Shahla Dorriz is an Iranian artist and couturier. Establishing a distinct practice of reworking her mother and grandmother’s historical family textiles, Shahla Dorriz’s works document an ongoing intergenerational collaboration spanning four generations. Shahla Dorriz preserves a 150-year-old family textile archive from Iran, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Bukhara, and Baluchistan—a living record of displacement and diaspora. 

Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Shahla Dorriz developed a distinctive body of work in fashion and costume design, deeply rooted in Iranian heritage and diasporic memory (E! Channel). During the 1990s, Dorriz implemented one of the first uses of Persian hand-writing calligraphy, writings and poetry by Rumi and Hafez, (better known today as Sufi Art) onto textiles - later popularized by many young Iranian artists and designers. She introduced this line to the public in interviews with E! Channel's host, Lauren Ezersky, of "Behind the Velvet Ropes" in 2001. She has appeared on the show several other times further introducing the beauty of the renowned poems in her gowns to the public. In 2002 she designed these Rumi Poetry costumes for the World Premiere of Les Ballets Persans Ballet and Seven Beauties & Divine Banquets in Stockholm, Sweden. The choreographies were based on Sufism and poetry by Molana Jalaloddin Rumi. She has gone on to dress high-profile celebrities and public figures like First Lady and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (2007) and International singer-songwriter Natalie Cole (2013) in scarves and gowns written with Rumi calligraphy poetry, respectively. 

In 2002, Shahla Dorriz was named "Fashion Fabulous" and a "future of star of couture" by Mr. Blackwell. Entertainers and philanthropists have worn her designs during the Emmy Awards, the Oscars, and the Vanity Fair party, including the "Moon Dress" made for Ms. Buzz Aldrin, wife of the first man to step on the moon, in 2007. Farrah Fawcett was one of the first American actresses to fall in love with Shahla's designs from the early years of her career in the United States. In 2013, she created three statement gowns for Natalie Cole upon the release of her new Spanish-speaking album, “En Español”, creating the gown for the debut of the album’s concert at the Hollyood Bowl – inside of the gown’s train were hand-painted the lyrics of her songs, “Once in a lifetime – Solamente y una vez”. Later that year she created a statement piece for her Latin Grammys appearance and red carpet – a vibrant red sculptural element. Many prestigious Iranian entertainers have worn Shahla Dorriz, mostly known for her styling and designing of attire in Iranian music videos and concerts, such as designing several gowns for Iranian singer Googoosh for international tours.

The fashion industry is responsible for nearly 10% of global carbon emissions—more than all international flights and maritime shipping combined—and produces 20% of global wastewater, largely from dyeing and textile treatment. Since the 1990s, Shahla Dorriz has worked exclusively in a bespoke model: one-of-one couture, with no garment ever reproduced.

The photograph on the left shows Shahla Dorriz’s mother and father as teenagers in 1940s Tehran. Behind them a needlepoint embroidery work by her mother, Sanaiyeh, practicing soozan-doozi and gol-doozi—matrilineal techniques passed down across generations. Shahla’s family preserved centuries-old textile traditions—from qalamkar to zardozi—gathered across regions from Sangesar to Baluchistan, many of which were smuggled into North America during the 1979 Iranian Revolution. 

After her mother’s passing in the 1990s, Shahla began reworking these heirloom textiles into sculptural garments—cathartic acts of grieving, mourning, intimacy, and transformation. In 2013, Shahla’s son, alexandre ali reza dorriz, discovered this black and white photograph and recognized the needlepoint embroidery work in the background as the same textile used in a dress his mother had made decades earlier, the original work from the 1990s pictured on the right on the bodice of the gown. 

LA MAISON DU SHAHLA DORRIZ

Shahla Dorriz is a Couture and Bridal fashion house founded in 1994, formerly located on the renowned Robertson Boulevard in Beverly Hills. Shahla Dorriz is known for working from the archives of textiles that were hand-embroidered and finished by Shahla’s mother and grandmother and the house holds in preservation archived textiles dating over 150 years to date.