Nutcase
12-03-2006, 11:42 PM
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 s***ts 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.
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 Behnoud, the creator and founder of NIMANY, began his trade with a series of silkscreening experiments on canvas. Initially, the pieces were stretched over frames and treated solely as artwork in the form of paintings. The inspiration behind this work was founded in ancient Persian classical poetry, created in tandem with modern fashion elements and guidelines, slowly creating its own niche. Nima's endless fascination with the look and energy of the metro-underground fashion scene, made him to grow the concept from a simple piece of hanging art, to a wearable piece of priceless fashion.
Though he never could have guessed the result, Nima made his premier with only 25 samples in hand at an Art Fair and Fundraiser. Not surprisingly with his unique work, Nima sold every tee, and received orders for over 50 more.
Today, Nima's creations have greatly matured, and in taking pointers from the industry, he nurtures his garments as he does his ideas. Involved in every step of the process, Nima handpicks special cut tees, and modifies their colors through a variety of dying techniques to ensure that every T-shirt is unique to its owner.
You can call his creations Persian-Punk, Ethnic Retro or Ancient Grunge; these wearable collages of ancient design elements are put into harmony with today's exciting and ever-changing movement of underground fashion, and yet Nima simply calls it passion.
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.
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 s***ts 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.
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 Behnoud, the creator and founder of NIMANY, began his trade with a series of silkscreening experiments on canvas. Initially, the pieces were stretched over frames and treated solely as artwork in the form of paintings. The inspiration behind this work was founded in ancient Persian classical poetry, created in tandem with modern fashion elements and guidelines, slowly creating its own niche. Nima's endless fascination with the look and energy of the metro-underground fashion scene, made him to grow the concept from a simple piece of hanging art, to a wearable piece of priceless fashion.
Though he never could have guessed the result, Nima made his premier with only 25 samples in hand at an Art Fair and Fundraiser. Not surprisingly with his unique work, Nima sold every tee, and received orders for over 50 more.
Today, Nima's creations have greatly matured, and in taking pointers from the industry, he nurtures his garments as he does his ideas. Involved in every step of the process, Nima handpicks special cut tees, and modifies their colors through a variety of dying techniques to ensure that every T-shirt is unique to its owner.
You can call his creations Persian-Punk, Ethnic Retro or Ancient Grunge; these wearable collages of ancient design elements are put into harmony with today's exciting and ever-changing movement of underground fashion, and yet Nima simply calls it passion.
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.