Five Minutes With Babak Vosoughi

Babak Vosoughi’s show barely finished that his collection and himself were already making their way to D3’s (and Dubai’s) coolest men’s concept store, Closet Case.

A chance for the viewer to “Buy Now” what he just saw and meet with the designer, who, even though he looks impressive -tall and wearing all black- is happily chatting around, smiling warmly as we walk towards him.

How did you come up with the concept for this collection?
 

I spent a few months in Tokyo, where we were doing our shoes, all the ones on the runway were made in Japan. That inspired me to create a kind of like a Japanese-Samourai with lots of black. I like the Japanese culture so much.

You’re obviously doing menswear but would you say that this collection could be labelled as unisex?

It is actually. You can share the clothes. We have a sweatshirt that says “Warning, in case of emergency land this to your girlfriend.” Our merchandise can be worn by both genders.

Who is your market?

This collection is not seasonable, we actually don’t do by season. As another one of our sweater states it actually :“ No Season”. All the pieces that we do are wearable throughout the year. You can play with the layers, you can wear five t-shirts and one sweater and a jacket or you can wear only a sweater or only a t-shirt when it’s hot like here in Dubai (37 degrees while we were talking). This is the way we can basically cover any market.

A model walks the runway during the Uniti by Babak Vosoughi Menswear show at Fashion Forward October 2017 held at the Dubai Design District on October 27, 2017 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

And today why Dubai?

At the moment, we’re based in Iran –

Where you’re from –

Yes. I live in Los Angeles but the brand is made in Iran and this year we’re not allowed to do a fashion show there for some reason so we decided we’d do it in Dubai until we can go back.

How would you describe the fashion scene in Iran? You’re from Tehran right?

Yes from Tehran. I actually love the skate culture there, lot of our merchandise is inspired by this and the street culture. There’s so much talent there, not only in fashion but in arts, music…

A model walks the runway during the Uniti by Babak Vosoughi Menswear show at Fashion Forward October 2017 held at the Dubai Design District on October 27, 2017 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

What we’ve noticed from the young art scene in Iran is something very pop, very colorful, joyful in a way… And yet you’re doing all black. Is that ever going to change?

No, I’m never going to have colors. Gray maybe or white, but I’m going to stick to black for now.

Are your inspired by your Iranian origins?

Of course yes, especially the last year and a half that I’ve lived in Iran full time. It has inspired me to do more for the culture and for the young of our country.

A model walks the runway during the Uniti by Babak Vosoughi Menswear show at Fashion Forward October 2017 held at the Dubai Design District on October 27, 2017 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Do you have a specific client? Are they younger people?

No we have all ages, but mostly between 17 and 35.

What are the next steps for your brand?

We’re trying to take this brand on an international level so we’ll probably try London or Paris and extend our stores internationally.

A model walks the runway during the Uniti by Babak Vosoughi Menswear show at Fashion Forward October 2017 held at the Dubai Design District on October 27, 2017 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

A model walks the runway during the Uniti by Babak Vosoughi Menswear show at Fashion Forward October 2017 held at the Dubai Design District on October 27, 2017 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.