Hijabs and Chanel: Meet the incredibly fashionable women of Iran.

When you think of street style blogs, cities like Paris, London and New York immediately spring to mind, but Tehran? Not so much.

The Tehran Times, a Tumblr being published out of Iran is gaining traction in highlighting not only how fashionable Iranian women are, but also how they are creatively getting around the dress restrictions they face.

Under Islamic law, women are required to dress modestly in loose-fitting clothing that doesn’t draw attention to their figures, with a hijab covering their hair.

“The government has a rule that you should cover your hair and not show the shape of your body,” Tehran Times founder and designer Araz Fazaeli says.

“But the way you chose to cover it is up to you,” he explained in an interview with the Atlantic Post.

The women on The Tehran Times can be seen pushing the limits of Iran’s strict dress code, which is enforced by the baseejis, or morality police, by pushing back their hijabs, wearing bright colours and nail polish (which has also been banned by police).

Chanel’s two tone lambskin and toile espadrilles are paired with headscarves, and the images reminiscent of Tommy Ton’s Jak & Jil or Scott Schulman’s The Sartorialist serve as a fascinating insight into one of the most secretive countries in the Middle East.

Fazaeli began posting images of women on the streets of Tehran on his Tumblr after he return from Europe in an effort to change the way Iran was perceived in the Western World.

“To wear a scarf and these long manteaux (overcoat) and still manage to make it look very sophisticated is in itself a fashion trend in my eyes,” Fazaeli says.

Are all Iranian women miserable or are all modernized? The answer is that they both exist, in all societies.”

“As a designer who has always paid attention to women in society, I believe that the mere act of repeating people’s misery won’t do much to help them, but finding positive and motivating stories to amplify will educate and hopefully make a change.”

We agree. Take a look at some of Tehran’s most stylish women:

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