[custom_adv] From students sporting mullet haircuts and flares to colourful VW Beetles careering down tree-lined avenues into central surprising, taken before the revolution, have emerged online. [custom_adv] The stunning photos of life across the vibrant country in the 60s and 70s portray a seemingly cosmopolitan kingdom on the brink of change. Locals are pictured doing the rock 'n' roll bands, families sunbathe by a swimming pool and mosques and bazaars still popular today are also caught on camera, revealing the tension between modern and traditional influences tussling for supremacy. [custom_adv] The 1979 revolution saw the ousting of King Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and the instalment of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini - a shift that would have long-lasting and far reaching implications. [custom_adv] One area that has come under scrutiny is the way women dress and wear their hair - the old Shah, in the 1930s, banned the veil and ordered police to forcibly remove headscarves. But in the early 1980s, the new Islamic authorities imposed a mandatory dress code that required all women to wear the hijab. [custom_adv] While many women were already in higher education at the time of the revolution, the subsequent years saw a marked increase in the number attending university. This was in part because the authorities managed to convince conservative families living in rural areas to allow their daughters to study away from home. [custom_adv] Before the revolution, the hijab was already widely worn but many women also chose to don Western-style clothes, including tight-fitting jeans, miniskirts and short-sleeved tops. "The shoes haven't changed - and the passion for shoes is in all of us! Women in Iran are no different from women the world over, and going shopping is just a means for women to get away from every day stress," says Prof Afshar. [custom_adv] In the decades before the revolution of 1979, was ruled by the Shah, whose dictatorship repressed dissent and restricted political freedoms. But he also he pushed the country to adopt Western-oriented secular modernization, allowing some degree of cultural freedom. [custom_adv] From students sporting mullet haircuts and flares to colourful VW Beetles careering down tree-lined avenues into central surprising, taken before the revolution, have emerged online. [custom_adv] The case is no exception. Beginning in the 20th century, had been ruled by the Shah monarchy, which funded its decadent lifestyle through oil--mainly through concessions to Great Britain, which relied heavily upon the oil during both World Wars--while allowing the majority to live a life defined by poverty. Add your description here. [custom_adv]