PARISA PARNIAN X BANANA REPUBLIC "A LEGACY IN PRIDE" COLLAB

June 28, 2022 Parisa Parnian

Artist Parisa Parnian wearing yellow Banana Republic dress and holding an illustration in her hand. She is in her design studio leaning up against her worktable.

In celebration of Pride, Banana Republic invited me and three other artists to create unique works of art, channeling the brand’s spirit of inclusivity through the lens of our own creative vision.

Taking inspiration from a limited edition flight suit from the Banana Republic archives, I designed a very textural and layered art piece that tells the story of my journey as an Iranian immigrant who is reconciling my rich Persian culture & heritage with my existence as a queer artist and change-maker in the contemporary Western world.

To me, Pride means taking risks to walk on this earth in our authentic bodies and genders. It means going on a lifelong journey to tap into and honor our own desires, while also learning to respect and honor others whose desires are different from our own. Pride is a journey towards embracing ourselves and releasing the shame and fear that society has put upon us.

My art is made up of multitudes and layers. It is maximalist, colorful and full of joy. It defies genre and spans the world of design, food, performance and storytelling. There is rich texture both in the visual aspects of my work and in the stories it tells. Like my art, I am a very layered being who has been on a lifelong journey of discovery. The story my art tells is that of resilience and resourcefulness; of living a colorful and rich life that is a balancing act of calculated risks and of lush beauty.

Style and fashion have played an important role in my life, both professionally and personally. Over the years, I have expressed both my queerness and the connection to my Persian heritage through personal style, which includes not just the clothes I wear but also my hairstyles, body language and accessories.

My personal style is firmly rooted in the celebration of my queer and divine femininity, with a nod to both my Persian roots and my love and respect of Mexican and Latin American cultures. I embrace vibrant colors, bold patterns, statement necklaces and big hair. I love to clash patterns and wear larger-than-life looks. I am not shy to show off my thickness or curves and I celebrate the fact that I am a womxn in my forties with all the experience that comes with that.

The “Legacy of Pride” fashion art installation will be up at the Banana Republic in Los Angeles at Westfield Century City from June 1-30, 2022.

To learn more about the ‘Legacy of Pride” artists and more about this awesome collab, check out this page.

Professional photos taken by Grant Puckett.

PRIDE-THEMED VIRTUAL VIDEO BACKGROUNDS FOR FUN FACTORY!

June 10, 2020 Parisa Parnian

Excited to share the PRIDE 2020 illustrations I created for Fun Factory! They are available as free, downloadable imaged that you can use for your next zoom/video conference gathering.

Click HERE to see the full artist Q+A interview and to download the art!

The objective was to represent a diverse and inclusive array of folx in the QTBIPOC spectrum that are expressing joy and a sense of community. Body positivity, sex positivity and disability pride are also portrayed amongst the various characters I created in both the Bar Scene and Pride Parade Scene.

For me this was a project very aligned with my own values as a designer and artist and I was honored to be selected to create this art for Fun Factory.

LA TIMES FOOD SECTION

June 7, 2020 Parisa Parnian

My SAVAGE MUSE illustration and SAVAGE TASTE culinary worlds came together when I was asked to create some SAVAGE MUSE-inspired motifs for an article about the Persian/Iranian restaurant scene in the Westwood district of Los Angeles. Below is the collection of illustrations I submitted to the editor for use in the article, which you can view here.

The editor was inspired by a multi-media art piece I created called “Split Mirrors” where I juxstposed illustrated motifs on top of a photo collage.

EVERYBODY GYM WALL ART

March 19, 2020 Parisa Parnian

EVERYBODY is the radically inclusive gym + wellness center that is the first of its kind in Los Angeles, and quite possibly the world! Everything about EVERYBODY’s mission and values are perfectly aligned with my own mission at the SAVAGE MUSE design studio to work with clients and brands who are creating services, products and platforms that celebrate diversity and inclusivity.

I was asked to create a diverse and inclusive range of bodies in motion that represented the core values of the gym + wellness center. I included queer/trans/non-binary bodies, folx from a range of ethnicities/heritages and body types.

A shot of the back wall of EVERYBODY GYM with some of the diverse characters I illustrated.

DIME NAIL COLLABORATON

March 1, 2020 Parisa Parnian

I designed both a multi-media window art installation (featuring tape art and a hanging mobile sculpture) as well as a collection of illustrated merchandise with the signature Savage Muse watercolor digital collage vibe. Kristin Dias-Gyimah, the owner + creator of DIME NAILS wanted her muse, Grace Jones and the LA nail culture to be my inspiration for this project.

BLACK ROCK YOGA

February 28, 2020 Parisa Parnian

My clients at Black Rock Yoga wanted to offer a collection of streetwear-inspired graphic tops for their yoga community. I created three distinctly different graphics/styles to give their customers a variety of aesthetics to choose from.

EVERYBODY GYM T-SHIRT DESIGN

November 5, 2019 Parisa Parnian

EVERYBODY is the radically inclusive gym + wellness center that is the first of its kind in Los Angeles, and quite possibly the world! Everything about EVERYBODY’s mission and values are perfectly aligned with my my own mission at the SAVAGE MUSE design studio to work with clients and businesses who are creating services, products and platforms that celebrate diversity and inclusivity.

I was honored when the co-founders Sam Ripinsky and Lake Sharp commissioned me to create the art for their gym’s t-shirt and wall murals. (See separate post about the EVERYBODY wall art I created.) It was an opportunity for me to bring to life a cast of characters that represent a diverse range of body types, gender expressions, and more.

Me in the t-shirt I designed for EVERYBODY GYM. Proud member of this radically-inclusive gym!

"PRIDE" TAPE ART FOR BLONDE SALON WINDOW

May 31, 2019 Parisa Parnian

My client, BLONDE SALON in the Little Ethiopia neighborhood of LA, loved the tape art window installation I did for her neighbor, Dime Nails. She reached out and asked if I could create a very Zen, colorful triangular window art to represent PRIDE in an abstract and playful way.

Bluebird Corner Children's Book

December 7, 2018 Parisa Parnian

I illustrated this 32 page children’s picture book for my client Atticus Ren. They provided me with the storyboard and poem; I created the art direction, characters and fully illustrated the project. This was my first children’s book project and I really enjoyed working collaboratively with a writer/poet to bring their vision to life.

This spread shows the town “Bluebird Corner” where the Bluebirds live and build community.

This dream scene showcases the human character “Sarah” and her dreamscape is illustrated in a more realistic style to set it apart from the conceptual world the Bluebirds live in.

The two main characters are the Bluebirds named “TRUTH” and “GRACE”. This stylized artwork has also been used by my client to create merchandise to build on the Bluebird Corner brand.