Kayvon Zand is an American nightlife personality and musician based in NYC. He is most known for eccentric live performances and parties, as well as his established personal style featuring John Sex hair and Elvis Presley jump suits. He is the founder of Zandwagon, a model management and specialty casting company.
Background
Kayvon Zand is a first-generation American born to Persian parents Tabandeh Zand Ph.D and Hormoze Goudarzi in Wilmington, North Carolina. He went by the name of Kevin Zand while at school as a child. Zand was brought up in a single parent household by his mother, learning Persian before English. About his family background Zand has said, "My family situation seems like a soap opera. I grew up with my mom and sister, whom I love dearly. Recently I tried to reach out to my father and my other half-siblings but was turned away. It's probably one of the most hurtful things I've had to deal with." Zand is descended from the Zand dynasty on his mother's side. In his teens, Zand worked as a fashion model, which allowed him to leave his hometown and travel Europe.
Nightlife
Zand became a notable fixture in New York City nightlife after moving there from North Carolina. He is the "ringleader" of the Zand Collective, a performance group of a dozen members. In July 2010 he gained attention when his act was banned from the Highline Ballroom, as the venue deemed his act to be too shocking. He was nominated for a Paper Magazine award in 2012, and he is known for throwing extravagant parties. His dark, dance party, Dorian Gray, ran for the year of 2013, causing a controversy in the LES when the original venue for the party, the DL, came under fire from the local community board. The DL claimed they fired Zand because they were unaware he was throwing a dance party. Zand moved Dorian Gray to the Bowery Electric for its duration, and the party continued to receive favorable press. In 2014 Zand began a new event called Sex Fifth Avenue. The first edition took place at the Museum of Sex, where it was successful in cementing Zand's reputation for revitalizing NYC nightlife. Zand proceeded to launch Kayvon Zand's Metropolis at Webster Hall across 2016-2017. Zand has partnered with the Eventi Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants to throw a popular, celebrity studded Halloween event in 2016.. The event was first named Hospital 849 in 2016, followed by Beast 849 in 2017 and Manor 849 in 2018. Preproduction is underway for Zand's 2019 event, Voodoo 849..
Music
Zand creates '80s inspired electronic dance music. He writes his own music, but works with producers including Chew Fu and Gomination to create the final tracks. He is a self-taught pianist, and also plays the violin and viola. Zand performed at the Life Ball in Vienna in 2011. He has also released two EPs; the One Way Flight remix package and Just Give It Away. Zand was featured in Paper Magazine's music issue in 2012. Zand has created one music video for each of his EPs. One Way Flight and Just Give It Away were both directed by Mike Ruiz and have both received favorable press, being launched by Interview Magazine and Wild Magazine respectively.
Acting
Zand has been both a film and a stage actor. He played a terrorist in RuPaul's film Starrbooty, Elvis Presley on an episode of the popular Japanese show The World's Astonishing News and starred in Alfred Preisser and Randy Weiner's "Caligula Maximus-Featuring Kayvon Zand", produced by Stephen Pevner. Zand was interviewed in Glory Daze:The Life and Times of Michael Alig.
News coverage
Zand is known for his extravagant, blonde bouffant. He has been published in many magazines as himself; notably Interview Magazine, Glamour Paris, and Italian Vanity Fair. Kayvon has also shot with Steven Meisel for Vogue. Zand was featured as himself in the 2012 commercial for the Volkswagen Golf. Zand was interviewed by The Huffington Post for their "After Dark" series examining the history of and current state of NYC nightlife. Zand performed at a benefit concert for victims of the 2015 East Village gas explosion held at Theater 80 in April 2015. Zand appeared on an episode of the RTL Television docudrama Larissa Goes To Hollywood starring Larissa Marolt. Zand appeared on America's Got Talent Season 10, making it to judge cuts. He was eliminated after a contentious exchange with the four judges who were overwhelmingly negative in their evaluations save for Howie Mandel, who thought Zand's performance was campy fun and intentionally bad. Zand authored a response as a new blogger for the Huffington Post.
Zandwagon
In June 2017, Zand launched "Zandwagon", a model management and specialty casting company. According to Zand, the model management company, fills a necessary void. "Queer is freedom. It's openness. It's real. And I think that's what we want from society. We don't want people to play dress-up anymore. We don't want appropriation. We want the real deal. And that's what Zandwagon is going to provide. We're going to break beauty standards—one booking at a time.”
Personal life
Zand is married to his longtime partner, Anna Zand. They have two children, Zara and Aslan Zand. The Zand family was featured in Nylon Magazine as professional artists adjusting to new parenthood. Anna Zand was quoted, "You know, I feel like having a daughter really pushes me harder to be a more accomplished human being. Because I don’t want her to like, look at her home and be like, ‘Yeah well, you know, my mom gave up on that so I’m not going to try to do it either.’"
