Bijan (designer): Difference between revisions
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|awards = [[FiFi Awards|FiFi]] ''Most Successful Men's Fragrance'' 1988<br>[[FiFi Awards|FiFi]] ''Best Women's Fragrance Package'' 1988<br>[[FiFi Awards|FiFi]] ''Men's Fragrance Star of the Year Specialty/ Department Stores'' 1997<br>[[FiFi Awards|FiFi]] ''Best National Advertising Campaign – Men's'' 1997<br>1995 [[Ig Nobel Prize|Ig Nobel Chemistry Prize]] |
|awards = [[FiFi Awards|FiFi]] ''Most Successful Men's Fragrance'' 1988<br>[[FiFi Awards|FiFi]] ''Best Women's Fragrance Package'' 1988<br>[[FiFi Awards|FiFi]] ''Men's Fragrance Star of the Year Specialty/ Department Stores'' 1997<br>[[FiFi Awards|FiFi]] ''Best National Advertising Campaign – Men's'' 1997<br>1995 [[Ig Nobel Prize|Ig Nobel Chemistry Prize]] |
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|known_for = |
|known_for = Cleaning Bathrooms. |
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|occupation = Designer |
|occupation = Designer |
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Revision as of 17:36, 3 December 2010
Bijan Pakzad | |
|---|---|
| Born | 4 April 1944 |
| Nationality | Iranian |
| Occupation | Designer |
| Known for | Cleaning Bathrooms. |
| Label | Bijan |
| Awards | FiFi Most Successful Men's Fragrance 1988 FiFi Best Women's Fragrance Package 1988 FiFi Men's Fragrance Star of the Year Specialty/ Department Stores 1997 FiFi Best National Advertising Campaign – Men's 1997 1995 Ig Nobel Chemistry Prize |
Bijan Pakzad (Persian: بیژن پاکزاد) (generally known simply as Bijan) (born 1944, in Tehran, Iran)[1] is a well-known US-based Iranian designer of menswear and fragrances.
Personal history
Born in Tehran, Iran, Bijan immigrated to the United States, to Los Angeles in 1973, where there is a large Iranian community. His exclusive boutique on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills was established in 1976 and can be visited by "appointment only". It has been described as "the most expensive store in the world".[2]
Bijan mainly lives in Beverly Hills, California, but he is also known to own residences in New York and Malibu, as well as Milan and Florence, Italy. Bijan is one of few Iranians in the notorious paparazzi spotlight who are still permitted to enter Iran.[citation needed]
Bijan is known also for his cars: he has a Yellow Bentley Azure with black interior, as well as a Black Bentley Azure with yellow interior. He is also known to have a Black Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren with a customized paint scheme, a yellow Ferrari 430, a Yellow Rolls Royce Drophead Coupe, and a Bugatti Veyron, all of which he is known to park outside of his Rodeo Drive botique.
In the late 1980s Bijan designed a golden Colt revolver. The gun had a leather handgrip fashioned for a .38-cal. Colt revolver inlaid in the cylinder was 56 grams of 24-karat gold, the gun was placed in a mink pouch in a Baccarat crystal case embossed with the customer's name. Bijan's own signature is engraved in gold on the barrel of the gun. Only 200 such guns were made. In 2005, one of these guns sold at Christie's auction house for over $50,000 USD
In 2000 Bijan courted controversy when an advertisement featuring a "rotund [nude] model named Bella"[3] and himself was at first rejected by New York magazines before it was accepted by Tina Brown's Talk magazine.[4]
Business
Bijan dresses some of the world's most powerful men: President of the United States Barack Obama, former President of the United States George W. Bush, Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger, American actor Tom Cruise, German TV host Thomas Gottschalk, British actor Sir Anthony Hopkins, President of Russia Vladimir Putin, U.S. Senator John Kerry, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair, Paul Allen, Jay Leno, Giorgio Armani, Usher, Carlos Slim Helu, Steve Wynn, Oscar de la Renta, Tom Ford, Shahram Nazeri and U.S. President Ronald Reagan have all been dressed by Bijan.
Bijan's fragrances for both men and women are known for their distinctive circular glass flacon with an open center and a dividing web. When half full, the fragrance fills two separate chambers, seemingly defying the law of gravity that liquid seeks its own level. One of these perfume bottles is featured in the permanent exhibit of the Smithsonian Institution.
According to the 2001 Los Angeles Times Calendar Section, the Bijan Perfume and Fashion Business has brought in an estimated $4 billion in sales worldwide.
Awards
In 1988, Bijan for Men won the Fragrance Foundation's FiFi award for "Most Successful Men's Fragrance (Exclusive)" while Bijan for Women won the award for "Best Women's Fragrance Package".[5] In 1997, Bijan again had success at the FiFi Awards with the Michael Jordan Cologne winning awards for "Men's Fragrance Star of the Year Specialty/ Department Stores" and "Best National Advertising Campaign – Men's". [6]
Another fragrance from Bijan, DNA, earned Bijan the Ig Nobel Prize in 1995 for chemistry, a parody prize awarded to those whose discoveries and accomplishments "first make people laugh, and then make them think." The perfume contained no deoxyribonucleic acid and came in a triple helix-shaped bottle (as opposed to the double helix structure of DNA).[7] The DNA name was inspired by Bijan's children's initials, Daniela, Nicolas, and Alexandra, not the nucleic acid.[8]
In 1989 Vanity Fair magazine named Bijan to their "International Best Dressed List".[9]
Bijan was selected as Persian Man of the Year 2006 by Persian Awards.
Family
Bijan has three children. His first-born, Daniela Pakzad, from his first marriage, and his other two children—Alexandra Pakzad and Nicolas Bijan Pakzad, from his second marriage, to Irish-Japanese Model/Interior Designer Tracy Murdock. His daughter Alexandra works as a fashion model and lives in Los Angeles. His son Nicolas also works for Bijan Designer for Men as well as Fashion World Inc. Nicolas lives in Malibu, CA, where he attends Pepperdine University, in 2009 he was named Malibu Citizen of the Year by The Malibu Times newspaper. In a 2009 interview with Signature Magazine, Bijan's self-proclaimed passion in life is his three children and his two dogs.
References
- ^ Frank Swertlow, "The Sultan of Sartor", Los Angeles Business Journal, May 15, 2000
- ^ Richard A. Wright, "Mercedes Rides to Rescue of Rodeo Drive Concours", Detroit News, June 30, 2003
- ^ Bella ads (contains nudity)
- ^ Hamilton Spectator, "The skinny on Bijan's fat lady ads", by Barbara Thomas, February 17, 2000
- ^ Fifi award winners
- ^ Michael Jordan Cologne Wins Fragrance Star of the Year Award
- ^ 1995 List of Ig Nobel Prize winners
- ^ Description of DNA by Bijan from Molecular Expressions website
- ^ Vanity Fair International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame