♥ we are the lucky ones.

tonight, i had the luck of meeting the mostly lovely man:
 menswear designer/ CFDA winner/ former bostonian
& gant collaborator, michael bastian.

while admittedly, i know very little about menswear 

(and most of the time have very little interest!) i took a look through MB's 

most recent collections for his eponymous line as well as those he has designed for

american lifestyle brand, gant, and was completely intrigued by his amazing way of
bringing excitement and a fresh perspective to mens clothing, his creative way of styling,

 and the fact that his catalogue of models is as diverse as his collections are.

tonight, as i said, i had the opportunity to attend the gant store opening party,
(they are now here in boston and will be opening in LA & georgetown next!),
where i had a chance to meet & speak with michael bastian, and to check out his latest
fall/winter 2012 collection for gant, artfully known as "the lucky ones."


pssst! check out the lucky ones video that was commissioned from the band, caviare days!

borne out of a "very specific memory of boston," this fall collection is inspired
by bastian's time as a college student (at babson!) in the 80's when he felt
blessed to have that very special time with friends, so close to boston,
 in the heart of everything artistic, musical and creative,

he remarked that: although boston is considered a city of history and tradition,
and gant is a notoriously preppy brand, we should also keep in mind the fact
that only 50% of the people living here are here all of the time, the others
are transplants from other cities, here to attend school or work,
who are interested in fashion and fresh ideas.






when  i complimented bastian on his menswear collections and their unique styling
he commented that he does all of the styling himself, for each of his runway shows,
and he doesn't have an outside stylist! LOVE!

  predominantly a menswear designer, michael stepped out of the box a few seasons
ago to design the first womenswear collection for gant, to great success.
regarding his designs for women he said, "it has been a real education. men have a
much smaller toolbox. they want to look different, but they ultimately want to
look like themselves, only better. women want to throw out the rule book. they 
want to take a trip. they are more flexible, which in the end is more fun!"

lastly, a few things that endeared me to this lovely designer & gant even more was when
i brought up the diversity report from this season's NYFW runways, and the shocking truth
that designers sent 79.4% white models down the runway, leaving a whopping 20.6% for
everyone else-- some designers didn't used anyone of color at all! WTF??!!

of this, michael said, "i am glad you brought this up because it is super important.
i use models of diverse backgrounds because it is the right thing to do. i am proud
to employ bethann hardison as my casting director, who was a model, and is now
and agent with a great eye for promoting diversity and finding beautiful people
of every color."

LOVE HIM!!!!

lastly, i met a lovely bunch of people who work at the gant newbury street store
(you may have seen some of these boys on boston street style or beyond!)
 and their visual guru, taryn, whose reversible fur jacket is too cool for words.