{08.13.12} Profiles & Features

3 Questions

Gant's Christopher Bastin

Gant just opened its first West Coast outpost in Los Angeles. Located among other menswear favorites along Venice's Abbot Kinney Boulevard, the store has the same throwback charm and authentic details as the clothes themselves. From a reclaimed maple floor (sourced from an old school gym) to a tanker desk cash wrap and hand-painted gold foil on the windows. We sat down with the label's creative director to talk about the importance of sweating the details.

1308 Abbot Kinney Blvd. in Venice, CA; 424.272.9558

In addition to the entire Gant Rugger line, the store also carries a selection of the Gant by Michael Bastian label and Yale Co-Op shirts.

The Gant Rugger line has got a lot of old school, archival touches. What's your design process like?

When I started at Gant eight years ago, I discovered there was no archive. We had a few pieces from the '80s, when the Europeans acquired the license. And being a vintage nerd myself, I knew we had a rich story like other American heritage brands. So I started buying from eBay and vintage dealers, piece by piece. And a lot of the vintage Gant that we buy, we can essentially just rehash because it's perfect just the way it is. Even the old advertising material is amazing, talking about the "Gant attitude." I draw a lot of inspiration from those visuals, as well.

Bouquet M-65, $390; cotton sweater, $145; Hugger oxford, $115; jacquard tie, $135 and polka dot scarf, $198

Speaking of visuals, you're pretty big on Tumblr.
How'd that start?

I started my blog back in 2007 because I've got all this shit in my head. You can express yourself through your work, but there's some stuff that doesn't necessarily fit. My life is about everything that's beautiful—interior design, photography, food. And so it was more writing for myself. And no one was reading it for a long time, but then I started to get some great feedback from it. The fans of the brand are so devoted, but they're also our biggest critics, which is great. They're so educated, they really know their stuff and they've got some real opinions about what we do. But it's inspiring and rewarding as well.

Double-breasted jacket, $650

As we head into fall, what items are you excited about?

Well, I liked being able to go into this slightly more dressy, grown up look. It complements all the washed out things we do so well. And when you start mixing that, it becomes a really personal look. We have a single-button double-breasted jacket in a navy pinstripe that I really love. And our take on the M-65, this very American utilitarian staple, which has an all-over floral lining based off an old French handkerchief we found in this dusty shop in Stockholm. It's about mixing it up and having fun. An M-65 jacket worn with a polka dot scarf. It's like, when you wear your favorite plaid shirt and you throw on a retro single-breasted DB ... shit is going to happen.