"Alango"; A Website for Iranian Underground Designers

The Alango website is the first Iranian site that has been offering and selling handmade works by Iranian fashion and jewelry designers internationally for the past two years. On this site, Iranian designers of fashion, textiles, clothing, bags, shoes, and jewelry showcase their works for sale. Alango has held various shows around the world featuring the handmade works of Iranian artists, the latest of which took place on December 18 in Boston, USA. Golshid Mola, a senior expert in communication management and image from NYU, who currently resides in New York, is the founder and manager of the Alango site. Radio Farda has interviewed her about this site. Where did the idea for Alango come from and when did it take shape? When I was studying at the University of Art in Iran, we used to hold shows with the university students... We believe that we started the underground shows in Tehran after the revolution. There may have been a few before us that we are not aware of, but we seriously and officially started and later our group began to obtain permits for our shows. These shows were very successful in Tehran from the beginning and created a lot of buzz, and later they were conducted with permits. In total, I held 13 shows in Iran and then immigrated to New York. When I came to New York, I stepped away from this work and went into online media. However, the idea of shows and fashion was always on my mind. I would return to Iran and see that the kids were still working very strongly and the shows had become much more serious. I would go and see, and it always broke my heart that no one here knew about or had access to this work. This was how the idea gradually took shape. The idea was to bring these works online and showcase underground fashion (Iran's underground fashion) on the website. What kind of artists' works do you present on Alango and what characteristics should these works have? Initially, when Alango started, our entire focus was on introducing designers who create wearable art. This means that whatever the works were, they had to be wearable, such as clothing, shoes, bags, and jewelry. Another important aspect for us was that the works should be of acceptable quality. Designers would send samples for us to see if the handmade work was presentable or not, and another special attention was that the product should have something to say. Personally, I wanted it to have a message about Iran. This is generally the reception of the works from most people who visit Alango. They come to Alango for two reasons: either they want to support that underground designer or they are looking for a product that has something to say about Iran. What about artists inside Iran? Can they also present their works through Alango? This is an issue we are very much struggling with due to sanctions. Anyone who resides in Iran and lives there permanently and does not have any foreign bank account or PayPal account outside Iran, we are legally not allowed to work with them. Unfortunately. However, we have been working with a lawyer for about a year and a half on this issue to obtain permission to work with artists inside Iran who also do not have accounts outside Iran, and we hope to have a response by Nowruz. Alongside online sales and presenting works through the website and the internet, you have also held shows in various places around the world. How effective are these shows in introducing Iranian artists and fashion designers? Since Alango's goal is to support Iranian underground designers, we hold a show for them about twice a year in a city. Los Angeles, London, New York, which was the first Alango show, Washington D.C., and we had a show on December 18 in Boston. I think our next show will again be in Europe in Paris. The Alango site has made it possible for a number of Iranian underground designers to be introduced much more widely in the USA and Canada, which was my personal goal. What plans does Alango have for the future? Alango is currently designing a collection under its own name in collaboration with an Iranian fashion designer. This means that from now on, we will have works with the Alango brand. Additionally, other items will be added to the site during the upcoming holidays, such as special pastries made by a lady in New York in a very artistic manner. We are also planning a joint collaboration with Iranian underground music groups. We will probably also offer decorative items. Another thing we continue to do is arrange fashion shows outside of Iran in various countries. These days I am lucky to be collaborating with the Edinburgh Iranian Festival in Scotland, and for the first time, we are holding a fashion show for five underground designers as well as jewelry designers at the Edinburgh Museum.