I did a couple of posts on tumblr on minorities in India, including the Jews and Armenians.
And while doing the Armenian post, I came across this at the Iranica site, a photograph of the first female students of Tehran University circa 1935. The site lists the group as “Plate III. The first women students at the University of Tehran (September 1936). Front row (left to right): Batūl Samīʿī, Zahrā Eskandarī, Mehrangīz Manūčehrīān, Serāj-al-Nesā, Badr-al-Molūk Bāmdād, Šams-al-Molūk Moṣāḥeb, Ḵānom Šāhzāda Second row (left to right): Zahrā Kīā Ḵānlarī, Forūḡ Kīā, Tāj-al-Molūk Naḵaī, Šāyesta Ṣādeq, Ṭūsī Ḥayerī. After Bāmdād, I, p. 99.” Most of the women went on to bigger and better things.
The woman in the sari – per this Chehabi paper, Seraj-al-Nesa Begum was one of the first three women to enroll at the Teacher Training College in 1935. It appears the British Consulate interjected with the authorities on her behalf and eventually the authorities allowed foreign women to retain a head covering as long as they wore their national costume (Iran was at this point in the throes of Westernisation and a banning of the veil was part of this).
The shirt-blouse is a tad too modest for the mid 1930s but the explanation behind the photograph and the fact that this is a student’s dress explains it.
Vintage Indian Clothing 
