You Feel So Warm: Maryam Nassir Zadeh

April 29, 2023

On a balmy day in downtown New York, Maryam Nassir Zadeh debuted her Spring/Summer 23 collection. It was a climate fitting for the designs, as this season they were inspired by Zadeh’s menagerie of adventures — from the Cerulean coasts of Capri, to the heart of the Lower East Side where her creative endeavors all began. Her eponymous company, which started off as a bespoke showroom in 2008, offering an array of independent brands along with Zadeh’s own minimal silhouettes, has since grown into a beloved brand, through which the Iranian-born designer has built a diverse network of artists, friends and devoted fans.

Published in office Issue 19. Get your copy here.

Photography JESPER D. LUND
Styling SHAYNA ARNOLD
Interview CLARA CULLEN and MAX FARAGO
Introduction KAYLA CURTIS-EVANS
Talents MARYAM NASSIR ZADEH, COCO GORDON MOORE, SUSAN CIANCIOLO, CASSI GIBSON, HAILEY BENTON GATES, PALOMA ELSESSER, ERIN MOMMSEN, THISTLE, KALMAN, UDAY, ANDRE WALKER
Hair PASQUALE FERRANTE
Makeup KENTO UTSUBO
Photo Assistant CHARLES CAESAR
Fashion Assistant MARY PARKER JESSUP
Hair Assistant ALESSANDRO COMAI
Makeup Assistant ROBIN STRIGHT
Producer SARAH SCHECKER
Production Assistants SOFIE FINDERUP, MYLES MADDEN

MARYAM NASSIR ZADEH wears FULL LOOK by MARYAM NASSIR ZADEH

The SS23 collection reads like a diary entry, stringing together fragments from Zadeh’s life, from her early days at Rhode Island School of Design upcycling textiles, to becoming a mother of two. Though Zadeh’s presentations have always felt personal and sentimental to the designer, the themes and references displayed in this show yielded a period of reflection that persisted long after the curtains closed. Unbeknownst to her, she later discovered that the show had fallen on the 10-year anniversary of her store opening — a symbol, however subconscious, of completion and rebirth. Meditating upon this wave of introspection, Zadeh sat down with two dear friends, filmmaker Clara Cullen and photographer Max Farago, to discuss the simultaneous pleasure and distress that can come along with creating art made for an audience.

Like many who meet Zadeh, Cullen and Farago immediately felt drawn to her upon their introduction — which occurred in a fashion almost as serendipitous as Zadeh’s work. What all three creatives share is a fervor for the raw bits of life: as unfiltered and unbridled as they come. Running with the instant connection they felt after one interaction with the designer, Cullen and Farago invited Zadeh to their wedding, an impulsive act that has proven fruitful for their deep, long-lasting friendship.

But Farago and Cullen are only a fraction of the network Zadeh has woven around herself. She is the glue that holds many downtown creatives together, urging artists to be the most unapologetic versions of themselves, and inspiring a contemporary form of minimalism informed by feeling. In bringing this collection to life, Zadeh gathered a group of different people from her lively community within the light-filled L.E.S. studio she works out of. Alongside the likes of Coco Gordon Moore, Susan Cianciolo, Andre Walker and Paloma Elsesser, we witness the designer’s gifts — both in clothing, and in forming connections. Breathing a sense of sentimentality into everything she does, Zadeh reminds us that life is not always about what you do, but who you choose to do it with. Catching up from Los Angeles, Cullen, Farago and Zadeh easily embarked on musings of authenticity, family ties and the glue that holds their trio together: love, and an ardent love for life itself.

I have enough right here, and I just need to take it in.

ANDRE WALKER wears FULL LOOK by MARYAM NASSIR ZADEH
UDAY wears FULL LOOK by MARYAM NASSIR ZADEH

Max Farago— What the three of us have in common is that we're all people who are looking for adventure and life. We love our children, we love to travel, and we're trying to live as interesting a life as possible. We try to make interesting work and earn a living at the same time.

That is exactly what it's about. It's one life for us and we're trying to not take it for granted. It actually feels powerful, because I feel like the abundance that I've experienced all these years is so in my bones. But now I feel like I want to do other things with that abundance. I want to see how it feels when you just stay put, with meditation, or even trying to do the things that I never get to do, like reading or drawing. Because I had so much living, now I'm asking myself, “What's the next phase of living deep?” Now I'm realizing, more than ever, that life is about the sacredness, and just really treasuring the things that are a part of me. Now, I totally enjoy being home with my daughters. I have a different relationship with these everyday things, and I have realized that having these things is enough. I have enough right here, and I just need to take it in.

