mantos

Persian (Iranian) short, tight coats/tunics/shirtdresses worn by rebellious Tehran intellectuals and flirty, pro-Western young women to satisfy the Islamic government's dress code. The government hates them (they "crack" down on them periodically, from what I've heard). Characterized by highlighting the curves of the body that they are supposed to conceal. Now sold in North America under the name "tunics". Better known as manteaus. Manteaus are not an Iranian invention and are copied from the French/British trenchcoat. The word itself is French, of course. Coupled with tight jeans or short rouched pants, a patterned silk scarf lifted up and tied loosely on the neck so that ALL of the hair shows through the front and back, HUGE sunglasses, and flat shoes. I personally wear silk scarves around the shoulders with them; I want them to look Western on me, of course. Manteaus are the perfect symbol of rebellion against a backward medieval theocracy and a love for humanism, women's rights, and one's own body as a sexual symbol....you gotta love them.