Daily Front Row

2010 August 24

Gant Gone Coed

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Michael Bastian
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(NEW YORK) Let’s hear it for the girls! After a very successful launch of Gant by Michael Bastian last season, the line will feature womenswear for Spring 2011. While his eponymous label, Michael Bastian, is still exclusively menswear, Gant will unveil womenswear as well, on Wednesday, September 15. “Doing womenswear is, in a way, like learning a new language. We like to say we now have a little sister. Let me tell you, she’s a handful,” said Bastian to The Daily of his latest venture. Gant by Michael Bastian’s first collection, which debuted in February, was an ode to lacrosse, a sporty slice of Americana offered to customers at about a 1/3 of the price of his M.B. line. “The two are completely different,” noted the designer. “Gant really is a little brother in relation to the M.B. line.” Gant by Michael Bastian is now available in store at New York locations including Barneys New York, Saks Fifth Avenue, and internationally available in specialty stores like Selfridges and Colette.

Bastian explained that doing women’s came as a surprise. “We were in a meeting talking about the ad campaign for Gant, and I said I see this as a simple story between one guy and one girl, and I asked if it would be okay if I did a few pieces for the girl for the shoot," he added. "And they said, well, this sounds good. Why don’t you just do a women’s collection? And all of a sudden, there we were. We were suddenly in the women’s business!”

The women’s collection will include knits, dresses, denim and swimwear, but don’t expect the athletic equivalent of the Gant man. “We really talked a long time about how sporty she should be. I think it would be very easy to make her the female equivalent of the guy, but I think the female counterpart to the Gant guy is really a fashion girl. We were hoping to make her something more complicated and interesting." Bastian continued, “The last thing I wanted to see was a girl in a pair of chinos and cashmere crewneck sweater. If you want that, it’s out there...but just not from us.”
EMILY POPP