"It is said that a man can walk into my store looking like Woody Allen and walk out looking like Cary Grant".

There is a photograph of Bijan Pakzad as a seven year old boy in his native Iran which perhaps best exemplifies the attitude that has made him one of the most celebrated designers in the world. He stands with one hand thrust nonchalantly in the pocket of a suit that imitates that of his businessman father, and stares at the camera as though it were he and not the older, more worldly man beside him who has seen it all. Arresting in its intensity the photograph is a potent image of a man who even as a young boy already set himself apart, refusing to fall into line and behave in the manner expected of those his age.

"I didn't act like other seven year olds", smiles the flamboyant and outrageously successful menswear designer, whose 'By Appointment Only' stores set a precedent in the United States retail fashion establishment where his business was founded. Where the grand haute couture houses of France emphasise the prestige of their clientele by such overt displays of exclusivity, no 'new world' fashion designer had ever thought to show the same self-confidence - or is the word arrogance, in the merchandising of his or her creations.

But even by his own reckoning Bijan Pakzad is not like any other designer, fashion or otherwise. Brought up in an affluent Middle Eastern family, Bijan - who has gone only by his first name since starting his fashion empire - studied engineering in Tehran and later in Switzerland before deciding that a lifetime devoted to calculations was not for him.

"My father who had his own steel business wanted me to be a doctor or a lawyer", grins the youthful fifty-plus year old Bijan, his small neat frame swathed in one of his own immaculately tailored creations as he reclines behind the glass desk of his New York office. Here a wood-beamed ceiling canopies an Italian travertine marble floor in front of a stunning glass wall made up of hundreds of Baccarat crystal bottles - replicas of those in which his top-of-the-line fragrance for men is sold at $A3000 for 6 oz.

"I had an attitude even as a child which demanded attention. Not destructive, not malicious, just forceful. By the time I was in my teens I realised that I wanted to be a somebody. Even then I wanted to be number one - what, however I didn't quite know yet. You see my family are like horses, that is that we like to run but we need space; plenty of freedom. After beginning my studies as an engineer I realised my freedom would come not from engineering but from designing clothes of great distinction for men".

It was just this space to be himself, to develop his own particular and unique style of fashion which led Bijan to study fabrics in Switzerland at the textile mills at Saint Gall. From there it was an inevitable path that led him to further study in design and production at the studios of Galleria Brera in Biella, just outside of Milan. It was in the Europe of the Sixties that Bijan was exposed to the great spectrum of male fashions, everything from casual blue-jeans to fur-lined overcoats and satin scarves.

But it would be only after a tentative attempt at establishing a fashion business in his native land, that Bijan made perhaps the most definitive decision of his career; electing to move to the United States to study marketing. It was while there that Bijan realised his greatest challenge was in converting the attitude of Californian men from dressing in what he describes as sloppy shorts and wind breakers to the more refined tastes of the European male.

With the ebullient zeal of someone who acknowledges that the moment is ripe for those with the drive and ambition to take the plunge, Bijan set up shop in Beverly Hills, drumming up business by doing what those before him had sought to avoid; courting controversy. Within his trade Bijan established his retail philosophy by tailoring his fashion to the exact requirements of individual clients. Rather than simply direct staff to take measurements based on existing ranges and have the client wait for his choices to be made up, Bijan personally, liaised with his clients getting to know them as individuals, all the while utilising his own particular brand of forthrightness to steer their selections in keeping with the requirements of their individual lifestyles.

"My aim has always been to get to know the client, to understand what he does, why he does it and what he expects", explains Bijan. "Even today, with all my many clients - which include presidents, kings and many of the important men of industry and commerce, I know my clients right down to their travel schedules and the birthdays of their wives and children. My philosophy is that in order to dress a man well one must understand the man. I cannot dress a judge in the same way I would dress a movie star, for instance. They have different roles to play, different expectations to fulfill. When I dress a man, I want to know what he will be doing in the clothes I am providing for him. This is not to know his business, but to ensure that I am doing mine to absolute perfection. A lawyer dressed badly would be laughed out of court. A judge presiding in a red shirt would not be taken seriously. These are the sorts of considerations I have always taken into account, from my earliest days".

In 1976, with the financial support of a fellow Iranian, a successful Beverly Hills real estate developer and long-time friend Daryoush "Dar" Mahboubi, Bijan converted a deserted carpark on prestigious Rodeo Drive into one of the most sumptuous and luxurious showrooms ever devoted exclusively to male fashion. With white-gloved door attendants and the now famous 'By Appointment Only' sign hung on the doors; rare antique marble tables rather than conventional store counters lining a wall and rock crystal chandeliers overhead, the store was imposing enough to keep out the curious, yet more than suitably elegant and refined to attract the likes of Spain's King Juan Carlos, Jordan's King Hussein, the Sultan of Brunei and the dynamic personality of the late Malcolm Forbes.

