TEHRAN FASHION WEEK
Tehran counts as one of the three largest cities of the Middle East and is also the largest city of the Islamic country, Iran. On top of that, Tehran is one of the most unique and influential metropolian cities of the world which possesses the country's most cultural diversity, and represents variety of the Iranian lifestyle and fashion trends to the world.
With regards to hijab, Tehran has been very progressive in exploring new professions of creating and innovating trendsetting approaches to fashion, allowing both men and women, expressing their ideas, creativity, and styles freely. After many years of going back and forth in attempt to introducing Iran's local talents to the world, Tehran Fashion Week was finally established by LINE, an "Expert Event Planning" organization, that designs, decorates, and holds exclusive fashion events under the GSM ( Quohay-e-Sepid-e-Mahtab ) fashion institute.
The very first season of Tehran Fashion Week ( THRFW ) began in 2014 with seven different local Iranian fashion, accessory, and jewelry designers presenting their collections to guests, sponsors, and press media, on the runway series. THRFW's primary goal is not only to connect local talents and designers to sponsors, media correspondents, productions and educational centers within the Iranian fashion community together, this event is also happening to support Iranian designers to be known by the world, and also the Iranian community itself.
During my stay in Tehran, I had the pleasure of participating and attending the second season of this " newly established " event as one of LINE's guests, in person. AND GUESS WHAT? I have the full coverage of this very fancy Iranian event for you to read, and enjoy!
The second season of THRFW (SS15) was held from June 13, 2015, to June 15, 2015, at Sam Center, a luxurious shopping mall located at Fereshteh area in Tehran.
There was this energy and excitement in the air as I had the pleasure of witnessing women finally being able to be self-independent in regards to expressing their styles. They were daring and wore fun and life-giving colors other than "full black" attires.
Before the beginning of each show, the crowd was given a chance to mingle around and pay their gratitude to friends, acquaitances, and relatives. At the Red Carpet area, all the photos were taken by SONY mobiles (Sponsor) and their new Sony Xperia M5 Dual mobile phones. Pictures were emailed to guests right after!
The first two days of the event were dedicated to Iranian female fashion designers and their women's collection. By the rules of the Islamic Republic of Iran's government, no men were allowed to enter the auditorium for the first two days of the show. Also, electronic devices had to be given to security since the female guests were not allowed to take pictures and videos from the runway shows as every designer's collection was being presented on female models who were not wearing hijab.
Passed by the security gates, while entering the auditorium, female guests were allowed to take off their hijab and minggle through the crowd. They were given a chance to get a makeover by L'OREAL Paris ( Sponsor ), and enjoy the desserts ( petit four patisserie / macaroons,) and drinks ( fruit juice / iced coffee / sparkling water mixed with lemonade) they were being served by female servers. Again, SONY mobiles was there to introduce their new cellphones and additional products to guests.
Getting close to the beginning of the fashion shows, guests were assisted to be seated at the right seat. The exciting part is, huge stuffed gift bags were waiting for each guest by their seats!
After each runway show, models were to stand on a stage that was specially built for them to stand on, and present each piece of the designer's collection to the audience. The audience was also given the opportunity to speak with each designer personally while each piece of their collection was being displayed by models who were wearing the pieces and were standing on the stage.
Fashion designers Nasim Akhavan, Nahal Baniadam, Mehrnoosh Shahhosseini, Yalda Ziaee and Maryam Mahdavi, along with jewelry designer Mahkameh Amirchoupani and world famous accessory designer Rula Galayini presented their collections during the first two days of THRFW.
NASIM AKHAVAN
Nasim lunched her brand, Nasim Akhavan Closet in 2008, after privately designing garments for various clients. Her creations are aspired by serenity, and the color of life. Her SS15 OCEAN COLLECTION is a representation of oceans and wind, displaying strong, bold, and feminine cuttings. Nasim presented this collection at this year's THRFW.
