On Being Mixed: In Conversation with Nasrin Jafari
Images: Phoebe Cheong & Lara Kaur
Nasrin Jafari is the founder and designer of Mixed: a company that designs bold printwear for mixed identities. The brand was founded at the beginning of the pandemic with a collection of facemasks made from Nasrin’s hand-drawn and printed textiles. Since then, Mixed has grown into an apparel brand, featuring ready to wear tops, dresses & jumpsuits. Nasrin also calls attention to the voices of mixed identities on the Mixed blog. Interviewer, Naomi Joshi, chatted with Nasrin over snacks on a sunny day in Los Angeles, while both were quarantining at home with their families.
What does being mixed mean to you?
I’m half Iranian and half Japanese, but I feel mixed in many ways, not just culturally, but also creatively. I used to be a dancer and I recently got into design. Professionally as well; I was a teacher before I started my own business. I just feel like there have always been many layers to my identity. The idea of building Mixed beyond just a fashion brand is intended to embody this idea that we all have so many different sides to our identities, and that we can work to hold those different pieces of ourselves together, to show up fully in our lives.
I would say that technically, everyone is mixed. I’m not limiting the idea of mixedness to just race and culture. I think in the end, Mixed is really for the people who feel ready to embrace their own mixedness, and who want to make a statement about their identity. That's where the bold prints come in. It tends to be people in their early 20s to mid-30s, and a lot of them tend to be creative. Mixed products are so colorful, so vibrant, they’re something you can't miss. As a brand, we really want people to bring confidence into their everyday life.
What does embracing your mixedness look like? How does that struggle to show up in your everyday life?
I grew up with a lot of my Iranian family, but not much of my Japanese family. My mom is kind of estranged from them, mainly because she married my dad, who is Iranian, and then moved to LA. It was very taboo to marry a foreigner, and her family just didn't approve of that. But I grew up with a lot of Iranian cousins - not necessarily by blood, but people we consider family.
But since I’m not full Iranian, I didn't really look like any of them, so there was always a kind of dissonance there, like I didn't quite fit in. And recently, when I went to Japan after my mom passed, I didn't fit in there either. It felt very uncomfortable. People would point at me and look at me strangely. At first I took offense to it. I don't get looks like that in LA and New York because big cities tend to be diverse. But in Japan, I was in this small, old town, and I definitely stuck out. It made me want to be more Japanese. I wanted people to know that in a way, I'm one of them. I became hyper-aware of the things about me that I could control - the way I dress, act or talk.
Culturally, I’ve always tried to figure out which one community I could belong to. But honestly, that probably wouldn’t be satisfying anyway, because I'm not any one particular side of myself.
When I was in high school, I went to Japan with my family. It was the first time my dad and I met grandma. It was bad. There was such a culture clash, it’s not a good memory. And I was also so young at the time, I didn't get a chance to really understand the culture. Going back alone, it felt like it was the first time I could actually experience that.
You seem to incorporate a storytelling element into Mixed through your writing, which can be seen on your Instagram. Those texts feel like quotes from your heart. Did you envision storytelling as a component of Mixed from the beginning, or did that just occur organically?
When I first started Mixed, I wanted it to be deeper than just aesthetic. In fashion, a lot of brands have a look, but no values or messaging that go deeper than what's on the surface. I wanted Mixed to be a brand that people personally resonate with, whether they're mixed culturally, professionally, creatively, religiously, politically, whatever it may be. I also try to offer different ways for people to engage. Not everyone who is part of the Mixed community is necessarily a customer who wears the prints. Sometimes there are people who just resonate with the idea of figuring out how to embrace their mixedness through actionable steps.
Are you religious? Were you raised religious? If so, what role does religion play in your life now?
I'm not religious. My mom was Japanese, and so she identified as Buddhist and my dad identifies as Muslim, but they were never people who practiced or took their religion very seriously. Actually, my dad used to be extremely religious because he grew up in Iran before the revolution. But when he came to the US, he took some history courses on Islam, and that actually shattered his perspective of religion. So now, he's not religious, meaning I didn't really grow up around it.
Do you see any issues with how people think about being mixed? How does your work help create solutions for those issues?
I don't know if I've created any solutions. However, I believe that the way we understand ourselves is subject to a lot of external factors. Reflecting on identity, particularly for mixed individuals, has so much to do with the way other people perceive us. That’s one thing I’ve tried to advocate for. We must first recognize how much of our identities are assigned by the external. I believe we need to try and claim that back for ourselves, to be accountable for our own identities.
What do safe spaces mean to you, and what do they look like to you?
I think it's definitely helpful to have other mixed people around, to share stories and build community. But I also am interested in being in spaces where people are different from me, who come from a different perspective or don't necessarily understand me. I also want to be able to navigate that space with thoughtfulness and respect.
Have you been able to build and empower communities with Mixed? Has the brand provided a community for you as well?
Yeah, 100%. Thus far, it’s led to a lot of great one-on-one connections. I’ll get on calls with people, or someone will share a Mixed post on Instagram and that sparks a conversation between that person and one of their friends.
