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Afghanistan Style In The '20s Through '70s: Photographs Show A Lost, Fashionable Time

Lost Photographs Show A Different Side To Afghanistan
Afghanistan/Facebook

Style isn't the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about Afghanistan but a series of photographs may soon change that.

Instead of shelled out homes and veiled women, the pictures show women wearing pencil skirts and beehive hairdos; students sporting stylish scarves around their necks and frilly blouses; men in blazers and striped shirts and models lounging on couches decked out in cable-knit sweaters and goat-skin coats, which were the country's greatest fashion export in the '60s.

In fact, Kabul was considered so fashionable in the swinging '60s that Vogue magazine staff flew to the country's capital to shoot photographs for the magazine which resulted in the editorial "Afghan Adventure" which appeared in the 1969 December issue.

Mohammad Qayoumi, who grew up in Kabul during the '60s and '70s, took a few of the photos which are featured on the Facebook page. He says of that time:

"A half-century ago, Afghan women pursued careers in medicine; men and women mingled casually at movie theaters and university campuses in Kabul; factories in the suburbs churned out textiles and other goods. There was a tradition of law and order, and a government capable of undertaking large national infrastructure projects, like building hydropower stations and roads, albeit with outside help. Ordinary people had a sense of hope, a belief that education could open opportunities for all, a conviction that a bright future lay ahead. All that has been destroyed by three decades of war, but it was real."

Check out photos of an unrecognizable Afghanistan:

Afghanistan

A Fashionable Afghanistan

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