A wealthy, fashionable woman from north Tehran, Sudaveh, had no idea how to act when the morality police would show up at her clothing factory in the first years of the Iranian revolution.

Zarir, her assistant from the pious slums of south Tehran, knew exactly what to do. “Don’t go in there!” Zarir would tell the men as Sudaveh rushed to cover up in adherence to strict Islamic dress codes. “Madame doesn’t like to be disturbed during her prayers.”

While Zarir helped Sudaveh navigate the intricacies of the Islamic Republic, Sudaveh helped Zarir transform herself from a homebound victim of domestic violence to a businesswoman who stood up to her strict traditional family.

Over nearly two decades, the two women from two different Irans became friends. The threads of their lives became interwoven. The fabric of their nation changed. Their clothing business grew into a small empire.

After the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran turned inside out. Streets, once bustling with prostitutes and drunken revelers, became somber.

The revolution also upended Iran’s once-inflexible class system. Wealthy families lost status and income, and many moved abroad. Pious and poor families made their way up the social ladder. Economic realities sent women into the workforce. In this transformed world, Sudaveh and Zarir came together.

Before the revolution, Sudaveh worked as a deputy to the head of Iran’s state-owned Agricultural Bank, an elite post she got through connections. But like many of her class, she was pushed out of her job.

Then in her mid-30s, she began considering her options. She wanted to earn money, stay busy and keep her distance from the newly empowered class of pious bureaucrats. She decided to get into the clothing business, specifically children’s outfits, to avoid the troubles that accompany anything to do with women’s fashion in Iran.

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