Nick Wooster on how the boundaries of gender are blurred in fashion
Instagram Star Nick Wooster, meticulously leading her tumblr-blog, for many is an icon of the modern male style: he skillfully combines classic shirts and ties with shorts and tattoos. Over 30 years of work in the fashion industry, Worcester made a career from a seller and assistant buyer to the creative director of the men's department Bergdorf Goodman. In addition, he occupied the armchair of merchandising director Calvin Klein, chief of the design studio Polo Ralph Lauren and president of the American brand John Bartlett.
For 26 years, Nick Wooster did not miss a single Florentine Pitti Uomo, and at the just-past 86 he presented his first capsule collection of men's clothes, created for the famous Italian brand Lardini: it has slip-ons, bermuda shorts, suits made in Patchwork technique of different fabrics, as well as shirts with embroidery in the form of, in fact, Nick Wooster. We talked with Nick about how the male style is developing, whether it is worth sharing fashion by gender and why progressive media do not write about him, Worcester.
How was your style formed, thanks to which you will be recognized all over the world? You are 54 now, do you remember how you dressed when you were 16?
In fact, a person’s taste changes little over the years. If you have a basis from favorite things to which you got used since the childhood, then this base will be shown in the future. These things, the fabrics from which they were sewn, the colors will remain your favorite after a year. You may even not be giving yourself this report - it works on the subconscious. The basis of my style was formed in the mid 70s. Unlike many teenagers, most of the time he wore a uniform from college, dressing like a preppy: oxford shirts with a thin blue striped, chinos, blazers. Dark blue, khaki and gray were my favorite colors, and they are still like that. Over time, the proportions, forms, techniques. At 16, I already worked in my hometown of Salina, Kansas, in the men's classic clothing store, where there was an amazing selection of things - it could not but influence the formation of my taste. I came into contact with a large number of beautiful things, and the strongest feelings from childhood are tactile: fabrics that I liked then, I still prefer and are looking for things made from them.
You worked as a director of the men's department in America's largest department stores: Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman. What trends do you see today in how men buy things?
Men have become more open to diversity. If earlier they managed a pair of black shoes, a pair of brown shoes, a pair of sneakers, now they are happy to collect a collection of shoes.
Sites about men's fashion love to write about the male-style icons, believing that men need a good example. Did you have your own style icons? In women's fashion, for example, there are no more icons, and those whom they consider to receive awards for their style are practically naked.
Just men's trends are more related to style, and women's - fashion. I have never had style icons, no matter how pretentious it sounds. Now there are several people whose taste I can note and advise to follow them. For example, my good friend George Cortina - he is not very zealous in appearance, but looks great. There is no universal answer to what a man should look like. Everything is very individual and depends on a lot of factors: age, profession, orientation, how he spent his childhood, in what environment he grew up and rotates now, on his use and reading.
Men's clothing paints a woman in the case when in her she remains a woman
Nevertheless, the men's style is often tried to be presented as instructions for use: these pants are for these brogues, this tie is in the tone of the stripes on the shirt. Because of this, men, especially on the Pitti Uomo, breathe forethought and fit a very clear dress code. Should men be so obsessed with their appearance?
If a man put on an expensive suit and shoes - in this, in fact, there is nothing extraordinary: yes, clothing should meet his views, but not be the goal. Otherwise it will be the effect of a Halloween outfit. It should be dressed depending on the temperature outside - it is rather strange to bake in full gear at a 30-degree heat waiting for Tommy Ton, as the mods at the exhibition do. In addition, the border of the so-called occasion, which was dressed 40 years ago, today is blurred. If you ride a skateboard to an office in a dusty city, how should you be dressed?
Is that why you are in shorts and slips?
Of course. It's so much more comfortable to walk on pebbles in the heat! I gather in the mornings in 10 minutes, because the clothes for me are material that I can easily handle. Someone writes well, and someone gets along with combinations of things. A banal idea, but true: there are no rules, you just need to wear what you like and what is comfortable, but still you should not forget about the features of your figure, for some reason they are thinking of it last today.
Progressive brands like Alexander Wang, Sacai or Marc by Marc Jacobs offer masculine items for women, most of which are direct borrowing from the men's wardrobe. In the men's fashion, meanwhile, on the contrary, it is impossible not to note the appearance of women's things - some knitted crope tops by Jonathan Anderson are worth something, not to mention skirts for men, to which everyone is already used. Why is the concept of gender in fashion being blurred? For example, I’m wearing a Tigran Avetisyan A-line T-shirt for men, which I wear as a dress.
And what is essentially gender in fashion? Now designers of men's brands come to women's territory more boldly. Apparently, because for them personal perception of oneself and the world around becomes important, and not gender. Women's wardrobe for a long time was in relation to the male extremely unfair. Since the beginning of the 20th century, women have mastered men's things. For men, women's fashion remained underdeveloped territory. That is why men's fashion about style and details - there is too little room for maneuver. I myself once wore skirts, however, I would not do that now. But it is also important that menswear paints a woman when she remains a woman in her. Another question: how courageous can a man be in a woman's dress? In addition, there are always both men and women with traditional views on fashion, preferring the classics, and there are those with progressive ones who are moving the fashion forward. It has always been like this, and both poles cannot exist without each other.
About you there is not a single mention on the sites i-D, Dazed & Confused. Looks like you are a hero of another generation - what reads GQ and Esquire. It seemed to me unfair - it turns out that avant-garde media no less gloss form their own narrow picture of the world.
I agree. I'm at a loss!
Photo: Getty Images / Fotobank (2), Pitti Immagine Uomo (1)