Esmat al Dowleh of Qajar


The Beautiful Princess of Persia

A few years after the first-ever photographs were released in the mid 1800’s in France, the Shah of Persia had experts brought over as his court photographers, to ‘objectively’ record his reign of glory and power for the world to see.

The most photographed woman in Persia, in ‘modern’ dress at a time when strict veiling and seclusion were the norm, Princess Esmat al Dowleh became a symbol of a rapidly modernising nation. What struck the world, apart from her downy moustache, unibrow and large frame, was how proudly she seemed to carry them.

Considered a symbol of beauty and strength, women of the Qajar Dynasty embraced facial hair, even flaunted it. Under the progressive reign of her father, Shah Naser al Din Qajar, the court attire of the entire zenana changed from floor-grazing hejabs to tutu-style skirts (thanks to the growing cultural influence of Russia on Persia).

Known for her special knack in diplomacy, Esmat al Dowleh served in her father’s government, appointed as a cultural ambassador to visiting dignitaries from abroad. Strong-willed and unafraid to break with tradition, she became one of the first women photographers in Persia, working out of a private studio built especially for her.

A recent source of ridicule on the internet, Esmat al Dowleh is more than a Princess-with-a-Moustache. A carrier of significance in a world where the accepted latitude of women’s appearance is narrow, she holds up the history and untold stories of Persian women like her who contributed to the foundations of a modernised Iran of the 20th century.

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