Tehran mayor under fire for Benetton clothing stores

The moderate Tehran mayor has come under fire by ultra-conservative circles over the expansion of stores belonging to Italy's largest clothing maker Benetton in the Iranian capital, local media reported Monday. The ultra-conservative wing in the Iranian parliament has blamed Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf of having supported the expansion of the stores in Tehran, leading to more Westernized fashion in Iran. Some of the members of parliament have even asked parliament to stop the activities of Benetton in Iran due to the store's alleged links to "Zionists" (Israel). Last year Benetton received an official licence to open a chain of shops in Tehran and other Iranian provinces offering the same articles sold in Europe. In Tehran the main approval came from the municipality headed by Qalibaf. So far Benetton has seven stores in Tehran and provinces and has said it has made a satisfactory turnover within the past 12 months. Italian circles in Tehran consider the quarrel over Benetton after a year of activity as an internal power struggle between ultra- conservatives in parliament and the rather moderate technocrats in the Tehran municipal administration. The Iranian parliament last year approved the generalities of the "national dress code" bill which was supposed to prepare the grounds for local designers and tailors to focus on outfits in line with "Iran's national and Islamic identification and culture." The main aim was to gradually replace current Western-style fashions. Since then, however, there has been no major development with regard to the bill and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's vision of an "Iranian dress code" for both men and women. Although it is still unclear what the new outfits are supposed to look like, it is said that they might be similar to gowns worn in Pakistan and India. While men in Iran dress in a similar way to their counterparts in the West, women are required to respect the Islamic dress code and wear a long gown or coat and a scarf to hide body contours and hair in public. Iranian women however, especially in urban areas, have so far always found a way to look fashionable even with the Islamic code by using short and tight coats, colourful scarves and even Bermuda-like pants without socks despite occasional but eventually futile crackdowns by the vice squad. dpa fm bve