“There are a few things I want to show you throughout the studio, through my office that are really important to me,” Nicolas Bijan said Thursday night, welcoming guests into an inconspicuous building at the heart of Beverly Hills. It’s the workspace for NB44, his subscription-based brand offering white-glove service that’s attracting a new generation of luxury consumers.
The NB44 name is an ode to his late father, Bijan Pakzad, the founder of House of Bijan, whose birthday falls on April 4. The younger Bijan also chose the date to kick off his new dinner series aimed at building community around his new brand.
NB44 members traveled to L.A. from as far away as London, North Carolina, Florida and Georgia. Bijan was joined by his wife, Roxy Sowlaty, as well as an expecting Sofia Richie and husband Elliot Grainge, designer Christy Cham and Fashion Trust founder Tania Fares.
Guests enjoyed a cocktail hour with Hibiki Japanese scotch and lychee martinis as they browsed the showroom, before taking their seats in the open air for a dinner catered by Shoku, the referral-only private dining concept.
“My father was originally from Iran, my mom from Japan,” Bijan explained. “My mom was born here, but of Japanese descent. And my father came here as an immigrant in the early ’70s. It’s going to sound cliché, but he came here with a dream. And he came here because what he felt he wanted to achieve, he could only achieve in America. And in a very short period of time, he was dressing Ronald Reagan and the presidents of the United States.”
Among his clients were former presidents Bill Clinton and George H. W. Bush, who penned letters to Pakzad. Bijan has them framed by his desk alongside others.
“They’re very cute letters,” Bijan said, reading them off. “For example, President Clinton and President Bush senior kind of poking fun at one another. President Bush senior says, you know, ‘I love seeing the photo of you and President Clinton. He’s a good man, but he’s not as much of a fashionista as I am. Keep working on him.’ President Clinton says, ‘Well, I hope with your beautiful accessories, I can be considered more of a fashionista.’”
With a smile, he added, “I keep these here, really, in memory of my dad, because he always taught me that, ‘Look at where I started and what I built, imagine where you’re starting what you could build.’”
What Bijan has built is a brand rooted in quality, from the materials to the service — with a 2024 spin. Members — he now counts nearly 100 in 26 cities — receive personalized looks styled head-to-toe, with an annual $12,000 subscription fee to the access.
“I really wanted to be innovative,” he said of starting NB44. “I wanted it to be forward-thinking. I wanted to think, ‘How would my children want to shop? Or how would the future of luxury retail look?’ Selling luxury items through an e-commerce model, in my opinion, is very old-fashioned. You know, adding to cart, checking out, receiving a box, shipping it back if you don’t like anything, taking it to a tailor. It just didn’t seem luxurious to me.”
NB44’s luxury offerings range greatly, from suiting to denim and accessories — which are delivered to subscribers’ homes via partnerships established with local couriers. “It’s extremely competitive with what the market is doing,” Bijan said of potential competitors like Loro Piana.
He’s looking to host more dinners and other events globally as he caters to subscribers. More than 50 percent of members are under the age of 40.
“It feels parallel with what my father did when he was my age,” Bijan said. “These are the new generations of luxury consumers.”
