For Pedram Pasha Taheri, designing for interiors and for figures goes hand-in-hand. 
Taheri started his schooling at the University as an interior design student. Halfway through college, he said he learned there was an opportunity to learn fashion design from the department of textiles, apparel design and merchandising hidden in the College of Agriculture. 
Because he always had an interest in apparel design, Taheri took some extra classes in the department.
“If you have passion for anything beautiful and design-related, you can do either,” Taheri said.
Ultimately, he ended up finishing his degree at an online university, but those few classes got the ball rolling for his career. 
After school, Taheri moved to Los Angeles for about nine months to be a clothing stylist for athletes and celebrities. He said this job is what solidified his move from interior designer to clothing designer because it awoke the desire he had for clothing and design.  
“[The job] really shook me as far as really what my real passion is, and it was fashion,” Taheri said. 
Taheri came back to Baton Rouge, where he resides, and set up his design studio in New Orleans.
He said he decided to design women’s evening and bridal wear because there was a lot more he could do with it as opposed to men’s clothing. Pedram Couture is designed with the mentality of red carpet glamour. 
“I have luxury in mind every time I design something,” Taheri said. “I want a woman who’s wearing any of my pieces to feel very luxurious and very sophisticated. When she walks into a room, she would feel like she’s the only one in the room, and all the heads would turn and look at her.”
Taheri obtains his fabric from stores in Los Angeles and New York City that carry the same fabrics designers such as Chanel, Valentino and Alexander McQueen use. He said they are usually limited on yardage, only allowing him to design one dress with the fabric, but he feels the couture and one-of-a-kind mentality merits the use of such fabric. 
“I tend to think that a lot of these designers like Chanel, Valentino, Alexander McQueen — they pay so much attention to detail,” Taheri said. 
Taheri pays attention to detail by designing an ensemble around a specific fabric or including hand-beading on the pieces. Along with his gowns, he said items like jumpsuits and rompers include beading. 
On March 12, Pedram Couture will be presented at Los Angeles Fashion Week, and March 27, it will close New Orleans Fashion Week. 
Taheri said these are his two favorite places to show. He said Los Angeles offers a glamorous, upbeat and organized atmosphere with stylists and celebrity guests in attendance. As for New Orleans, he said he and other designers are working to help the city reach the levels of other powerhouse fashion cities. 
“New Orleans [Fashion Week] is still growing … to reach those levels,” Taheri
said. 
He said with the migration of films being made in New Orleans, actors and actresses come to reside there. Along with these public figures are professional athletes whose wives are working to get involved locally in events. 
Taheri said that these factors are what are making the fashion industry, especially couture, grow in the city.
“Some of these people actually have second homes in New Orleans or they actually reside in one, and so they’re definitely adding to the glam of New
Orleans,” Taheri said.  
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