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Hushidar Mortezaie

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Hushidar Mortezaie
Born1972 (age 51–52)[1]
Other namesHushi Mortezaie
EducationUniversity of California, Berkeley,
Parsons School of Design,
Fashion Institute of Technology
Occupation(s)Fashion designer, artist, collage artist, graphic designer
Known forFashion

Hushidar "Hushi" Mortezaie (born 1972)[2] is an Iranian-born American fashion designer, artist, collagist, and graphic designer.[3][4] He co-founded the fashion label Michael and Hushi. Mortezaie is best known for his over-the-top Persian-aesthetic collaged textiles and fashion designs, often exploring glamour, politics, and kitsch.[1][5] He has lived and worked in New York City, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

Early life and education

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Hushidar Mortezaie was born in 1972 in Tehran, Iran.[2][1] He identifies as queer.[3] In 1975, at the age of 3, due to political reasons his family moved to Marin County in California where he was raised.[1][6] In 1990, he met Michael Sears while they were both living in San Francisco.[1] He was attending the University of California, Berkeley and studying fine art.[4]

Career

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In 1994, Mortezaie moved with Sears to New York City.[1] He attended classes at Parsons School of Design, followed by classes at Fashion Institute of Technology.[7] Mortezaie was mentored and worked as a fashion buyer under Patricia Field.[4][8]

In 1997, Sears and Mortezaie opened an East Village boutique, Sears and Robot.[9][10] They made clothes that existed as a hybrid of Western and Middle Eastern fashion.[11] The initial clientele was primarily club kids and celebrities, and this evolved into contemporary fashion, couturier, and runways.[12][13] The shared the fashion label, Michael and Hushi, and this became the rebranded name of the storefront after pressure from Sears Roebuck.[1][14][15] They held a fashion show in the 1990s with models walking down the runway holding machine guns, wearing traditional Iranian chadors.[5] Their fashion was shown on the television series, Sex And The City (season 3, episode 43) with a dress worn by Sarah Jessica Parker; and in the film Fight Club (1999), with a printed shirt worn by Brad Pitt.[7][15][12] Michael and Hushi participated in the exhibition of artist hand painted boots, Dr. Martens Original Since 1960 (2003) at a gallery at 537 West 26th Street in New York City.[16] Michael and Hushi fashion pieces are sought after and collected, including by vintage dealer Olivia Haroutounian.[15][17]

Mortezaie's first art exhibition was in 2009 at the Morono Kiang Gallery in Los Angeles.[18] His art work has been part of notable art exhibitions including Theory of Survival: Fabrications (2014), curated by Taraneh Hemami at Southern Exposure;[19] The Third Muslim (2018), curated by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Yas Ahmed at SOMArts in San Francisco;[3][20] Occupy Me: Branding Culture, Identity & The Politics of Fashion (2018) at Helen Lindhurst Fine Arts Gallery in Los Angeles;[8] and Ctrl + Alt + Fashion: Manufacturing Iranian Identity (2019) at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.[21] Mortezaie has worked with artist Zulfikar Ali Bhutto on the design of performance costumes.[22]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g Reddy, Samir (2003-12-08). "Hushi Mortezaie Explores American, Iranian Ideals of Glamour". Parstimes.com. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
  2. ^ a b "Hushi, Whose Designs Are Worn by Madonna and Brad Pitt, Branches Out into Art". Kayhan Life. 2017-01-01. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
  3. ^ a b c Curiel, Jonathan (2018-02-07). "Queer and Trans Muslim Narratives of Resistance, at SOMArts". SF Weekly. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
  4. ^ a b c "Silk Road Super, Hushidar Mortezaie". Jdeed magazine. 31 May 2017. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
  5. ^ a b "Michael & Hushi - New York Fashion Designer". New York magazine. Vox Media, LLC. ISSN 0028-7369. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
  6. ^ "From Happy Meals to Haute Hijab: The Middle East meets Middle America in Michael and Hushi's exuberant clothing designs". Bidoun. No. We Are You, But What Am I?. Spring 2004. ISSN 1551-4048. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
  7. ^ a b Mak, Sonia (2009). Traces of Being: Iran in the Passage of Memories (exhibition). Morono Kiang Gallery. pp. 33–39. ISBN 978-0-9815389-8-3.
  8. ^ a b Pashaie, Natalie (2018-08-30). "'Occupy Me' explores thought-provoking clothing, systems of control". Daily Trojan. USC Roski School of Art and Design. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  9. ^ Khakpour, Porochista (April 2002). "Michael and Hushi, Club Couturies". Paper magazine.
  10. ^ "The Queer Intifada". Queer Cultural Center. 2019-04-16. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
  11. ^ Cotter, Holland (2005-04-08). "Art in Review; 'Welcome'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  12. ^ a b Dugas, Adam (Winter 2002). "Fashion: Dynamic Duo". Empire magazine. p. 34.
  13. ^ "As You Like It". W magazine. September 2003. pp. 6, 10.
  14. ^ Khakpour, Porochista (2010-09-11). "My Nine Years as a Middle-Eastern American". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
  15. ^ a b c Huber, Eliza. "Meet The 22-Year-Old Vintage Seller ID'ing Your Favorite Sex And The City Looks On TikTok". Refinery29.com. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
  16. ^ "Chunky bootmaker Dr. Martens to sell shares to public". KOIN NBC-6. Nexstar Media Inc. 2021-01-11. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
  17. ^ "Remaking the Naked Dress From 'Sex and the City' With a Viral Vintage Dealer". Vogue. Condé Nast. 2021-09-23. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
  18. ^ "Art Salon Chinatown Presents Hushi's California Silk Road Bazaar". The Ministry of Culture. 2018-11-28. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  19. ^ Xiao, An (2014-10-22). "An Iranian-American Artist Revisits Images from the 1979 Revolution". Hyperallergic. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
  20. ^ Seikaly, Roula (January 30, 2018). "'The Third Muslim' Builds an Archive of Resistance to Stereotypes". KQED. Retrieved 2022-02-07.
  21. ^ Baron, Sophie (2019-05-17). "Johns Hopkins University Event Entitled "Rethinking Iran" Is Part of An Iranian Regime Propaganda Campaign". The Apadana Chronicle. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
  22. ^ Sultan, Iman (7 August 2020). "Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Jr. wants you to see a parallel world". Input magazine. Retrieved 2022-02-07.
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