The easiest thing is to create something no one has ever seen before. There's a reason no one's ever seen it - because someone tried it, and it didn't work in the real world.
— Michael Bastian
I'm actually really obsessed with folk art.
Boston's such a unique city. I feel like 50 percent of its DNA turns over every semester.
There's nothin' wrong with the way men dress in New York!
Flip-flops are a privilege, not a right.
When you buy a new suit, take the time to get it tailored, and you'll thank yourself every time you put it on.
What I know of Hawaii is from watching the 'Brady Bunch' shows from the seventies.
I have a very wonderful bath ritual.
I'm a big fan of TV on demand. I'm embarrassed to say what I watch. It's the worst crap.
I'm always asking, 'How do you give a guy a new reason to buy a polo?'
Everyone looks better and more alive in a pink shirt.
Even if it's a polo shirt and chinos, they should be the best possible quality and fit perfectly.
All it takes is for one person to say, 'Wow, that looks great on you' - and then they wear it for the next 10 years. That's the great thing about guys. They just need that little bit of encouragement.
Women are more open to trying on a new personality every season; they can go from goth to bombshell to librarian, whatever.
People talk to me about celebrities all the time and which ones do I admire, and it's so hard because you can't tell who's doing it for themselves and who hired a stylist.
I've always had this idea that I would love to do a Boston-inspired collection, whether it's for my own line or whether it's for Gant.
I think the secret of my brand is that I speak to the guys who just get it. They don't want something all logo'd and tricked out. But they go to the gym. They still go out; they want to look hot. And they want an upgrade, but they don't want to look like their dad.
I just love walking around the Upper East Side and seeing those guys who didn't just take an extra 10 minutes in the morning to get ready, but an extra 40 minutes.
My big mission in life is to get guys out of those big, baggy board shorts down to their knees. It always looks like they're trying to hide something, like skinny legs.
Menswear remains steady. It's a difference of a pleat versus flat-front pant or two buttons versus three in the jacket.
When you live in a city where you're always in and out of a car or a building, I feel it's... better to treat a heavier, tweedier sport coat almost as you would outerwear.
I've been to parties where I've seen guys mess up. They've been dying to bust out those crazy embroidered corduroys all year long, and it doesn't always fly.
I seem to go through phases with collecting stuff: vintage Japanese men's magazines, coconut monkey carvings, '70s belt buckles.
Swedish winters are not for the faint of heart.
Honestly, I'm not so much of a tech guy.
If you're a New Yorker, there are two things that are most important: a car and a washer and dryer. Literally everyone else in America has those things! It's so weird to them that these are our luxuries. You can eat at Per Se every night, but I don't have a car or washer and dryer!
Gray has this crisp, neat-as-a-pin thing going for it, whereas black seems lazy and, at the same time, like it's trying too hard.
The guys who like chinos and cords never went away. They've always been there. They're remarkably loyal, just not remarkably vocal.
If everything is a little baggy, then everything will look sloppy when you layer one piece on top of another. Your sport coat should easily fit over a shirt and a fine-gauge sweater.
I like the idea that we settle into what looks best on us. Then it becomes a game of finding the perfect version of those things.
Edie and Lew Wasserman were chic as hell.
I love doing these little collaborations. We collaborate with Stubbs & Wooton on the shoes for Michael Bastian.
I don't know if I would use that word, 'trailblazer.' That implies that this huge crowd followed me, and that certainly is not the case!
I still don't think I'm a fashion guy. I think I'm a clothes guy. I'm a little obsessive.
Guys look best when they have a healthy disrespect for their clothes.
Preppy never goes away. It just has its moment every 15 years, and then it goes back underground.
I'm always much more inspired by random people on the street. I live down by NYU and The New School, and I'd almost say close your eyes and pull a student out, and they're gonna be a little bit cooler than the average celebrity.
I personally would rather layer up than put on a big, heavy coat.
I kind of have a uniform for office parties and Christmas parties. What I do is put on a basic tuxedo shirt with a solid navy or black tie, a tweed jacket, a red pocket square, and some sort of fancy shoe or velvet slipper.
I know how to cane chairs - how's that for a useless skill? My mom once took a course and taught me how to do it when I was stuck at home sick with the flu. Now I'm all set if I ever decide to drop out of fashion and join an Amish community.
My favorite animal on the Galapagos is the Galapagos Marine Iguana. The first rule of iguana-dom is that iguanas hate the water, yet somehow, these poor iguanas landed there and had to figure it out.
I think women are much more open to new ideas but approach a line more from a more personal and skeptical place - you need to seduce them into your clothes, whereas most men just like to be told what they should be wearing. Women are a bit like cats and men like dogs in that respect when it comes to clothes.
I'm a New Yorker, so I don't own a car, but I rent a lot of cars.
Gray feels like the city.
Anyone can be James Dean for a day.
I prefer simpler shirts, like a solid oxford or pinstripe, and with a solid cashmere crewneck or V-neck.
Guys are leery about putting on something they don't think is them. They have a fixed idea of themselves.
Celebrities, the beach, and Coachella, that's what everyone thinks about when they think of Los Angeles. Then you see these people living in Bel-Air and Beverly Hills, and they're so chic and have so much style.
I feel like everyone should buy less but buy better.
At a certain point, this is a brand. It's got to be bigger than me as one little person. We have a lane - and it's a good lane - and want to drive faster down that lane.