Clara Cullen— Can we talk about the Spring/Summer ‘23 collection? One of my favorite pieces was made from a towel from a hotel — a fragment of a piece of our lives. And taking it out of context and bringing it to the streets of Chinatown, I thought it was the most genius thing.

I'm so happy you related to that piece. In 2016, we went to Capri, and then I was in Pulia in this other beautiful monastery. I was just struck by how beautiful the basic textiles were. The towels were the perfect blue. So I persuaded the hotels to let me buy some, and that kind of started me falling in love with towels and collecting them wherever I went. There was something very visceral about having a cloth or a textile from that region reminding you of how special that time period was. It was exciting to have the towels be in that mix because, for the collection, I was able to use textiles that I had collected 20 years ago from my first brand. It felt like this sort of weird magical thing when you're young and you don't know what you're doing, and all of a sudden, one day something clicks. Twenty years ago was the beginning of my path of making clothes and creating, but I started overthinking things and designing more methodically. I lost the essence of what I really wanted to achieve. So, 10 years later, when I started the store, that time around it was so minimal that it felt pure, and I related to it. It was feeling new again.

PALOMA, MARYAM, AND THISTLE wear FULL LOOK by MARYAM NASSIR ZADEH

MF— Can I ask you something, Maryam?

Of course.

MF— Based on what you were saying, for somebody who overthinks things so much, how do you produce so much? You're always in your head about things, and at the same time, you're very free.

I think it's actually making things really sincerely and fast. I think on an emotional level, I overthink things; but on a creative level, it's really fast for me and I don't overthink it. It's where I feel the most in charge and free. There are no boundaries to my creativity.

CC— What is your process and timing for making a collection?

With the structure of the industry, it's so planned that I have to be formulaic. I'm building a story with shapes, and then I finally see them at the end. I kind of forget what's going to happen and what I decided, and then in the end it goes to the factories, and then it comes back to me. It's the most exciting when I get to see it made, and have people put it on, and have it styled — then it comes to life. But then I want to see a history built around each piece once it's made. It needs to be worn and experienced.

CC— I was just thinking about when I make a documentary about you and we go through the process of the collection one day.

Well, maybe by then, my process will be different. Because I think that unearthing those towel textiles was a part of my awakening. There's a part of me that wants to return to feeling like more of an artist like I felt in my 20s. I feel in some ways that I'm just starting, even though I have some history behind my craft. The last collection was fitting since it was inspired by coming full circle, and mixing old and new. So that was exciting, when I was able to experience that moment of, “I haven't seen this textile in so long, but this still feels like a part of my aesthetic.” I think sometimes things speak to you super quietly, and then you know you have to do it. Then when the time is right, it's just very clear.

I didn't realize that when I did the show, it had been 10 years since I started making clothes again, and it was 20 years since I had started my brand when I was in my 20s. The show notes discussed waves, rebirth and death. It feels like a new time for me. But I'm at my parents' home cleaning through old artwork and clothes, and it's been making me think that maybe the rebirth that my last collection brought on is still not complete yet — it's an ongoing thing. I feel like my dream is for my next chapter to have a studio practice.

...on a creative level, it's really fast for me and I don't overthink it. It's where I feel the most in charge and free. There are no boundaries to my creativity.

COCO GORDON MOORE, ERIN MOMMSEN, KALMAN, HAILEY BENTON GATES and MARYAM NASSIR ZADEH wear FULL LOOK by MARYAM NASSIR ZADEH

CC— I think it's important to be able to revisit your voice from when you were 20, and be able to hear it and project it now that you have the experience to do so. I now also find myself doing things in simpler ways, and it brings about the same feelings that I felt when I was 20.

MF— It's also interesting because you go through a period in your young 20s when you don't have the pressure of an audience, so you're just doing what you do, and then all of a sudden the world starts looking at you. And you then inevitably start questioning yourself. Then, eventually, you get to a point where you just are able to say, “Fuck it,” and you end up going back to where you started when the world wasn't judging you.