NAHAL BANIADAM
Her name is familiar to Vancouverites. She has graduated in Fashion Design from Vancouver Community College (VCC) and has showcased her designs at Vancouver Fashion Week, and this year's THRFW. Nahal's designs are a combination of classic and modern fashion inspired by the ancient Persian miniature art, and designs. Pieces presented at the show were influenced by classic Persian paintings, and also ranges of traditional Iranian carpet textures.
http://nahalbaniadam.com
MEHRNOOSH SHAHHOSSEINI
She is one of the top figures among the fashion, cinema, arts and entertainment, and Iranian community. She established her brand, SOHA design, in 2005 and presented her collections in multiple public shows before her brand's establishment. Her designs are generated from elements of nature, wildlife, music, fabrics and colors, and life itself. She presented her new clothing and footwear line, Mah Show Banou, at this year's THRFW. I would describe her new collection by the following words: Sparkle Fun | Color-Maniac | Pleated Fabrics.
YALDA ZIAEE
Holding a Bachelor's degree in Costume Design, Yalda launched her label, Launda, in 2014 after having a well-received attention to her designs by putting them at display privately. Her purpose of designing is to introduce women to the contrast between the core and the primary reason of a garment covering or reaviling one's physique. Yalda put up an amazing show, presenting her NO.1 collection ( a collection of transparent and leather fabric garments ) at THRFW this year.
MARYAM MAHDAVI
With her thirthy years of experience within the Iranian fashion industry, Maryam is counted as one of the famous designers of her time, who is an inspiration to younger crowd of designers. She gets her inspiration from traditional Iranian fashion, and provincial costumes, which she twists and transforms their old look into garments with modernized cuttings, shapes, and textures, enabling her designs to be worn by women at any age. She put up an amazing show, showcasing her handmade jewelized and soutache-designed, traditional x classic collection to the audience at THRFW's SS15 season.
Last but not least, the final day of the THRFW shows was devoted to menswear and designers Salar Bil and Raad Fashion House ( Amir Rad, Azadeh Asgari and Saghar Nikgohar. )
SALAR BIL
He is known of being a genius in what he does. While deciding about his career path, first, he found his interest within the film industry, but got back to a sense that he knew Fashion Design was what he was passionate about. The reason is, he can express his view of life, ideas, and feelings better while he is designing. He studied design, phsychology and sociology, and gets his designing inspiration from arts, music, his personal life, philosophies of life, and the science of every individual's mind. He designs clothing for both men, and women. Salar presented his new collection, The Seven Winds at THRFW. This collection has an African and Arabic theme to it, and it refers to metaphysical concepts of seven spirits, and is reveals the process of extraction of the evil spirits from one's body by the ceremonies that were held in Southern Iran. This ceremony is called Zar, and happens only to purify one's mind and body from the evil spirits, and negative energies.
RAAD FASHION HOUSE
Founded by Amir Raad in collaboration with Azadeh Asgari and Saghar Nikgohar in 2014, Raad Fashion House offers all ranges of menswear attire, from business meetings and festive occasions to recreational activities. You can also get wardrobe consultation from their very experienced stylists and consultants, if you have trouble finding the right outfit for your special event. Their graments are very modernly styled, suited to your taste, and start from a wide range of casual to classic attire. Call them "esentials!" RFH closed this year's THRFW season by presenting its summer collection, Blazers of Summer, to the audience.
Raad Fashion House
Third day at THRFW, men and women guests were both allowed to enjoy each show, being seated at the proper row.
This event was not open to public, and attendance was allowed by invitations only. All ranges of people such as the designer's family, friends and guests, celebrities, bloggers, boutique owners, journalists and those who are related to the this industry, had attended this event.
Group photo of Tehrn Fashion Week models.
From left to right, Fashion designer Salar Bil, and Hana Spa Resort staff members ( sponsor )
Singer & DJ, Ashkan from Ashkan Music
Tehran Fashion Week was also covered by France 24 TV chanel, Institude of European Design, VIVA Magazine, and STYLE Magazine, two famous Iranian English language entertainment and fashion magazines.
Please refer to each designer's website and their social media sources for your inquiries.
All photos by FXP, THRFW & Reihanet