Nina Doroushi

Nina Doroushi's fashion journey was triggered by taboos surrounding sexuality and growing up during the damaging size zero, "heroin chic" era which lead to a fixation on the body, anatomy, skin and flesh. "I think the noughties emaciated standard of beauty was an attempt to avoid womanhood because to embrace womanhood is to embrace the seething excess of Mother Nature and that's just terrifying. That's why curves were replaced with bones and to me, desexualising is synonymous with disempowering. Latex seemed to be the optimum medium that came closest to conveying the skin and an erotic wholesomeness more authentically than the naked body itself". Nina Doroushi trained at Ecole de la Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture Parisienne in 2015, after which she went on to intern for couturier, Iris Van Herpen, as well as an acclaimed latex fashion house.

The Iranian-Irish, London-born and based designer created a concept that takes an untraditional approach to fetish fashion. Doroushi founded her eponymous label as a backlash to her sex-negative upbringing and sibling who suffered from eating disorders. Centred around dressing for pleasure and ritualistic self-seduction, the collections pay homage to and celebrate the divine feminine, to compensate for that of which young women of the 00's were robbed of.

In the spirit of the Surrealists and modern sculptors, who venerated the female torso, the part in which they considered to have had the most erotic appeal, the Nina Doroushi dress is easily recognisable by a signature button tab opening on the centre front and/or back which is intended to act as a centrepiece to accentuate the eminence of how the garment is removed. It is erect with metal and runs along the backbone as a symbol of resilience and pride against sexual shaming for simply possessing a female body.

Made to order by expert artisans in her London atelier, Nina Doroushi encourages consumers to invest in one-of-a-kind, timeless pieces that last. "This way, not only are we collectively engaging with the solution, we are supporting true artisans and luxury can be attainable by a wider range of people."