That's what I'm going through. I'm thinking, “Should I just have a tiny business, almost like a startup again?” There's an aspect where I need to provide for my daughters. But then there's another part where I'm like, “I miss the art and the craft of the discovery.” I think it becomes less about how good the work is, it's more about, like, your relationship with it, right?

MF— When I was looking at your collection, I had this thought about how the composition of your clothes, and how you style them, is proportionately very similar to how you take photographs. There's something about the play between the totality and the fragment and the ephemeral. It's very consistent, even between mediums.

CC— There is a sentimentality in everything Maryam does.

MF— And a looseness. Compositionally, you deal with positive and negative space across mediums in a similar way. I think that you're interested in something that I'm really interested in as well, which is just this idea of gesture being what's important. This sort of ephemeral gesture that somehow mirrors the totality of experience.

It's natural, and it's real and it's capturing a moment in time.

MF— Yeah, and I think your clothes also share those qualities.

CC— And there's something to be said about the non-perfection of it all, as well.

Oh, definitely. When I think about what's precious to me, the sentimentality of the clothing isn't precious, but it's the respect and the reverence of something that you cherish, like a friendship, or an old piece of textile.

It's natural, and it's real and it's capturing a moment in time.

COCO GORDON MOORE wears FULL LOOK by MARYAM NASSIR ZADEH
SUSAN CIANCIOLO and HAILEY BENTON GATES wear FULL LOOK by MARYAM NASSIR ZADEH

MF— Your clothing, photographs and relationships all have that sort of fleeting romance to them. It's not about overworked perfection.

CC— I agree. I want to say one more thing relating back to simplicity and returning to your roots. You know, Maryam, that takes a lot of balls. Anyone with a normal head on their shoulders would look at your work and say, “You're doing great,” but you have the strength to still want to improve. At the same time, nobody who does a creative job thinks they're doing enough, but the thing is, you grow up, have kids and you have things to do. It's difficult to get to that point, so I think it's important not to judge yourself so much.

MF— It's easy to hear the truth. Listening to the truth is difficult. Because in a way, the world is increasingly pushing us in another direction. If we're talking about poetry and romance, our culture is telling us, v“don't bother with that.” Now, what is pushed on us is to be as impactful and quick as possible.

I feel like the creative world is now such a platform to overthink and compare. But it's funny, because even with this rapid way of communicating we have now, as I'm maturing, I'm realizing how much my family has become my community in influencing my work. It's only happening as I'm aging because I'm thinking back to who I've become if everything is about this full-circle ride. I think about my dad's mom's grandfather; he was a manufacturer of high-quality Persian rugs. My grandma had a boutique in Iran in the '70s. She was a big inspiration of mine. And then my aunt was always doing crafts when I was younger and taking me to craft shows.

But back then, I always felt with my parents, I didn't really relate to them as much. My dad was an engineer, and my mom was more into math. But now I realize how much my mom and my dad influence me, even just as people and their style. All of that reflection has had me, lately, thinking of my daughters. How their drawings are so special, and I wanna curate a show. Anais wants to be an author, and I'm starting to write a lot now, too. It's a new love of mine. So what I'm realizing now as I'm aging, is that family is ingrained in my system. But I also wanted to say that it's so special to be interviewed by people that are dear to you.

MF— We can talk about all of these incredible things that Maryam has done and accomplished, but on the other side, Maryam is just an incredible person that I love being friends with — and all of the rest doesn't really matter compared to that.

KALMAN and ERIN MOMMSEN wear FULL LOOK by MARYAM NASSIR ZADEH
SUSAN CIANCIOLO wears FULL LOOK by MARYAM NASSIR ZADEH

Fashion

From Prince Street to East 4th, a Ride With Rapha

April 29, 2024

To celebrate the coolest (and finest) cycle-centric brand Rapha's latest drop, we kept the party going after its New York Clubhouse launch with dinner and drinks at Ella Funt.

With a first campaign shot in New York, capturing riders through the lens of street photographers Sarah van Rij and David van der Leeuw, Rapha Performance Sportswear strikes the perfect balance between style and functionality, tailored for life in motion. Just in time for prime sunny weather here in New York, the collection is a perfect choice, both on and off the bike. "For someone like myself who lives in Amsterdam and commutes by bike daily," says Fayrouz Salem, Rapha Head of Lifestyle, "this is a dream come true. We've created pieces that work on the bike without having to compromise on style."

