MICHAEL BASTIAN

Michael Bastian is a designer line and priced a certain way because of where it's made and the materials we use, and Gant is the more accessible version of that: more sports-inspired, more branding. It has the same DNA; it's just a different time and place.

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 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.

Most guys open their closet and tend to wear about 10% of what they own - and they wear that 10% over and over again. So the trick is to be honest with yourself and figure out what that 10% is.

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.

You can have a real ongoing dialogue through social media that wasn't possible before.

I'm a designer with a little 'd' as opposed to a big 'd.' It's a job; I'm more about contributing to a man's wardrobe, offering the things that I look for myself.

Guys look best when they have a healthy disrespect for their clothes.

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.

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 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'm actually really obsessed with folk art.

I have a very wonderful bath ritual.

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.

I love doing these little collaborations. We collaborate with Stubbs & Wooton on the shoes for Michael Bastian.

I get my best ideas in that state of suspended consciousness just before sleep.

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.

Designer pricing should hurt, but it shouldn't kill you. You wince when you hand over your AmEx, but once you get it home, you never regret it. You divide it by how many days you're using it, and suddenly it becomes affordable.

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.

Flip-flops are a privilege, not a right.

With tailored clothing, you can really see where the money went. How it's constructed, how it fits your body - this becomes very apparent in tailored clothing.

I'm a big fan of TV on demand. I'm embarrassed to say what I watch. It's the worst crap.

When you buy a new suit, take the time to get it tailored, and you'll thank yourself every time you put it on.

Women are more open to trying on a new personality every season; they can go from goth to bombshell to librarian, whatever.

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.