Malaysian Magnate Dives Into L.A. Fashion Biz

If you live in Malaysia, you probably deal every day with The Naza Group of Companies, one of the largest privately held conglomerates in the Southeast Asian nation of an estimated 28 million people.

Naza Group mostly concerns itself with property development, automobile manufacturing and hotels, but its new acting chairman and chief executive, the 27-year-old Nasaruddin Nasimuddin, is adding fashion to his company’s diverse portfolio of businesses. It recently debuted its first fashion store, In Add Minus, which sells the In Add Minus brand, at Westfield Century City in Los Angeles.

On Nov. 18, the company held a gala grand-opening party for the 3,000-square-foot shop. A-list actors Anna Kendrick and Matthew Morrison attended the party in In Add Minus clothes while hip DJ Theodora Richards, daughter of the Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards, spun tunes. Also attending the party was In Add Minus Chief Executive Dagmar Jouni, who runs the day-to-day business of the brand and whose reacute;sumeacute; includes stints working in retail at Prada.

The In Add Minus brand offers stylish garments for men and women with a tailored look that can be worn at work or for going out in the evening, according to a company statement. Nasimuddin plans to up the ante for his fashion gamble.

In 2011, he will open five new stores, all on the West Coast. However, he said he probably will not wholesale the brand. “I personally love fashion, and I feel it has huge potential to become big if the business model is done properly,” he wrote in an e-mail. “It is an opportunity for me to build a brand of my own on top of the Naza Group.” Nasimuddin is a graduate of the University of Southern California and maintains a home in Los Angeles.—Andrew Asch