Final Fitting

Director
Reza Haeri
Producer
Reza Haeri
Year
2008
Length
35
Off
Description

A documentary about Mr. Arabpour, the master tailor and craftsman, and the proprietor of the most famous tailor shop in Qom. He is in his eighties and for the last several decades has been the official tailor to the most important religious leaders of the country, starting with the late Ayatollah Khomeini to the current Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, as well as for the former president, Mohammad Khatami. His international clientele include such prominent figures as Imam Musa Sadr of Lebanon.

He speaks to us of the different styles and the many variations on the traditional aba and ammameh (the turban and the robe). Mr. Arabpour shows us how he cuts and creates the garments and how he adapts them for different men with different needs. One may want a packet for a mobile phone while another wants a simpler, more austere version without frills. The newer styles, more sculpted, more tailored, with defined seams and pockets, are designed for a new kind of Ayatollah: the more reform-minded and "democratic" ones of whom Khatami is the supreme example.