Going Inside Tehran’s Secret Fashion Shows
We meet Iran’s fashion rebels
BLACK MARKET CATWALKS, UNDERGROUND SEAMSTRESSES, AND COVERT PATTERN CUTTERS. WELCOME TO THE SECRET LIVES OF IRAN’S FASHION RENEGADES
WORDS | KAMIN MOHAMMADI
FLASHBULBS POP AS THE MODEL STRUTS DOWN THE CATWALK TO A THUMPING BEAT.
Her blonde hair is backcombed and she is wearing a halter-neck black dress dusted with silver beads. Her avant-garde make-up uses the bold colours of this season and as she sashays down the catwalk, the audience crane to catch every last detail of her dress, several of them making notes and sketches in their notebooks.
So far, so normal. But what is less usual is that this fashion show is taking place in secret in Tehran, making it a risky event for all the participants. According to Iran’s sharia law, a woman who does not cover her hair and body in public can be fined or imprisoned for up to two months, and being in mixed company ‘uncovered’ would be enough to jeopardise the freedom of all involved.
It was in 1979 when the country became an Islamic Republic that the hijab (headscarf) became compulsory for women. But a certain section of Iranian women in society, who had enjoyed greater freedoms previously in many aspects, wouldn’t give up their sartorial rights so easily. While the new Islamic regime tried to draw, quite literally, a veil over female fashion, women eschewed en masse the black chador (the full black top-to-toe garment); instead a headscarf and long loose overcoat called a manteau became the norm.
But the restrictions have never dampened the Iranian passion for fashion. The post revolutionary baby boom means that 70% of Iran’s 70 million population is under 35. These ‘children of the revolution’ have grown up in an Islamic state but have accessed the rest of the world through the internet and satellite TV.
Nina (not her real name), a Tehrani fashion designer, gives Voyager the behind-the-scenes scenario. Describing growing up in post-revolutionary Iran, she says: “At home we were watching Baywatch, outside, we had to be covered up. It gave us a sort of schizophrenia, we had to close that gap somehow.” For some of the younger generation, closing the gap came through homegrown fashion.
Hasti and Ghazal are a design duo whose line of manteaus has the Iranian fashionistas excited. Hasti explains: “Although we have to cover up, we decided that manteaus could still be cute and trendy.” Ghazal adds: “We design suitable clothes for Iranian women because we cannot wear what you see on Fashion TV outside.”
Tehran’s young designers agree that keeping the hijab does not exclude looking fabulous. “We live in a country where there are certain regulations, and we have to follow them,” says Sadaf, the designer behind the fashion show described above. “I have always designed with those rules in mind.” Another point of convergence is that these designers marry traditional Iranian styles with modern sensibilities while keeping an eye on international trends: Hasti and Ghazal use colour and modernist designs, Sadaf uses antique Iranian fabrics.
WITH NO FASHION COURSES ON OFFER AND ADVERTISING BANNED, TEHRAN’S YOUNG DESIGNERS ARE INGENIOUS. “I studied theatre design and part of the course was learning about costumes and pattern cutting,” explains Sadaf. Making and wearing her own designs attracted attention and five years ago she went from making outfits for friends to “working with a few seamstresses to producing a whole line”.
She explains: “I have had six shows, some with permission, some without. It is such a headache to get permission that I wanted to know first that I had an audience. I have been really surprised by the success I’ve had.” With no advertising allowed, designers rely on word-of-mouth recommendations: “People order at the shows or come to my house.”
In an effort to counter this underground trend, the government has launched a biannual fashion exhibition and show of its own. For the first time in 30 years, live models were officially sanctioned to appear on the catwalk. In the three years since, many of the hip underground designers like Sadaf have been invited to join, to bring their flair, expertise and clients back into the fold. In Iran’s complicated world of parallel realities, Tehran’s designers are expert at manipulating the restrictions. As Hasti and Ghazal sum up: “Nothing is impossible.”
Fashion pitstops
There are several good boutiques in the Gandhi Shopping Centre, Gandhi Avenue, as well as Tandis Mall in Tajrish Square (pictured), both in north Tehran. Tandis, which has five floors of boutiques, restaurants and cafés, is the place to see and be seen for north Tehran’s fashionistas. It contains branches of Zara, Mango and Benetton too which are seen as quite high fashion in Iran. Gandhi is a low-rise shopping centre with plenty of cafés where young people hang out, and homegrown boutiques, some of which carry some indigenous designs. It is also home to Iran’s best Asian Fusion restaurant, Monsoon.
