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The cover |
GOOGOOSH'S
WORLD TOUR
by Bobbie Giarratana
Googoosh is on a world tour. Only the truly fashionable need
attend.
Googoosh's career follows her country's recent history. Perhaps Iran's most famous contemporary entertainer, she withdrew from public life after the revolution of the 1970's. No longer able to perform freely in what had become a conservative state controlled by a hyper-religious right, the first lady of stage and screen was effectively forced to retire at the age of 29. Still worshipped by the ex-pat population, Googoosh represents the cosmopolitan Iran; smart, modern and tragically stifled. She is compared alternately with Madonna and Barbara Streisand, famous for both her voice and acting career and always dressed to kill. In fact, ask any fan about Googoosh and they are bound to mention her costumes. There was clearly no other style for her but OUTRAGEOUS ULTRA-HIP. Her haircuts set the trend (as in, "Give me the Googoosh") and she is fondly remembered as a "princess in ruffles" onstage. Her forced exile coincided with the end of secular freedom in Iran.
Googoosh represents the cosmopolitan Iran; smart, modern
and tragically stifled... she is fondly remembered as
a "princess in ruffles" onstage.
But times are changing. More than twenty years later, under a slightly more progressive Khatami administration, Iran's government has issued Googoosh her passport. What is her first move? She is going on world tour, of course! That's right; as the treasured icon of all things glamorous, she is taking her act on the road.
Her stop at the Oakland Arena September 28th was an over-the-top display of 14,000 Iranians of all ages looking great and knowing it. Hot-assed Prada chicks with their hunky Armani boyfriends sauntered through the crowd looking like a million bucks, and even the occasional grandma wore her flashiest headscarf.
Googoosh soaked up the glory with a classic Iranian
combination of pride and graciousness.
Googoosh was a knockout, of course. Performing
her first act in a tight, light blue dress
decorated with white pearls, sequined roses and a feathered collar, she
was the queen of all her fashionable followers. Formerly contained, carefully
coifed Prada chicks lost their cool and screamed when she appeared onstage.
Hunky Armani men shouted "I love you!" not to their girlfriends but to
Googoosh, who soaked up the glory with a classic Iranian combination of
pride and graciousness. After a brief intermission she reappeared in a
new dress more lavishly decorated than the first. There was no chance
she would wear only one gown throughout the entire performance! While
the colors were muted brown and orange, the sequins and lace were layered
on. Googoosh was followed closely onstage by photographers needing that
perfect shot of her outfit and eventually a pesky cameraman was shooed
away with a not-so-subtle sweep of her graceful arm dramatized by the
ten-foot-long silk scarf attached to her wrist.
That gesture alone proves that after more
than 20 years, Googoosh still knows how to work a costume.
Go to the next article: Cairo's
Costume Disasters by Leyla Lanty.
Go to another review by this author: Club
Galia Grand Opening
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