Mahsa Goodarzi

The invisibility of stylists is not specific to any one country where fashion is an emerging or established industry. Unlike other roles, such as that of the photographer or model, capable international stylists often remain unknown and underrated.

The purpose of this research is to identify the different factors that lead to overlooking the role of Iranian fashion stylists and the ways in which they negotiate regulations. The Islamic Republic’s rules on hijab apply to any visual medium through which stylists attempt to represent their work. This research contributes to key concepts of fashion studies on social and cultural scales. It refers to the documented work of scholars and researchers on definitions of fashion styling, its framework, the utilization of styling in fashion editorials, and advertising campaigns in fashion magazines and digitorials on social media, specifically Instagram. A combination of qualitative methods is employed to examine the absence of styling in Iranian fashion magazines from a micro-interaction-ism perspective. I use an empirical approach by interviewing Iranian fashion stylists and their collaborators, such as editors. My primary sources for image analysis include Iranian, Middle Eastern, and a few American magazines that feature hijab editorials.