While other designers held elaborate and carefully-staged fashion shows to showcase their creations Bijan personalised his fashion to concentrate on bringing his wares directly to the individual client where necessary. When former American President Ronald Regan wanted something warm for his days on the family ranch Bijan designed mink-lined jeans. When a certain Middle Eastern family couldn't come to him, Bijan packed 65 crates of his latest creations, a team of his personal tailors and fitters and flew them to the client. Bijan has his own private G3 Gulfstream jet for just that purpose, to get him to his clients wherever they might be around the world.

Racks are forbidden in the Bijan showrooms, instead lacquered wardrobes hold every conceivable fashion garment - from $35 socks and $1,000 shoes to $650 shirts and $5,000 suits. Colour and accessory coordinated, the clothes in these wardrobes are intended to reflect the total image of the client and heaven help anyone who even suggests it might be more expedient to display clothes so that the client can help himself. For Bijan, there is no such thing as the customer wandering the showroom at random.

From the moment the client walks in the door and is handed his choice of a glass of wine or French champagne - and even a cigar if he so wishes, there is a stylised ritual of question-answer to determine precisely what the client requires - and for what reasons, followed by measurements, consultations, advice and finally the fitting. What is not currently available is simply created. And Bijan believes in nothing if not that his clients should dress to reflect the wealth and power they undoubtedly possess.

"There is a joke told about me that says that a man can walk into one of my stores looking like Woody Allen, and walk out looking like Cary Grant", grins Bijan. "And do you know, the late Cary Grant was indeed one of my many clients. My clothing style is conservative certainly, but is based on my understanding of the clients I have. When I dress a man I do so from an intimate understanding of him as a person; what he likes, dislikes, the cars he drives, the business he is involved in, the lifestyle he leads. That is why so many women are my fans, because I have dressed their men the way that no-one else has. I have brought out their full potential as men, and this to me is exciting".

Bijan does nothing by half measures. Before ordering a particular fabric from a manufacturer he will have garments made of that fabric in his size and wear them to determine whether or not the fabric meets with his approval criteria. If it does, Bijan then pays up to three times the market value of the fabric to guarantee exclusive rights to that particular material. It is just one of Bijan's ways of ensuring that his customers get what others can only pine for. Once quoted as saying that he designs for men of power who expect the best and recognise the care and attention required to create and choose the best, Bijan thus takes enormous pride in having every one of his garments hand-cut and sewn at this factories in Carrara, Italy; everything from cottons selected in Egypt and woven in Switzerland, to fine English woollens and Chinese silks.

And just to ensure that all his efforts are not in vain Bijan provides every client with a leather-bound notebook on how the clothes ought to be worn and what accessories to use.

To some, all this might sound rather excessive but with a business which has made in excess of $100 million since it began twenty years ago, there is certainly more to Bijan's seemingly ostentatious methods than mere glitz. A shrewd business dealer Bijan writes, directs and until very recently, appeared in all his own advertisements. Never one to put subtlety ahead of attention - grabbing the Bijan conceived ads have included Orthodox Jews (he claims to be the only designer who is popular amongst Arabs and Jews which begs the question whether fashion can heal a biblical schism), and Catholic nuns dancing in rapture amidst the scent of his perfumes while Bijan looks on; a Middle Eastern garbed model pointing a gun at him and even family portraits with his second wife Tracy (it was during the making of one ad that she and Bijan met: Tracy had to slap him 94 times to get just the right shot) and their baby daughter Alexandra for a Mother's Day promotion. So successful have these print advertisements been that he has required little more exposure and only now is Bijan contemplating using television. Where often times a public figure hides his family away, Bijan's is the First Family of American Fashion. And the public loves the blatancy of the flaunted fairy tale family unit.

His best dressed list (as an ad); his all-time style compilation (as an ad), his favourite restaurants et al (as an ad), his family (as an ad), his rise to fame and fortune - as a tastefully art directed brochure, with an outrageous but unashamed subjectivity, Bijan has mastered the art of making his personality and lifestyle as captivatingly marketable as his merchandise is rarefied.

Instead of waiting to be approached for the mudslinging, throat cutting honour of taste arbiter (viz the infamous acid-quilled Blackwell) Bijan has set himself up as same in his print ad for his men's fragrance, but excluding from his list of do-rights, rather than publicly castigating the denizens of dastardly dressing. It is hardly objective and gloriously self promoting, nonetheless Bijan can read his audience and their fascinations as intently as do his clients their leather bound handbooks of style.

As for the fragrance that is sublimely the feature of the promotion. "It took me two years to design that particular fragrance", explains Bijan. "I had the idea firmly in my head as to what exactly I wanted and there could be no compromise until it was achieved. Even the design of the bottle went through some 800 drafts until I was finally happy with it. I did not want a feminine scent, especially because the clothes I design are exceptionally masculine, so I interviewed a wide array of women to get precisely from them what sort of scent for a man would most appeal to them. And it worked". In 1988 in fact, Bijan's fragrance for men won the highly prestigious Fragrance Oscars in New York, surpassing all contenders n the same way Bijan's clothes, quarter-million dollar crocodile skin luggage, watches and limited edition .38 calibre revolver with gold inlay have done in their extravagance.

