The Shah’s Harem and the Subtle Grace of the Persian Mustache

In the opulent courts of Qajar Persia Nasir al-Din Shah reigned as both a monarch and a connoisseur of beauty. Among his 84 wives, one stood above the rest: Anis al-Dawla, the Shah’s confidante and his favorite. Her charm was unmatched, but it wasn’t just her wit or elegance that captivated him—it was her adherence to a beauty ideal that, by today’s standards, might seem unconventional. Anis al-Dawla, like many women in the Shah’s harem, was said to have a delicate mustache, a feature celebrated as a mark of feminine allure in Persian culture.

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Born in 1842 she was the daughter of an impoverished shepherd from Amamme village in Lavāsān, northeast of Tehran, and was employed as a maidservant to Jeyrān, the wife of the Shah, in the Qajar harem in 1859. She became the favorite of the shah after Jeyrān’s death in 1860.

Anis was the only wife to take meals with Nāṣer-al-dīn, a unique privilege, and to join him regularly at bedtime after he received visits from other wives. She was also the one with the mind: to openly criticize him and organise political opposition to government policies that she disagreed with. The Shah granted the Shahrastanak Palace to her.

To the Western eye, this strange mustache aesthetic might appear strange. But in 19th-century Persia, where the natural world intertwined with art and philosophy, the light mustache held profound symbolism.

Persian poets, many who were Sufi, and whose words shaped the cultural landscape, compared this feature to a shadow upon the moon—a subtle enhancement that amplified, rather than diminished, its radiance. A line from the great Hafez captures this sentiment perfectly:

“Her lip, adorned with a shadow’s trace,
Holds a sweetness time cannot erase.”

Nasir al-Din Shah’s court was a world where beauty transcended mere physicality. The fine mustache represented vitality, refinement, and balance. Anis al-Dawla embodied this ideal. Her confident demeanor and understated grace left an indelible mark on the Shah and the empire.

Portraits from the era reveal women with bold features: expressive eyes, arched brows, and, often, faintly shadowed upper lips.

Anis al-Dawla, exemplified a harmony of qualities—strength tempered with softness, confidence paired with humility. The light mustache, far from being an imperfection, was a testament to their connection with the divine balance of nature.

Some sources suggest that the Shah forced the women in his harem to gain weight and did not allow them to shave their moustaches. Eventually Iranian women tried to look like the European women who began to adorn the dreams of Iranian men. Moustaches were shaved, eyebrows were thinned and women tried to lose weight.

Today, as global beauty standards often lean toward botox and homogenization of certain western beauty standards, the story of Nasir al-Din Shah and Anis al-Dawla invites us to reconsider our perceptions. That said, are you ready for Januhairy?

Januhairy is model time for unibrow beauty