Directing Giants | Interview with Naz Afshar
6 min. read | Interview | A.M.
Naz Afshar is a Creative Director & Tastemaker with a passion for excellence and a focus on teamwork. Having spent a significant amount of her career in Hollywood working with celebrities and serving as Art Director on ad campaigns, she’s seen it all, for better and worse.
Throughout her career, Naz watched as an industry struggled through a digital revolution that left many publications searching for new ways to reach new audiences with new messages. But Naz had seen this cycle before and learned early in life that pivoting was vital to one’s success in uncertain times.
Naz began life in Iran where she and her family struggled with the uncertainty surrounding the Iranian Revolution that entirely shifted the culture she had grown up in. Yet her family was determined to maintain a decidedly European lifestyle and spent nearly four years planning their escape.
“I remember when we decided to move out of the country because it was just too dangerous. My family was European-educated, and my mother studied in England so she was practically English. And a lot of my family members studied between Switzerland, France, and the United Kingdom. We are very European as a family. So when we moved away from Iran in 1983, it made sense for us to make France our home.”
Recent work featured in Fashion Gone Rogue. images © Adrianna Favero.
Naz remembers her youth in France with an immense delight. From sneaking into clubs at fifteen to interning at ateliers at sixteen, she made the most of every opportunity and never looked back.
“My big dream was to become a fashion designer and move to Paris to embark upon this wonderful industry. But that dream didn’t happen. I was a little too book-smart, and my mother recommended that I take one of the opportunities to get into an elite school in the United States. So when I turned 18, I moved to New York.”
Naz studied Photography and Fine Arts at Cornell University, splitting her time between completing assignments and interning for Barry Friedman fine art gallery in NYC.
“I saw a lot of fashionable, high-society women come through the doors to purchase these marvelous fine art pieces. And my eye was used to seeing handmade craftsmanship and the time it takes to create beautiful fashion designs that are their own form of art. It’s the same time, attention, and love that’s given to each couture piece, just like a master painter gives to their canvas. So I saw the parallel and started respecting fashion in the same way. But I was confused and didn’t know how to make money in fashion. I wasn’t trained as a designer. So I asked, how can I do something with the camera and make it more commercial?”
“I found this tiny school in Miami where they trained Art Directors. And to be honest, being a Photographer when there’s no budget requires a lot of heavy lifting with lights and gear, and at the time, I couldn’t afford assistants, so I had to do the lifting myself, and I was exhausted all the time. So I thought, okay, what if I became an Art Director and go behind the camera where I can get bigger jobs with bigger crews, direct teams, and execute the vision of the clients? So I got trained in typesetting, graphic design, and learned how to manage a team. And one of my instructors told me, ‘Hey, your stuff is good, but you have to move to LA to do celebrity work, because there’s nothing in Miami for you.’ And I thought, why not? So I moved to LA and started working basically for free for almost two years.”
“I finally found this ad in Craigslist of all places, and they were looking for an Art Director for a magazine cover. They wouldn’t disclose the actor at the time, but they said to just come on set, the job was unpaid, but you’ll get the credit, and all you have to do is direct. So I showed up, it was my first job as a director, and everyone liked me a lot. And it turned out the actor was Armand Assante, and he was such a wonderful person. So that was my first celebrity shoot and it led to many others working with Kristen Bell, the Kardashians, Maroon 5, Cindy Crawford, Daryl Hannah, Gigi Hadid, to name a few.”
“I worked with celebrities for about eleven years. And it was great. But I had a few high end productions that didn’t go my way—not because I was younger, I was in my early 30's—but it was just the nature of the industry. I didn’t like how I was treated. I eventually grew tired of it, and finally left altogether.”
Though her experiences in Hollywood range from exceptional to entirely-less-than-stellar, Naz takes it all in stride, remembering with all gratitude the people who helped her achieve the career of her dreams in what now feels like a lifetime ago.
“I was really fortunate. I had a few colleagues who were really loyal to me, and they gave me opportunity to work directly with them. One of them was Alix Malka, who used to be the right hand for Thierry Mugler in Paris. Alix began a magazine called 7Hollywood. I worked with Alix to art direct the cover design with Adam Levine of Maroon 5. He and I became close friends, and I can credit him and say that so much of what I learned as a Creative Director and Art Director is mainly through him.”
“People don’t realize how much work goes into just one production. Even for one magazine cover or commercial production, it really does take a village, and it takes harmony, a lot of patience, and calm. Because it’s like a domino effect—if just one thing goes wrong, everything can crumble down. So your job as the pack leader is to stay calm no matter what obstacles come your way. Once the energy goes down, you’ve pretty much lost the production. I was fortunate to be a part of some bad productions so that I can really value what I’m telling you.”
“Just to give you an idea of what it’s like, there’s always this understanding that all celebrities get special treatment, and when they abuse that, it becomes very hard on your production teams. There might be fifteen-plus people waiting hours before anyone finally shows up. And that kind of thing just doesn’t gel with me. Even in the recent Golden Globes, I was watching and saw Tom Hanks, and he was like, ‘If there’s one thing I want to tell you all, it’s to be a professional—show up on time.’ And it’s so true, because at the least, it really hurts the production when you don’t.”
“One of the most important lessons I learned as a Creative Director is that whenever you step onto set, you are the most important person and everyone has to execute your vision. But honestly, I learned the importance of all the effort and input that comes from the entire team, even junior assistants. They are all just as important as you are. They are the ones that make the vision come to life. And so everybody counts, and I think that’s maybe why I’m still in demand after all these years. I’ve learned to orchestrate the set in such a way that everybody is given a fair share and a chance to shine.”
Though she’s stepped back from the Hollywood spotlight, Naz hasn’t given up on the fashion industry. Fashion remains her passion, pushing her to achieve new and inventive creative expressions.
“I’ve done it all. Vanity Fair, Vogue, Elle, Nylon, Italian Vogue. You name it, I’ve done it. And that’s what I’m really passionate about — Editorial Fashion.”
Editor’s Note: This interview was originally published in The April Issue and is reprinted here in its entirety, with the addition of Fashion Gone Rogue editorial selections.
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