Fashion Is Freedom

May 30, 2016
Fashion designer Raassi recounts her journey from Iran, where she was a rebellious teenager pining for artistic expression, to the U.S., where she created her swimwear line, Dar Be Dar. The book begins in 1998 with a startling account of her 16th birthday party, when Raassi was arrested by military police for wearing a miniskirt and punished with 40 lashes. This traumatic event shaped her vision to “celebrate a woman’s choice to wear whatever she desires, without the fear of being judged or punished.” Raassi reveres her homeland and tries to maintain an apolitical stance while objecting to its sexist customs. She recalls a childhood plagued by the Iran-Iraq War, when Western fashion magazines and Barbie dolls were coveted contraband that informed her artistic awakening. After moving to the States, Raasi faced repeated business failures, which she relates frankly while noting the lessons she learned. These include a disastrous attempt at opening a boutique in Washington, D.C., and a demoralizing experience with a Miss Universe pageant that was marred by wildly inappropriate behavior from the staff, a botched photo shoot, and Donald Trump. Raasi’s story is inspirational and very relevant for young entrepreneurs and creative types, providing plenty of insight into the dos and don’ts of running a small business. Agent: Jessica Regel, Foundry Literary.

June 15, 2016
Fashion designer Raassi looks back on her years growing up in Tehran and her attempts to grow a business in the United States.In this unexpectedly wry and winning memoir, the author opens with a turning point in her life: in 1998, when she was 16, she attended a party at a private home where the girls all stripped off their hijabs and long coats to reveal miniskirts and high heels. This wasn't the first party she'd attended where this was the practice, but it was the first one to be raided by an armed government group. Raassi ended up spending five days in jail and receiving 40 lashes as punishment for flouting dress laws. From that opening incident, she detours back into exploring the contradictions of growing up in a wealthy family in Iran in the 1980s and '90s, playing with forbidden Barbies, cutting up her mother's mink coat and her father's leather chair to make clothes for them, being one of the "mean girls" in high school, and breaking as many rules as possible. Then the author leaps forward to her parents' insistence that she move to the U.S. after high school. During this time, she went through a series of experiments in fashion and business that ultimately led to her setting up the Dar Be Dar swimwear line. The feisty Raassi is honest about the mistakes she made, the failures she went through, and the complications of making a life in fashion. Chapters about the rise and fall of her Georgetown boutique and her decidedly mixed experience sponsoring the 2010 Miss Universe pageant suggest "the unglamorous sides of the most glamorous industry in the world." A rare book equally likely to appeal to fans of Project Runway and students of contemporary Middle Eastern cultural history.

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August 1, 2016
Notable fashion designer Raassi weaves her poignant memoir, set in Iran during the tumultuous civil unrest in the late 1970s and early 1980s, following the exile of Ayatollah Khomeini, with threads of almost Dickensian drama. On her way to her sweet-16 birthday party at a friend's house, her life takes an incredible turn when the simple act of exercising the freedom of choosing what to wear lands her in prison and results in a brutal and humiliating punishment. This fuels the flames of rebellion, and she sets out on a path of almost brazen, empowering self-discovery and a self-imposed moratorium on fear. Raassi's elegant, conversational style, at times taking on the timbre of a child's voice, brings readers into her world effortlessly and keeps them there until the final page. Filled with vivid details of the lives of Iranian women in the twentieth century contrasted with informative historical vignettes, Fashion Is Freedom presents personal insights into pre-9/11 Iran and offers women everywhere a heroine to cheer for.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)