Photo: Via @richkidsoftehran.Instagram is great for sharing so many things. Elegant brunch photos. Shoe + bag + gadget Fashion Week shots. Barista latte art. For the rich kids of Instagram, it's also a place to showcase their lavish homes, private planes, expensive watches, and more. The cultural phenomenon began to take root in 2012, and a few 1%-ers snagged their own reality show in 2013. Now, the rich kids have gone international.
Billing itself as the "Official Rich Kids Of Tehran" account, richkidsoftehran is a feed with (as of press time) over 80,000 followers.
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As Mic points out, Rich Kids of Tehran "captures a lifestyle that might evoke a suspicious side-eye from the religious leaders of the Islamic Republic." The Iranian government is notoriously controlling when it comes to residents' social media activities. In July, eight people were sentenced to a combined 127 years in prison for violating the country's sanctions about what can and cannot be posted on Facebook.
May of the women pictured on the Rich Kids of Tehran account are not wearing the headscarf mandated by law, although this rule only applies to public places. The country also prohibits alcohol, though these photos were most likely taken on private residences. The Huffington Post also points out that many of the kids are beyond rebuke because their parents are members of the country's ruling class.
The account administrator responded to its recent press in a photo posted yesterday. The caption reads: "We Love our city of Tehran. We are in no way trying to put a difference between rich and poor. We are trying to show the world how beautiful Tehran and people from Tehran are. The Middle East is always on TV receiving negative attention and we just wanted to show that Tehran is not like that. This page is in no way political and we never had any bad intentions. We never thought the page would make headlines all over the world. Some of the people featured in this Instagram account don't live in Iran. #richkidsoftehran #welovetehran" (Mic)
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