National Discourses on Dress in Iran

In the process of modernization, traditional dress is usually the first issue which changes in traditional societies. Undoubtedly, western societies, benefiting from their worldwide cultural industry, are leading the globe to a great uniformity which peoples’ dress is one of its apparent out comes. Today, in our society emergence of west culture through the process of globalization on one hand, and women’s participation in public affairs on the other, has made the dress as one of the challenging and problematic problems. Meanwhile, in Iran women’s dress is a cultural, religious, ideological and discursive issue. In this article we are looking at national dress, particularly women’s dress, from discourse point of view. Looking at dress in the frame of different discourses and trying to understand its discursive feature, enables us to enlighten one of the dimensions of this critical subject. On the basis of especial goals and values, discourse, enables one to introduce herself to the others on the basis of her own choice. In this article reviewing dress in three historical eras, we will particularly deal with the influence of western culture in Iran. In this period there is a confrontation between religious discourse, insisting on Hejab, and liberal discourse, persisting on liberation of dress. Although religious discourse is dominant, but educational centers should enhance Islamic Hejab asserting on “modesty” rather than an especial kind of it.