Reopening On Rodeo
● Younger men are discovering Bijan’s classic if ever-so-slightly cheesy charms.
Younger men are discovering Bijan’s classic if ever-so-slightly cheesy charms.
Since 1976, the Bijan men’s wear boutique has been a fixture on Rodeo Drive, and its happy yellow facade with matching yellow exotic car parked out front one of Los Angeles’ most-loved tourist stops — even if the store itself was open “by appointment only” for the U.S. presidents, Saudi princes and Chinese billionaires who could afford the $12,000 suits and $950 ties inside.
Now, four years after the original twostory building was sold to LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton for $120 million, Bijan has a new location across the street at 443 Rodeo, where Nicolas Bijan, 29, is hoping he can continue to follow in his father’s footsteps making experiential retail magic — with a self-aware wink.
If there’s any time for that, it could be now, when shoppers need a more compelling reason than ever to venture out to a brick-and-mortar store. One resembling a museum, that’s private, by-appointment-only, and an only-inBeverly Hills experience, would certainly seem a draw.
“There wasn’t a parking spot out front, but the City of Beverly Hills was kind enough to let us build a new one,” he said during a tour of the 8,000-square-foot store (nearly 50 percent larger than the original), recently completed after a 2 1/2 year, $12.5 million investment. “Just in time for the crowds to start coming back to Rodeo Drive, there will be a yellow RollsRoyce, or more likely a Bugatti.”
Founded by the late Bijan Pakzad, the brand billed as “the most expensive and exclusive in the world” was once synonymous with Eighties power dressing, making limited-edition, custom suits and ties worn by George H.W. Bush, Carlos Slim, King Juan Carlos, the Shah of Iran,
Michael Jordan and many more who are enshrined in the silver picture frames dotting the new store, just as they did the old one.
An Iranian come to L.A., Pakzad was a master marketer. Before Tom Ford or
Karl Lagerfeld, he understood the cult of personality in fashion. By starring in his own billboards and controversial ads (one, ahead of its time, featuring full-figured models after a Bottero painting that hangs in the store), he was able to grab headlines and spin the allure of over-the-topness into licensed fragrances that powered the business for a time.
“We sold 6 million bottles before I was born,” said Nicolas, dressed in a navy blue and white, pinstripe, cashmere, doublebreasted suit he designed, along with gray alligator shoes, declining to share current sales for the business. He was still a student at Pepperdine University in 2011 when his father died. He continued his studies at night, so he could step in to work alongside longtime chairman, cofounder and 50/50 partner Dar Mahboubi, who owns the Rodeo Drive real estate where the new store sits.
“My mentality was, school will always be there but our business might not be,” said Nicolas, who first worked for Bijan for a summer job at age 15, where he clearly learned the power of brand myth-making. “I remember looking out the window one day and the whole street was empty, it was very odd to see Rodeo Drive completely empty. Then two to three minutes later Secret Service cars pull up and you see President [George H.W.] Bush in the back waving; he just stopped in to surprise my dad and say hello. I don’t know how I could not want to be part of the business.”
Over the years, the Bijan aesthetic seemed trapped in amber like perfume in the store’s famed chandelier, which is made from 1,000 of the donut-shaped glass flacons. But when a new generation of wealthy Chinese discovered the brand in the mid-Aughts, the clothing, fine jewelry and accessories sales began to eclipse the fragrances.
Indeed, in this era of peacockish men’s wear, the brand’s classic pieces with the occasional ultraviolet-hued sports jacket, or $200,000 mink-lined crocodile coat that one can only get in limited editions, and at two stores in the world — Rodeo Drive and the Wynn Las Vegas — have new currency and new competition.
But even after having to close for three months, Nicolas remains cautiously optimistic about recovery, just as his father was after 9/11 and the recession. (Among some of the more unusual requests Bijan has fulfilled over the years — designing a custom yellow Porsche interior for a client in Qatar, and creating a different collection of fragrances for each of Prince Jefri of Brunei’s palaces — reportedly a
$46 million project.)
Business today is still international, with Nicolas traveling to England, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Russia, the Gulf States and beyond for clients “who spend millions of dollars a year with us.” But the majority of sales are now in North America — New York, Miami, Dallas and Silicon Valley.
“We want to be sensitive of what’s going on world, but there will always be an appetite for luxury. A lot of my clients when they come in here, they don’t need anything. They don’t need another jacket or tie, they are just having a good time. They like to feel good.”
Some are private, but most don’t mind having their pictures displayed. ►