If you still don't have the name of Boris Bidjan Saberi on your radar, the time has come to do it. Based in Barcelona, this half-German, half-Persian couturier is considered the new Rick Owens.
Brad Pitt, Johnny Deep or Justin Bieber adore him (but he cares little for this). What he does pay attention to is Barcelona, his host city. And if there is something that defines the Traveler soul, it is the absorption of cultures as a liquid in a spongy material.
The continuous learning of any adventure, physical or vital, is the essential passport with which one enters the group of true travelers. To begin with, Boris is the son of an Iranian-Russian father and a German-Irish mother, both of whom have backgrounds in textile design.
And this, gentlemen, not everyone has on their DNI. Likewise, his identity document indicates a birth in Munich (Germany), in 1978.
“4 bloods run through my veins and I have lived in a conservative Bavarian town”, Presents itself.
These biographical factors play a fundamental role in the formation of Boris. In his pieces, he combines the traditions of the West/Middle East, with unstructured garments, and his passion for numerology.
In fact, he is known as a radical fashion icon, with a meticulous and complex construction. Without a doubt, he is part of the new heir generation of great Japanese designers. in the line of yohji yamamoto.
Also from Belgian Ann Demeulemeester or Californian Rick Owens. His style is avant-garde and non-conformist , a discreet -and camouflaged- delicacy. After all, more luxury than luxury itself. What the Germans know as Schlampigkeit (informal carelessness).
As if that were not enough, the somber elegance proposed by Boris hangs from the famous bodies of Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp or Justin Bieber.
“As a creator, I think that the work often touches the limit of being easily located in the drawer of pure design. Experimentation, the abstraction of a piece, that is beautiful and works, is the mix that any garment on the market should have , But do they have it? ”, He speaks when referring to fashion as art.
IN THE SKATEBOARD CAPITAL
He has been in Barcelona for almost twenty years. The same from where he alleges, as the main reasons that motivated him to move, the need to leave his environment, the Mediterranean mentality, the Catalans, the sun, music and skateboarding.
Not in vain, it is the skateboard capital. And this has greatly influenced his creations.
“I have always been very curious. Wood and wheels have been my great hobby since I was little; even punk and hip hop. Without knowing it, I was one of the pioneers of the industrialization of skateboarding in Germany. After not being well seen and suffering the scorn of society, I consider myself responsible for moving the skater look to the commercial”, he explains.
Backstage at the Menswear Fall/Winter 2019-2020 show in Paris.
And he continues with sincerity: “All these inputs were there, however, had an identity problem . When it came to dressing, I didn't feel like a skater, or a punk, or a hip hop. Neither an Iranian, nor a German, I did not know who he was or what he wanted to express”.
This is how he describes his beginnings in fashion at the age of 14. In order to define he began to sew, to customize his own identity from top to bottom based on old clothes, second hand.
A narrowing of pants, a lengthening of a shirt... He took XXL t-shirts and tied them, in this way, he got the length he wanted. "Little by little I created about myself, until I felt reflected in who I was and in the influences that had defined me by life circumstances," he acknowledges.
Although he debuted with a first fashion show in his host city, since 2008, Saberi has presented his collections at the Paris Fashion Week . At two per year, they add up to about 22 parades until before the pandemic. What are not few!
This puts you directly on the podium of nomadism. It is mandatory to ask him about spots to skate (Masnou) and restaurants in Barcelona: La D.O. (Alella), La Cova fumarada (Barcelona), El Xemei (Barcelona). And, as hobbies, a visit to the Skateboard Museum, by Sören Manzoni.
Boris Bidjan show at Paris Fashion Week.
BY APPOINTMENT
To this list, we must add the Boris Bidjan Saberi showroom in Barcelona. It is one of the most provocative and exclusive window displays in vogue in Europe, which is only accessible by appointment.
Is about an industrial atelier , located in the district of Poblenou. In this unusual space, the immersive experience in the Bidjan universe is lived from the crossing of its doors and transports, in a certain way, to a chemical laboratory inside a factory of yesteryear.
The interior is all steel and concrete, with coat racks lining the walls, suspended by chains running through steel tubes.
"It is very emotional to see your ideas captured on a catwalk, however, in the end it is ephemeral, and I wanted a place for the pieces to stay" , he comments referring to the staging, designed by himself down to the last detail.
A globetrotter, calm and far-sighted, he is one of those who packs his suitcase -the result of a collaboration with Orlietb- with time, never in a hurry.
And true to his authentic personality, he admits that he loves to sleep in a hotel, although much more to do it in the middle of nature, with few resources that force him to have his own company.
In the same way, a silence fills the space when we ask him to give us names of cool firms that he has discovered (Who better than him to drop us some fashion pearls?). Nothing, what he seeks when exploring is to disconnect, not to think about his day-to-day work. Our joy in a well.
Well, a favorite trip, here there is an answer: “I really like going to the land of my childhood, Bavaria, in the Alps. It reminds me, it gives me a lot of strength, it fills my spirit. Afterwards… I love going back to Catalonia, home” , he evokes him by saying goodbye.