It seems like every well-cultured, well-dressed, or well-read person you meet has a taste palette that goes beyond the dollar-menu or faux-Mexican fast-casual burrito bowls. Christopher Bastin of Gant is no different. The part-time chef, full-time creative director dished to British GQ about the intersection of style and the kitchen. Bastin recently launched Gant Cook last season at Pitti Uomo, and has also become a foodie blogger, sharing his favorite recipes in his free time. Check out some choice excerpts from the interview we selected below, or read the article in its full-form here.
[via British GQ]
GQ: What's in store at Gant Cook for spring/summer 2013?
Christopher Bastin: We're staying within the same type of businesses, but go more into the produce and the sort of stuff they do. The spring collection has a different set up - it's more to do with people we've got to know in New York over the years. More about people in the industry. I can't tell you more, otherwise I'd have to kill you.
Who's the most stylish chef?
I'd say Marcus Samuelsson, the Swedish chef who runs Red Rooster up in Harlem. He's been New York based for ten or fifteen years and is not only handsome guy, but also has a great personal style. Very eccentric, a lot of colour and happens to love Gant Rugger - handy! Also more old school guys like Mario Batali - he's the essence of a super-successful, new school chef and is always extremely elegant. He's very savvy and tailored.
Since you last spoke to us you've been promoted from creative director of Rugger to creative director of the entire Gant label. How are you bringing what you've learnt from Rugger to the brand as a whole?
The good thing about going over to the "big ship", so to speak, is that I get to fine tune an already great thing, as opposed to building something from scratch as we did with Rugger. My job is making sure it's colourful, fresh and elegant. Rugger has been about looking back - it's very vintage driven - but Gant mainline is about tweaking contemporary classics.
What are your views on fashion house collaborations?
I'm all for them. I love what we've done with Michael Bastian and it's great to work with someone who's changed the face of American sportswear. When it feels authentic to the brand and is not contrived it's great. I'm a big fan of what H&M have done with Margiela - it's bananas.
