسفند ۲۱, دوشنبه

دختران شایسته ایرانی‌ در سراسر جهان

Iran's Beauty Queens Past and Present

Taraneh Keysar - 1978

1978 Miss Iran Competition

1978 Miss Iran Competition held at Tehran Hilton

Miss Iran Finalists - 1978

Afsaneh Bani Ardalan - 1977

Miss Iran 1977 Finalists

Miss Iran 1977 Competition

Miss Iran 1977 Finalist

Jelveh Palizban - 1976

Miss Iran Finalist 1976

1976 Pageant

Miss Iran Finalists 1976

Shohreh Nikpour - First in the 1975 Miss Teenage Intercontinental pageant

Shohreh Nikpour - 1975

The Miss Iran Pageant was formally started by Zan-e Rooz Magazine in 1965. The teen beauty pageant was scrapped after the revolution for obvious reasons. The former regime aimed at portraying Iran as a modern state and open to the world. Although most Iranians were traditonal, conservative and resistant to change. The beauty pageants and the women's sports program were part of the emancipation process. It was a very small step but many teenage girls and women benefited from these programs. The government created safe havens in some areas of the biggest cities (i.e northern Tehran, affluent suburbs of Shiraz etc.) and encouraged modernity. Young women mimicked the clothing and hairstyles of Farah Pahlavi. She herself was made up and posed to look like Audrey Hepburn. Foreign press was permitted only to make reports about this segment of the society. Of course, this was neither a complete nor a true picture of Iranian society.

The "Dokhtar-e Khoshfekr Iran" pageant started by Ettela'at Banovan Weekly

Simin AmirNazmi Afshar beauty pageant winner - 1978

Zari Hariri winner of Ettela'at Banovan's Peyk-e Nik contest - 1963

Ferdoosi Weekly critical of beauty pageants

Image Credits: All images are from Iranian newspaper & magazine clippings which are now in the public domain. Some of the images were enhanced by adjusting the color balance. The Persian Blogs (Blogfa, Blogsky, Mihan Blog, etc.) are saturated with nostalgic images of Pahlavi Era women. This type of content may not be legal but is tolerated to a great extent.