What is an Iranian Chador?

As an example, during the Qajari dynasty and previous dynasties, rural women and urban women alike wore chador in their everyday lives but they wore different styles of chador. Rural women wore chadors made of a huge rectangle of homespun fabric whereas Urban women wore chadors which were semi-circular and made of silk. Urban women also wore a face cover called a ruband when outside of their homes. Rural women did not for obvious practical reasons as they had to work to survive. In the early to mid-1900’s before the Revolution Urban women abandoned the Chador as an unnecessary historical relic whereas rural women continued to wear it as they always had.  So, No, the Chador did not suddenly morph into existence in 1980!

• The “Rural” Chador

Traditionally Persian Iranian women from Rural communities wore their chadors quite differently than how a chador is usually worn by a modern Urban Iranian woman. For rural women, a Chador was and still IS an integral part of their being, it was almost always worn. Wether at home or outside the home. Wether cooking, sleeping, cleaning, planting rice or sitting at a loom weaving a rug.

These everyday Chadors worn by Rural Persian women were not black or fancy but instead made of simple colored and printed cotton materials. The only time a rural woman wore a black chador was for a funeral or while in mourning. These black chadors used for funeral/mourning purposes was usually made of a heavy and quite expensive silk material heavy and made of expensive silk material. Most women or even entire families owned only 1 “mourning” chador due to their costs.

To this day rural Persian Iranians heavily dislike it when the color black is worn for everyday wear. Often when I was in Iran I could be chided for wearing a black scarf around the house, literally I would be heavily encouraged to change whatever I was wearing into something more colorful. In rural Iran Black=Funeral/Death/Mourning. Its not a color worn everyday.

• The “Urban” Chador.

In modern Iran, Chadors are also worn by Urban women who are not of a Rural background. Often the wearing of a Chador by a middle class or better, educated Urban woman tends to have slightly different connotations, particularly in Tehran. Such as the wearer is probably religious or born into or married into a religiously Muslim family or that she or her family are supporters of the current Government in Iran. Obviously this is not always the case and one can never assume but this is the overwhelming assumption. Now for lower (working class) class women in Urban areas its not uncommon for the chador to be worn because its less expensive and requires less changes of clothing to be seen as respectable.