Namak Magazine - Nima Behnoud

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Persian Punk Stylings of Nima Behnoud
by Rose Nadali
Photos by: Mani Zarrin
Namak Magazine, Summer 2005 - pg. 8

Individuality is the key to being on a Best-Dressed List, and fashion addicts are searching for new ways to express themselves. Vintage stores, flea-markets, boutiques and even ebay are drawing buyers away from traditional retail chains because the hottest label to wear is not the mark everyone knows, but the one that offers the security of never seeing your style duplicated.

Nima Behnoud feeds this hunger for unique fashion with unparalleled creativity. Believing that fashion and art are synonymous and should come from the heart, Nima constructs one-of-a-kind T-shirts and skirts that are sure never to find a twin. The energetic, love-inspired collection is called NIMANY and it can already be glimpsed on the streets of New York.

The Designs
Art that was once seen only on canvas and displayed for museum-goers now adorns edgy catwalks. Nima hand picks each shirt and modifies its color through layers of dying. The shirts are processed separately to create original colors before being silk screened with excerpts from classic Persian poetry by Rumi and Hafez, ancient Persian typography and other Persian motifs. Nima stacks the poems and graphics on top of each other to create visually gripping patterns. His English-speaking customers may not know what the shirts say but they’re drawn to the compelling graphics.

Nima also designs skirts – for men, boldly illustrating his lust for change and dramatic contrast. The designer says he dislikes traditional notions of the skirt and believes that fashion should hold no limits. Indeed, only a man who is not afraid to take risks, and can withstand the bewilderment of the straight-laced, will be able to pull of this punk/street mix look. The reward is a sense of power, freedom and individuality that is rarely associated with clothing.

The Designer
Twenty-nine year-old Nima Behnoud grew up in Iran, where his underground, street aesthetic for fashion took shape. Since American products were banned, Nima created his own style by ripping old jeans or drawing on them. As he expressed himself through his clothes, others took notice and soon Nima and his friends were secretly selling vintage Levi’s 501 jeans they had manually handcrafted and sand blasted, to shoppers on the streets of Northern Tehran. From those humble beginnings hustling on the streets, Nima developed his fashion sense. He says he is fascinated by how seriously young people in Iran follow the latest trends, and how “they use their creativity to alter the construction of a garment to make it practical with their everyday use and [government] regulations.”

Nima now lives in New York, and though he has moved away from where it all began in Iran, he never forgets his roots. He says “I got to know myself better by expressing myself through printing on fabric. Some deep, very hidden cultural patterns came out that I never knew existed in me. It felt like I understood my culture beyond the borders of the Middle East.” And when his shirts were sold at a recent fundraiser for Bam earthquake victims, Nima became even more inspired to continue creating the unique designs that blend classic Persian stylings with the modern world of Western fashion. Visit Nima at www.nimany.com.

visit NIMANYat www.nimany.com