Lethal Dose

Anything beauty-related that’s “illegal in the US” (i remember my friend bringing a heated-eyelash curler from Malaysia back in 2002) has such a ‘Female Trouble’ ring to it! I stock up on my LaRoche Posay SPF 50. You can do that, you know.

“I won’t get arrested, will I?” Well, Dawn, if you were here, you would:

(From the LAT): Tehran — FIRST, a text message arrived. The brief note invited recipients to call about the location of a secret meeting. A cryptic phone conversation followed. “Who referred you?” a woman asked. “Who do you know?”

A man drove up in a Korean hatchback and dropped off a coded slip of paper. The directions led to a bland apartment building in the north of this capital.

There, men and women draped in coats and head scarves entered the lobby, their faces sullen. A young man examined their documents for signs of forgery before allowing them to pass down the staircase to the basement and into a sea of bare skin and perfume.

Amid air kisses and gossip, techno and hip-hop music thumps. The guests slide out of dark overcoats to unsheathe daringly low-cut dresses and open-slit gowns, form-fitting sweaters and go-go boots, skin-tight T-shirts and acid-washed jeans. Skinny, long-legged models giggle as they slip into outfits of satin and silk. A red carpet serves as a runway.

A clandestine Tehran fashion show glitters gloriously to life.

“Everyone is putting on a show,” declares Azita, a 46-year-old designer attending the show with her 20-year-old daughter, giddily taking in the swirl of lights, music, perfume and colored fabrics. “All the ladies have gotten into the fashion business. We love it so much because the clerics hate it.” She and others taking part and watching the show asked that their family names not be published for fear of retribution.