/16 Iran

Shirin Aliabadi

Hybrid Girls

In light of the current fashion trends among young Iranian women, this project aims at capturing the aesthetic nuances that shape, reshape and reinvent the identity of the new Iranian girl. Under the auspice of the Islamic veil, the “in look” is blond hair, blue, green or grey contact lenses, occasional facial piercing and most importantly, surgical nose tape which seems to have become a status symbol and fashion must-have among the middle class. Miss Hybrid can be seen as a make-believe alternative beauty pageant believing that natural beauty is unfair, elitist and outdated, while artificial beauty sparked by an insatiable need to transform into someone else, cosmetic surgery included, can be regarded as a healthy exercise in cultural rebellion and global integration.

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