I was beaten for wearing a short skirt
As a 16-year-old growing up in Iran TALA RAASSI received 40 lashes for her dress sense. Here she speaks about the punishment that changed her life
FASHION designer Tala Raassi will never forget the moment she first saw a Hollywood star wearing one of her designs. “When the actress Kristen Stewart wore one of my bikinis in 2011 I had to look twice to check that it was real,” says Tala, founder of Dar Be Dar swimwear, which is sold in high end department stores across the US and Dubai.
Yet when Tala, 33, first set her sights on becoming a designer it wasn’t because she dreamed of seeing her clothes on the latest “it” girl. Her ambitions were much more humble.
She wanted to offer women across the globe the freedom to wear exactly what they liked.
Growing up in Tehran, Iran, this was a privilege that Tala was denied. Aged 16, in 1998, while at a friend’s house party, she was arrested for wearing a short skirt.
Held at gunpoint, she was hauled in jail and kept there for five days. Before her release, Tala was subjected to 40 lashes by female guards as punishment for her crime.
Tala describes what life was like growing up under the restrictions of Iran’s strict government regime.
“Women had to be covered from head to toe and luxuries most take for granted, such as wearing make-up and listening to pop music, were strictly off limits,” she says.
While her parents were not strict by nature, they were scared of clashing with the government and Tala remembers coming to blows with them on numerous occasions over her lack of freedom.
“I grew up in a modern family,” says Tala, who now lives in Virginia, US. “We had beauty, culture and love. My parents encouraged me to try tennis and cooking. After school I would listen to Mariah Carey on illegal radio channels.
“Yet make-up was forbidden and if you were spotted wearing it you would be in trouble. When outside, you had to be covered from head to toe. Bikinis, well you could forget them altogether.”
When she was around eight years old Tala found an outlet, fashion. Although foreign fashion magazines were prohibited in Iran she would pore over illegal copies in the safety of her home.
While doing so, Tala dreamed of being a designer herself. “Restrictions made me resourceful,” she says. “Barbie dolls were banned in Iran but when relatives came to visit they smuggled them in and I would dress them. My mum had a mink coat that she never wore because she was scared to draw attention to herself so I cut the end off to make a coat for my doll. As you can imagine, she was not best pleased.”
Later, Tala would also cut up her father’s leather chair to make a new dress for her doll, much to his dismay.
She was content for a while but when she reached her teens Tala admits she grew increasingly frustrated with the restrictive regime.
“Lots of homes had illegal satellite dishes so I would watch Baywatch and then get annoyed when I would have to go to school completely covered up,” she says. While you could buy all kinds of clothes in boutiques, it was illegal to wear them.”
Despite the rules, Tala loved to shop and made handmade jewellery to sell to friends to fund her wardrobe. And then, at the age of 16, Tala made a decision that would change her life, daring to wear a mini skirt.
“I knew I wasn’t allowed to wear it but I didn’t care,” she says.
“At the party there were about 30 of us, no alcohol, no drugs, just listening to music, playing cards and chatting.”
Not long after the party began the house was raided by police.
Tala explains that she learned later someone who hadn’t been invited to the party had reported them to get revenge, not knowing how severe the punishment would be. “My friend screamed, ‘Run, get out of there!’ but it was too late, they had me,” she says of the policemen who seized her.
“I didn’t believe what I was doing was a crime. It wasn’t until they actually locked us up that I knew how serious it was. We were thrown in a cell with drug dealers and thieves. I was very scared.
“We could hear rats crawling on the floor and screams from down the hall. If we needed to use the bathroom we had to ask a guard’s permission. There were squat toilets right out in the hallway.” Despite pleas from her family, after five days behind bars Tala, along with several of her friends, lay face down on a mattress and was whipped 40 times.
“The woman who beat me was dressed head to toe in black. She said she went easy on me. I shudder to think how it would have been if she hadn’t,” says Tala.
“It only took a few minutes but it felt like forever. The pain is hard to describe but it felt like I was being burnt. Afterwards my back was swollen, yellow and blue. I had to lie on my side for a week.”
In the aftermath of the beatings, Tala admits she felt angry. Yet the brutal punishment also gave her a steely determination to succeed.
“I was angry, yes, but the experience also humbled me and I channelled my energy into school,” explains Tala, who aged 17, was encouraged by her parents to leave Iran for a new life in America. As she was born in America (her parents relocated from Iran in 1980 so her older brother could undergo a life-saving operation), she had a US passport and was able to study business at George Mason University.
ON LEAVING university in 2005 she set out to start her own fashion label but it wasn’t all plain sailing for the fledgling designer.
“I hated it at first. I was lonely, I didn’t speak much English and I also felt guilty for leaving Iran,” says Tala, who took retail and admin jobs to pay her rent.
Aged 21 she set up and lost a T-shirt company with help from her parents. Then in 2008 she opened a boutique which folded during the recession.
However in 2009 she set up Dar Be Dar, a luxury swimwear brand.
“At first it was a scramble and I made pieces to order and bought the fabric only when commissioned. I had no money,” she explains. “Yet over time that changed. I had investors and I have achieved my dream of becoming a designer.” Tala’s parents, back in Iran, couldn’t be more proud of their daughter. “They have stopped telling me to become a lawyer,” she laughs.
Tala now sells her designs in America and Dubai and travels the globe to get inspiration for her latest collections. “I adore London, the fashion there is some of the best,” she says.
She admits there have been times she wondered whether it was all worth it.
“It’s been a struggle but I am so proud of how far I have come,” says Tala. “For me fashion is about freedom. It’s about expression, it’s about hope.”
“I have been in a place of no hope. So I’m doing this for every woman out there who feels like they can’t follow their dreams.”
To order Fashion Is Freedom by Tala Raassi, out on September 8, RRP £8.99 (Blink Publishing) call the Express Bookshop on 01872 562 310 or visit expressbookshop.co.uk