FARAH PAHLAVI

INTERVIEW MAGAZINE 

BY BOB COLACELLO

Her Imperial Majesty Empress Farah Pahlavi of Iran—as she was officially known until 1979, when her husband, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, was overthrown and replaced by the Islamic Republic of Ayatollah Khomeini—was recently in New York to attend the opening of "Iran Modern," a major exhibition of Iranian art from the 1950s, '60s, and '70s, at the Asia Society on Park Avenue. Tall and still beautiful at 75, she was the picture of elegance and dignity that evening, in a white silk dinner suit embroidered with black flowers, her champagne-colored hair pulled back and tied with a black satin bow for a nice schoolgirl touch. As always, she carried herself with the perfect posture and composed manner of royalty, yet made everyone she met feel as if she was delighted to see them—especially the artists whose work was in the show, though some of them had been fierce critics of her husband's regime. Back then, the international press often referred to her as the Jacqueline Kennedy of the Middle East, not only for her glamorous style, but also for her commitment to historical preservation and her patronage of the arts.
 

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