Shop the collection at rapha.cc and in select Clubhouses.

Photography by Anderson Martinez

Fashion

Luis De Javier's PUTA Takeover

April 25, 2024

Last night with Luis De Javier, guests were overheard confirming this generation's most vital conundrum: “If I’m cunt, I can still be pussy.” “And if you’re pussy, you can still be cunt.” This sentiment echoed throughout the night as we celebrated De Javier’s first-ever streetwear collection, "PUTA". We spent seven hours at Ella Funt at a dinner turned party that only he could’ve thrown (co-hosted by emcee). It was too dark for even the most aspiring-to-look-mysterious of us to wear sunglasses inside. Under the semi-oppressive flash of party photographers, we danced as much as the space would allow, drank tequila out of teacups and kissed each other on the cheeks with a vaguely European intimacy. “I’m doing streetwear!” De Javier could be heard exclaiming — whether it be in disbelief or excitement, we couldn’t tell you.

Words and photos by Izzy Capulong

The Spanish-born London-based designer has been well-loved for his genderless tailoring, latex mastery, and overall message of empowerment. Dressing everyone from ravers to A-listers, De Javier’s latest drop pushes his design repertoire to a new level. “While designing for my celebrity clientele and showcasing my creations on the runway has always been my dream,” he notes, “It’s equally important to me that my brand resonates with a wider, more diverse audience.” While this collection’s medium has shifted from corsets to sweatshirts, the classic LDJ avant-garde sensibilities remain. Bikinis and booty shorts are shamelessly emblazoned with “PUTA,” blazers are constructed with ample shoulder padding, and I had my eye on the cheekily-named “Faguette Bag.”

The Puta collection will be available exclusively on emcee.

Fashion

Happy 424 Day

Simon Rasmussen — What's going on?

Guillermo Andrade — Right now we're just setting everything up.

So, what are you doing, is it a party?

Well, I kind of felt universally forced, right? Because 4/24/24, I was just like, I don’t really have a choice here. The stars also just kind of aligned, so to be honest, I got this settlement that came with a bunch of clothes so I had this idea to give back to the kids who fuck with us by allowing them to buy our shit first. Not handing stuff out for free, but to do it in a way where we could skip the middleman of the industry, so to speak, and not allow clothes to disappear into the abyss of Farfetch or whatever else. So what we’re going to do is a sort of warehouse sale, which we’ve never done before so that was really exciting for me. I didn’t want to do just another warehouse sale, so it’s like a sample sale turns rager. We teamed up with Adidas and a couple of other sponsors, then drinks, DJs, and a performance.

Sick, I love it.

Yeah. My dream sample sale. Also, it’s not just hoodies and t-shirts here in there, it’s proper collections from the past three seasons. I’m also not picking and choosing, trying to make it accessible, like this was the only way I could afford to buy shit when I was a kid, bro. Sample sales were the thing I looked forward to the most.

I feel you. In New York, there's the annual CDG sale, which is when I used to cop all my CDG.

The only time I could afford Rick. I flew to New York once for a Rick sample sale and I was like, Wow, I can't believe I got invited. And it was mental. I still have those pieces. I will never sell them. Not even because I got 'em cheap. It was also just really fun. Even on the flight to New York, I was like, I can't believe I'm going to New York for a sample sale, what a fucking loser I am. But it was like the adult version of when I was a kid and I was like, Wow, I can't believe I'm 20-something and I'm still doing the thing I was doing in high school. So I hope we can create moments like that for kids here in LA.

Yeah. I love that. It’s important to connect with them; they’re essentially creating the brand. If you don't have them, good luck.

I mean, yeah. Fuck, bro. It's cool that we've been around for this long. I mean, it got a little rocky there for a second I think, for all of us. So coming out of it, tomorrow is a celebration. And it’s like an odd day of the week. It's a Wednesday, super random. And now that we've set it up, the homies are all like, Yo, I'm coming. I'm coming. Let me jump on stage, let me do this, and that's really what it's always been about. It's not some other strategy to get likes on the internet.

That’s how the best things happen, you just couldn’t help yourself. It was intuitive.

Yeah, it all came together in a really nice way.