In 1983 Bijan opened his luxurious New York boutique with its white walls - which he has painted weekly, its curving red-carpeted solid brass and glass staircase and familiar white-gloved doormen. It is here that Bijan holds court, in the upper-level office resplendent in autographed photographs of his famous clients and framed copies of his many print ads - more often than not showing a beaming Bijan in various states of jubilant rapture.

The twin New York penthouses one of which Bijan shares with Tracy, the other is for their daughter and her nanny are more than merely the trappings of success. With their rare Persian tapestries and rugs, and polished floors of Spanish saddle leather, they are a testament to Bijan's personal sense of luxury and his ability to live the lifestyle of those he dresses. In many ways actually, perhaps Bijan lives more opulently than most of his clients. It is also no surprise to learn that this fashion and fragrance dynamo also has estates in Florence and Bel Air - where he keeps a Persian chef - refuges from the frenetic business pace he sets himself year round. His twenty-six year old daughter, Daniela from his first marriage has now joined her father as an executive in the Bijan empire after taking degrees in art and business administration.

The endless work has paid off handsomely for this diminutive creator, and not just financially. Stanford University recently had Bijan as a guest speaker at their Graduate School of Business, while in 1988 Auburn University presented him with an award for Excellence in Mastery of Apparel Design, Marketing and Merchandising. As a sign of his gratitude for their esteem Bijan reciprocated the honour by offering an annual award for Auburn's top student, a gesture which he says is as much his tribute to what America allowed him to achieve as it is to encourage future fashion genius.

Passionate and voluble, Bijan is workaholic, designing even in his sleep. When he found out that he needed reading glasses he went looking for lightweight ostrich frames. Not finding any he was suddenly inspired in one of these nocturnal think tanks to design his own and had them made to his exact specifications. It was in response to his desire to give to those who shared his taste but lacked his wealth that Bijan began also to design fragrances for the more lucrative women's market, as well as creating less expensive versions of the male scent. While some critics accused him of patronising people with this approach, Bijan maintains that far from being a bow to the masses, his more affordable fragrances are his way of bringing his vision of beauty and style to many more people than would otherwise be possible.

'I made a female perfume as a sign of my gratitude for all the support women have always given me", beams Bijan. "And you must excuse me if I sound snobby, but also for those people who have the taste but not the money to afford Bijan otherwise. I don't do what I do for the money, I do it for the passion. For me the beauty of what I do is in the design, but the pleasure is in someone buying what I design. I don't need to work seven days a week, but I do. I work whenever the inspiration takes me - and that can be at any hour of the day or night. In fact there was Japanese interest in my business recently and although they offered me $300 million for it, as well as a five year salary I turned them down". So, money off itself has no lasting appeal for Bijan it would appear, although the monied are certainly drawn to Bijan.

Perhaps Bijan's lasting appeal lies as much in his forthrightness as in the splendour of his creations. One time when the Sultan of Brunei arrived at Bijan's New York showroom in what Bijan considered to be clothes not befitting the Sultan's position - he actually said the word 'ugly' in the ensuing dialogue - Bijan refused to serve him unless he got rid of the offending dress immediately. It is perhaps a measure of the rapport Bijan has with his select clients that the Sultan laughed off the comment and did as he was asked.

Silk suits with the look of corduroy, English herringbone topcoats festooned with mink collars, calfskin sport jackets with sleeves trimmed in crocodile, mink bedcovers and platinum watches with two diamond faces; these are to Bijan's sense of style as Saville Row is to the English aristocracy.

Sybaritic surrounds, provocative advertisements and window displays aside, the name Bijan has come to stand for a certain affluence and status that is beyond the reach of most mere mortals. And his elegant fragrances, with their sensuous notes and alluring packaging, whilst perhaps not the posturing for the masses that some would argue they are, remain for the great majority the only link with a lifestyle that is as much part showbiz as it is serious business.

"Once upon a time in a faraway land there lived a young man with a passion for quality...." So begins the fairy tale opening of one of Bijan's latest ads. Throughout this personal treatise he mixes metaphors, dedications and clichés so saccarin they make Mills & Boon look like William Burroughs.

The brochure is littered with personal messages, one dedicated to his "lovely art director Cynthia Coyle whose dedication and talents are gifts I cherish dearly, best wishes on your wedding".

the text follows so... he came to America, established a fashion empire, married Tracy on the first day of Spring. Inspired by love he created two award winning fragrances and a collection of jewellery, the magnitude of which was exceeded only by the birth of their daughter, Alexandra.

"And so it came to pass that style ruled the land and they all lived happily ever after in everlasting love..."

You have got to be joking, you think. This can't be for real, this masterpiece of mind-boggling banality, as cringe-provoking and molasses grateful as an Oscars acceptance speech. But the truth is that Bijan is extraordinarily clever; you see, he is not making any of it up, even the sentiment. And there is a medicinal dose of humour to help the sugar go down in each of his very smart ads. Excessive, sure but he is the man who has everything and, he knows how to use it. But the Tale of Bijan doesn't end with the happily ever after. "to be continued..." promises the closing phrase of the success story personified.