RED MANTLE -- not too long ago my friend and I went to a shopping center in northern Tehran. We came upon the windows of a store that showcased a red manteau (as they are popularly called here). The shop was closed. A stroll around the mall increased our desire to buy the dress.

THE NOTORIOUS RED -- I showed my little red mantle to the family without thinking twice about it. My mother's eyes narrowed, "isn't the color a bit too offensive?" My sister threw her shoulders up, "I won't wear something like that in public," she said. My dad, as usual, said nothing. A few days later my aunt saw me with the same dress, "So, this is the notorious red manteau," she asked with a smile. Finally, my mother offered to pay me money if I wore the red mantle only in selected places.

IN THE RED -- I decided to boldly wear the mantle everywhere. I unconsciously became aware of people's reactions to it. The look of people in the northern, more affluent, part of town was definitely more disturbing. You heard comments, jeers, and ridicule everywhere, but you were never judged unless you found yourself in the company of the well to do. I still wear that red mantle every now and again, but people's reactions are no longer disturbing.

WHY THIS STORY -- this summer the issue of appearances has been given a lot of publicity. From the state television and radio to gossip columns and discussion rounds, the issue has been talked about incessantly. Even one of our TehranAvenue writers, {Sheila Karbassian}, who lives abroad, decided to talk about the obsession with appearances in Iran, hoping for a new angle, which is why I am writing these lines here.

LET'S GO BACK A BIT -- during the war, the state and society's expectations and demands from the public were much different. You were supposed to appear only in dark-colored. This is at a time when the moral police crushed any impulse of the youth to wear makeup or don a strange hairdo. If you wanted to meet with your friend of the opposite sex you had to take to back-alleys, always fearing a grilling round the corner. Even pregnant women couldn't find peace next to their husband when they stepped out of the house (I have heard more than a few stories). And we shouldn't forget the cursed buses that came to intersections to sweep delinquent boys and girls from the street. They did that under the pretext of instilling proper "values". Do we expect the young women and men of today to abide by those values?

EVERY PLANT HAS A ROOT -- not that people's appearances today are very striking or even interesting. No. But I believe one's appearance in public to be a matter of personal taste. Also, if people's appearances, hairstyles, facial makeup, corrective surgeries, and dieting are surprising (or reprehensible), there is a reason for it. Every occurrence, no matter how small, has a root. I must add that I find nothing reprehensible about people's appearances in Tehran today. Having lived through years of turmoil and war, we can now talk about issues other than war and revolution.

QUESTION -- why is it that people's wishes and desires are always met with barriers? Like any other period, this one will come to pass. Perhaps tomorrow our children will laugh at things that we had to deal with today, the way they do now about those that went on a dozen years ago.