By law, all females over the age of nine must wear the hejab, the general term to describe the type of Islamic dress required for females in Iran.
Signs in public places show two possible variants on correct hejab: The chador, an all-encompassing, head-to-toe black 'tent'; or a maqna'e (a wimple-like scarf-shawl) with a manteau (baggy trench coat) and trousers.
These days the 'style police' are not as busy as they once were and foreign women can get away with wearing their normal clothes, provided their head, shoulders, arms, legs and body are completely covered and the shape of their body is concealed.
That said, a female tourmate of mine was shouted by a conservative Iranian who tried to correct the situation as her scarf slipped back a bit too far while my friend Iris was warned by a 'style police' since her T-shirt was not loose and long enough. Ha! Ha!
Source: Lonely Planet
Photos taken in Isfahan, Iran Oct 2007
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