I also recently connected with this person who is Black and Iranian. He helps run this platform called Collective for Black Iranians, which is essentially a space to share stories about Black Iranian people. So when I sent him a video from my cousin's page, he was like: “yeah, I was the person behind that!”. Now we have plans to talk on the phone on Monday, without any kind of agenda, just to chat. My hope is that starting next month, we'll do some kind of community meetup. I just don't really know how I want to structure that yet, because there are so many ways to approach it. But I’d really like to organize something.
How does it feel to be pretty exposed online, in regards to your thoughts and opinions? What's that experience been like?
That's a really good question that I’ve not yet been asked. It’s scary because I grew up with a lot of positive reinforcement, and overall, I think that’s been really helpful. But starting a business and building a platform are tough. You're going to encounter people who disagree, and who don't like what you're doing. I wouldn't say I've encountered a lot of that, but I have encountered some, particularly with posts regarding identity and mixedness.
What I aim to do is respond with as much empathy and honesty as I can. I really try to be conscious of just saying: here is my experience, and if it resonates with you, great.
What moves and inspires you? Where does your inspiration come from?
I like to play around for a while without thinking too consciously, just to see what comes out. A lot of my prints are definitely inspired by nature and abstraction. I only began designing about a year ago, and a lot of my designs in the early days were very literal, clean, simple, and that mirrored my personality; clean-cut, maybe even rigid in some ways. As I moved into more of a creative space in my own life, my ability to be more abstract and a little bit more messy improved, so to speak, and that’s been reflected in my work. I've definitely learned that there's also a lot of Japanese influence in my designs. But at the same time, I feel like the high color and vibrancy I incorporate is Iranian in a way, since the culture is so rich and vibrant.
Have you ever been to Iran before?
No, partially because it's really difficult to get your hands on an Iranian passport, which you need in order to travel there. The political situation is unbearably difficult - unlike Japan, where I can just go. It would be much better for me to go to Iran with my dad because I don't speak the language and I don't know the customs.
I went to Japanese school when I was younger, so I'm a pretty basic speaker. I’m able to get around and have conversations with people, but I definitely don’t speak it professionally. Farsi,
only speak it very little. I took one class in college, so I know words here and there. But it's not like Japanese, which I can read, write and speak. I would like to learn more Farsi, but also the political situation in Iran has made it really difficult to go there.
The picture that's been painted of Iranians and Iranian culture is just so negative, and so unlike the actual people. Iranians are so welcoming. When I was traveling, I met this one person who said that Iran, by far, has been his favorite place he’s ever visited because of how open, friendly and warm the people were. It's just so bizarre how much that differs from our image politically.
What diasporic community, if any, do you consider yourself a part of?
I would definitely say that I identify more so with the Iranian diaspora. When I was taking the time to travel, it was an interesting experience for me that I would identify mainly as American. While in the U.S., I don’t identify with being American, because that much is assumed since I live here, speak the language, etc. But when I was traveling, it was: I'm American, but my mom is Japanese and my dad is Iranian. Identity, it changes based on place.
When we were growing up, whiteness was THE thing to be a part of. Now, in this day and age, being a person of color is the ‘cool thing’. And people don't want to be associated with whiteness. When I was abroad, I didn't necessarily want to be associated with America under Donald Trump. This kind of goes back to what I was saying originally: how do we claim our identity for ourselves based on what we feel is actually true?
What was it like growing up in an immigrant home and constructing a multi-layered identity?
When I was a kid, I definitely wanted to lean more towards Americanness. I was sometimes embarrassed by bringing certain foods to school, the way they would smell, even though a lot of people loved the sushi that my mom would pack for me. I feel like I judged my parents a lot because I was seeing them through American eyes. I understood American culture so much more than my parents did, because I grew up in it. And so sometimes, I feel I would judge them without valuing where they came from, and the wisdom they had from their own cultures. Thankfully, that’s changed a lot as I've gotten older.
I do consider myself American though. I guess what that means is, America is the space for me to continually figure out how to shape my identity. My dad considers himself Iranian, but after living here for decades, he's really proud to say that he's an American. He would never want to move back to Iran. He has a positive perspective on the U.S., which is in contrast to younger generations that are highly critical of the U.S.
My mom was always really attached to her homeland and never really acclimated to the U.S. And I understand why, now, after having gone back to Japan and seeing this complete, stark difference. My mom, I think, never quite let go of her roots, whereas my dad really acclimated. I feel grateful for the opportunities that we have, especially with regard to starting a business. When I compare my experience to what starting a business would be like in Japan or Iran, it would be close to impossible. But I also, of course, am aware of the need to continue to practice
and embrace our cultures. So I guess for me, being American is continuing to actively engage in pushing all cultures.
What is your vision for the future?
The vision for the future is to be the go-to print wear brand, let’s say in the U.S. When you want to wear a statement piece, something highly printed, a vibrant piece of clothing, I want you to think of Mixed. We are coming out with the first apparel collection in the summer of 2021. It’s in the works now - we have several different pieces with multiple colorways or print ways, and really the goal is to go deeper into apparel and clothing, step by step.
