Irene – A Burmese Icon

Irene – A Burmese Icon offers a glimpse into the life of an upper-middle-class woman during the years of Myanmar’s military regime. Irene loved being photographed and had no camera shyness. To have a camera and to use it so freely was certainly not common in those days in Myanmar. Irene lived in Mandalay in the 1960s and 70s, and was an incredibly stylish woman, encompassing the essence of fashion at the time.

“When I discovered the vintage black and white images of this stylish woman from an unknown era, I was fascinated with her fashion, her look and her confidence. She always wears her hair in a neat up-do. She wears little make-up. She wears oversized sunhats and scarves. Her clothes were well fitted and chic, and she exudes elegance and poise,” says Khin Thu Thu, who wrote the introduction to this book.