Would you say that’s how 424 started as well? I remember we met in like 2010 on Fairfax and I was visiting with Rasmus…

Oh bro, it’s probably the time when I started the branch… do you remember Cecilia from Black Dakini? She’s the one that introduced me to CIFF and honestly, I didn’t even care what she was doing, I was just like, I’m coming, I’ll go with you. She said she’d give me half of her booth and I said, Awesome count me in. At the time, I had just gotten my green card and I wasn't allowed to ever leave America, so Copenhagen was one of the first cities I went to when I could finally travel. I mean, you see what we did at CIFF bro? It became our fucking hub for half a decade.

That was a moment for sure.

I remember the first account I got was Antonioli, and he came super gangster, being like, You're going to sell me these clothes. And I was like, bro, I didn't come to sell clothes. I'm just kind of catching a vibe with my homie and I made these things. And he's like, No, you're going to sell it to me. And then I was like, Oh my god that’s Claudio Antonioli. So then I went home, I googled wholesale, and figured that shit out. [laughs]

[Laughs]

Like you said, I couldn't help myself, but I didn't just make t-shirts and hoodies either. I was really on my Rick wave, so I made my version of the Rick things. It was that meets like The Boondock Saints, because I'm still a little bit of a Cali bro, sort of rock kid, but not really. I like hip-hop, but I like the way the rock stars look. I like the contrast. I thought it was cool. After that, I just never stopped.

It was clear to me when I first met you that you were onto your own thing in LA. It made a lot of sense, and it was so cool. It was before 424 was its own brand; you just had the store and this really cool curation.

It was all my shit, bro. I was very, very invested in sharing all of these things that I was finding from all over the world, like Astrid Anderson. She was one of those designers at the time, so important to 424. The connection to Copenhagen specifically for me was huge. I had a big fan base there. It was incredible. And then here in LA, we were sharing the things that we were a part of and finding; it was still the early days of Fear of God, Rhude, Martine Rose. A lot of these brands, we were the first store to ever sell it — we were selling Hood By Air on the West Coast.

You had Rick as well, I remember.

Oh yeah. It took me a long time. But I got Rick, bro. By the time I had to close the store on Fairfax, I already had a Raf Simons account. I had reached my ultimate dream. It was really all the stuff I wanted to wear at the time. It was dope. The best of the best.

We had an office magazine newsstand in there as well.

Oh yeah, we did! I came to visit the one you had, and I was like, Yo, I got to bring this whole fucking thing over here. But yeah, in LA, after two days people forget you exist, but everyone’s been super supportive. We’re all 10 years older now. We've been around forever at this point.

It can be dangerous to take those breaks when you’re figuring shit out, but there’s something very genuine to this comeback you’re having.

Thank you, thank you. We’ve been in and out of those fucking showrooms in Paris for long enough. I've been in and out of these factories for the past 10 years of my life. We had to figure something out. And I think now really diving in, being in Italy full time and being there to develop these products over time, I think that the whole thing just really shows the suppliers respect you more. The people who are making your goods understand why you're making them. And I think now I finally got to the place where I'm not making Italian things, I’m making my clothes, I'm making Cali-centric shit, but with that European technicality and execution. With this Fall / Winter collection, it clicked.

So what’s the vision for the next year? What are you manifesting?

I'm just fucking relentless, bro. This is the way I want to live my life. Now that we are more aligned, more prepared, and have more experience, moving forward it is just more of becoming a fully functioning company that can provide and create opportunities for all of the people around me. We’ve been operating just on instinct for a long time.

Sustaining a business is scary, trust me I know.

Scary as fuck, dog. I just opened a store next to Bottega, bro, and it’s like what am I even doing? You have to just believe in the thing you're doing more than anybody else.

100%, and it seems like that’s what you’re doing.

And fashion’s kind of a competitive sport, as much as people don’t think it is. We can reach a certain level without losing ourselves. My biggest ambition at the moment is to create something that, when you leave one of our neighbors you come into our place you don’t feel that the level has been sacrificed at all. And it’s not easy.

Definitely. I wish I could be there tomorrow.

Thank you, bro. 10 years now. You’ve always shown me so much love. We have to do a booth or have the office part of the next 424 day. Shit let’s do a 424 day in New York.

That would be sick. Let's do it. I'm here. Let’s catch up soon.

Next season’s right around the corner so I’ll see you in Paris.

Yes, see you in Paris and Happy 424 day!