Bijan

Bijan Pakzad ( ; , ; 4 April 1940 – 16 April 2011), generally known mononymously as Bijan, was an Iranian designer of menswear and fragrances.

Biography Bijan was born in Tehran, Iran in either 1940 or 1944. He was the son of a wealthy businessman. He attended Institut Le Rosey, and studied design in Switzerland and Italy.

In 1984, he opened a second store on Fifth Avenue and 55th Street in New York (which closed in 2000). In his first ten years of business, he claimed a $150 million revenue. He owned a textile factory in Italy, where he manufactured his custom-made clothing In 1989, the Bijan NY store was hit by the 2-year, $50-million renovation of the adjacent St. Regis Hotel, and launched litigation against its then-owner, Sheraton.

In 2000, Bijan generated controversy when he published advertisements featuring a nude "rotund model named Bella", which were rejected by many New York magazines before being accepted by Tina Brown's Talk. He said the ads were an homage to painters Peter Paul Rubens, Henri Matisse, and Fernando Botero, whose art has featured full-figured women, and said "I embrace the beauty of all women". According to the 2001 Los Angeles Times Calendar Section, the Bijan Perfume and Fashion Business has brought in an estimated $3.2 billion in sales worldwide. In November 1997, two executives of Bijan were robbed of $3 million worth of jewelry in London in a very elaborate heist.

On April 14, 2011, Bijan suffered a stroke and was rushed to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He had brain surgery, The boutique moved across the street in 2020.

Work A Bijan suit jacketBijan specialized in exclusive high-fashion designs. He never held a fashion show to exhibit his creations. His New York Times store was a curiosity in the city as it was by appointment only, to ward off the "untasty people." In 2010, he designed a limited edition Rolls-Royce coupé with a price tag of $1 million. a Swiss-German whom he met while living in Europe in the 1960s; they had one daughter, Daniela Pakzad. His second wife was Irish-Japanese interior designer and model Tracy Hayakawa; they married in 1986 and divorced in 1995. They had two children together: The vehicle is generally regarded as a Beverly Hills landmark.

Since Bijan's death, the Bugatti, along with various other custom vehicles Bijan owned, such as his Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupé, has been parked outside the Bijan boutique on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, purportedly the last place he left it before his death.

The Bugatti was vandalized in July 2011, when a local transient broke the passenger-side window. The vandal was arrested by Beverly Hills Police Department officers shortly afterwards. The vehicle was soon repaired. In early 2017, the Veyron was sold to a client in Dubai. The new owner has since sold it to another collector in Dubai.