Cleopatra Broumand

Cleopatra Broumand (; born ) is an Iranian-born American fashion designer, merchandiser, and entrepreneur in the apparel and food industries. Cleopatra Coffee, and Cyrus International. She is also a chef and member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals. After marriage she also used the names Cleopatra Birrenbach, and Cleopatra Broumand–Birrenbach.

Early life

Born in Tehran, Imperial State of Iran, and she is the youngest of six children. At 8 years old, she announced to her mother her intentions of becoming a fashion designer. Insisting that she wanted to become the next Christian Dior, and young Broumand enrolled in design and sewing classes.

Her father, who had a penchant for things American, sent 15-year-old Cleopatra to live with her older brother who had earlier moved to Indianapolis, Indiana.

Early career Broumand's early apparel designs reflected her Persian origins. In the late 1960s, Cleopatra's buyers and private customers were invited to a miniature museum of Persian artifacts, where she would read their fortune from their coffee grounds.

Having learned how to cook especially northern Persian delicacies from her mother, Broumand considers cooking an art form. In early 1974, she was featured in Craig Claiborne's book "Favorites from the New York Times", published by Times Books. Bareh-ye maveh (lamb with fruit), abgoosht limon (lemon stew), fesenjān (duck and meatballs in walnut and pomegranate sauce), and chelo (plain rice with saffron) were among the featured dishes she prepared. a steel company executive with the German Thyssen Group. He is the son of Kurt Birrenbach, chairman of the supervisory board of the Thyssen Group (today ThyssenKrupp) and Member of the German Bundestag (Parliament). Starting in 1974, Broumand spent the next ten years living and working around the world, in China, Germany, India, Italy, Iran, Japan, Russia, and Scotland. Aided by her knowledge of six languages, Broumand became a global fashion influence.

In 1989, as Artistic Liaison together with Tair Salakhov, contemporary artist and First Secretary of the USSR Artists' Union, she initiated and coordinated the first art exchange between the USSR and the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival an art exhibition related to the legacy of renown Russian composer and artist Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975).

In 1987 Scottish knitting manufacturer Peter Scott praised her for "having advanced their industry a decade in technology."

In her travels, she not only influenced global manufacturing based on Western practices, but returned with Eastern goods and inspirations. She spearheaded a collaboration between Empress Farah and Vice President Nelson Rockefeller on the reproduction of antique Persian jewelries and artifacts for the American market. The Iranian Revolution impeded such development.

With the Indian Government and non-governmental manufacturers, she developed and jointly produced lines of beadings, embroideries, and silks for the United States market.

Re-emergence as fashion designer In 1983, upon returning to the United States, Broumand re-emerged as a designers on New York's Seventh Avenue and launched her colorful collections of women's ready-to-wear, evening wear, menswear, and accessories in the designer and couture categories. Cleopatra's fall 1983 collection was based on an ancient "Sun Man" mask and "Lady Sun," as well as starbursts and crescent moons. All her silk prints were computer designed and produced in the Como region of Italy by producers such as: Etro, Corisia, Taroni, etc. Her cashmeres and alpaca were from Loro Piana and Agnona. and from German Zero Group artist Adolf Luther's "Light and Matter" (Licht+Materie) coil motif. Her evening designs included quilted silk jackets, pleated skirts, and lightly embroidered silk shirts. In this same season, with the cracked earth and coil motives, she premiered a collection of men's sweaters after actor Paul Newman inquired about menswear while attending an earlier womenswear trunk show and personal appearance in Beverly Hills.

Her fall 1985 collection drew inspiration from the Houghton Shahnameh or Book of Kings, 16th century miniature illustrations of 10th century Persian writer Ferdowsi's poetry. A computer design knitted face with red lips and an asymmetrical collar on the sweaters were among other popular designs in the collection. She was using computers to aid in her apparel design process in 1985. Her spring 1985 collection was titled Rajah, and was inspired by Indian royalty.

Reminiscent of her earlier designs, she made garments inspired by the medieval world. The sword, falcon, and metallic glint of armor appeared in her fall 1986 designs which retained their softness in their knitted and silk textures or delicate embroidery as the breastplate inspired pieces did.

Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdale's, Barneys, Takashimaya, Henri Bendel, Nordstrom, Bullocks Wilshire, etc. are among the stores which carried her line. Celebrity clients included the likes of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Gloria Swanson, Elizabeth Taylor,

Humanitarian work Following the Armenian earthquake of 1988, she became founder and director of the Children of Crisis Foundation in Washington, D.C., the first Russian/American foundation. In April 1989, per Broumand's suggestion, a three-day auction of one million dollars' worth of her clothing and scarves, inaugurated by Liana Dubinin, wife of the USSR Ambassador to Washington, opened at the Madison Hotel in Washington D.C. benefiting the Armenian Children Relief Fund.

In 1996, contribution from proceeds of a trunk sale in Park City, Utah went to the Huntsman Cancer Foundation.

Awards In 1989, she was honored with an Order of Merit award by the Supreme Soviet and Council of Ministers of the Armenian SSR in recognition for her charitable contribution. The ceremony took place at the Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C. President Ronald Reagan was among the recipients.

Member of the International Research Council, Near East Museum of Ancient and Contemporary Art, The Marcos and Sabrina Grigorian Collection (Yerevan, Armenia).

Personal life Broumand resides in New York City with her husband Thomas. She is developing new food items, among them a dough-less, gluten free pizza.