Which clothes did Naser al-Din Shah Qajar introduce to his harem after a visit to St. Petersburg?

Naser al-Din Shah Qajar (16 July 1831 – 1 May 1896) was the Shah of Qajar Iran from 5 September 1848 to 1 May 1896 when he was assassinated. Nasser al-Din Shah had sovereign power for close to 50 years. He was the first modern Persian monarch who formally visited Europe and also wrote his memoirs.

In 1842, Queen Victoria of England gave a camera to the 11-year-old Naser al-Din. The young heir fell in love with the magical gift. In the following decades he documented his life, revealing to the public eye, what it was never supposed to see.

In the 1870s, another photographer from Russia Anton Sevryugin opened a workshop in Tehran. Sevryugin became an official photographer to the Persian court. He made a photographic record of Persia in which he could take pictures of the Shah himself, as well as his relatives, courtesans and servants.

Shah Qajar reserved for himself the right to photograph the harem, in which historians believe he had approximately 100 concubines.

In many photos the concubines are pictured in short, opulently decorated skirts called ‘shaliteh’, similar to ballet tutus.

In 1873 Naser al-Din travelled to Saint Petersburg on the invitation of Russian Tsar Alexander II. While there, he visited the ballet. According to rumor, he was so charmed by the Russian dancers, that he had his women dressed in similar skirts. Of course, the concubines could only remove their Muslim dress for the camera.