For many Westerners, Iranian dress is made up of black chadors for women and shirts with no ties for men. Yet there is much more, very much more in fact, to Iranian dress than this image may give.

Iran is a large and ancient country that lies at the crossroads between Central Asia and the Middle East. Over the centuries numerous different peoples have crossed the country and settled down. As a result there are currently about 100 different ethnic and religious groups (both Muslim and non-Muslim) living in Iran. The country’s diversity is reflected in many aspects of Iranian culture, notably its literature, architecture, as well as its traditional dress, especially that worn by women.

Although rapidly vanishing in some areas due to national pressures and globalisation, many aspects of these dress traditions can still be found throughout the country. Dress often is an ethnic marker, indicating which ethnic group the wearer belongs to. There is a huge difference between, for instance, the traditional clothing of the Shahsavan in the northwest of the country, and the Baluchis in the southeast. Differences in clothing, such as the quantity or the type of material used, can sometimes also be used to indicate a special status within one particular group. This difference in status may reflect personal wealth, or a person's political, religious or social standing. Or, on a more obvious level, clothing marks the difference between the genders: In most societies there are significant differences between female and male clothing. But within that there can be differences in marital status within the same gender; different and specific garments or headdresses may be worn by unmarried, married, divorced, or widowed women.

An important aspect of status identification is the use of colour. Within the context of Iran, for instance, an unmarried girl will often wear bright colours, while married women tend to wear more subdued hues. Women who are past child bearing age usually wear even more sombre colours, often black, dark blue or dark purple. So, dress can be used to indicate a person's age and gender, their status within a family or regional group, as well as their 'ethnic' identity on a national and international level.

Another factor which has to be taken note of is that of religion. Most Iranians are Shi'te Muslims. However, in Iran there are other religions, or different branches, such as that of the Sunni Muslims, especially in the southeast of the country. There are also various groups of Christians (such as Assyrians, Armenians and Nestorians), as well as the followers of Zoroastrianism, the pre-Islamic religion of Iran.

The exhibition that was displayed at the Textile Research Centre in 2013, and which is replicated online here, includes over sixty outfits for men, women and children, in addition to individual garments. It presents regional outfits from all four corners of the country, including garments for Arabs, Bakhtiaris, Bandaris, Baluchis, Gilanis, Kurds, Luris, Qashqai, Shahsavan, Sistanis, various Turkmen groups, Zoroastrians, as well as for people from the picturesque and traditional village of Abyane in Central Iran.

The majority of these garments were collected during research in Iran between 1999-2003 and they are now housed in the TRC collection.