The New York Times Fashion Director shares his New York with us.
Q: What part of New York inspires you the most?
A: I love taking walks at sundown on the High Line. I think it is a brilliantly conceived public space and also so very specific to New York’s history and topography. Everything about it is well-considered and brilliantly designed.
Q: You write about fashion. Is living in New York like having a front-row seat to fashion in general?
A: I am always fascinated by the style on the streets here, by the wardrobe of just random folks. Some of it is completely considered and studied, and a lot of it just absolutely arbitrary. It is very fertile ground, these New York City streets.
Q: You’re a well-dressed man: What are your special places in New York to procure your unique wardrobe?
A: I am lucky enough to be able to travel for work and pick up pieces all over. I pepper those more fashion-y pieces with great basics that I get at Uniqlo, which I love for its slim fit and even slimmer price tag, and J. Crew, which has a designed take on the traditional. As I sort of “shop” for work, I tend to avoid stores on my time off.
Q: When you need to escape the chaos of the city—where do you go?
A: To a little village on the south shore of Long Island called Bellport. It is an absolutely charming, lovely place, a former fishing village on the bay that is very Cape Cod-looking: shingle-style and saltbox houses, privet hedges, white clapboard. There’s a small harbor and a little main street with a restaurant that is the gathering place for most on Friday nights, when work has ended.
Q: Who is your favorite tailor in New York?
A: I use a tailor in Bellport, where I have a cottage, called Montella Custom Tailor, run by Italian master tailor Sebastiano Montella. He has history and credentials—and beautiful certificates on the walls to prove it—from a career spanning over 50 years.
Q: Your world is fashion—but there must be an “unfashionable” place in New York to get away from the runway.
A: Bar Centrale is the theater crowd’s sort of hideaway watering hole on West 46th Street. My brother is a Tony-winning set designer for Broadway and we have, in the past, collaborated on the design of some shows. I love the theater, seeing shows relatively often, and this lounge sort of indulges my Actors Studio alter ego.
Bruce Pask is the Men’s Fashion Director of T: The New York Times Style Magazine. He has worked as a men’s fashion editor for over twenty years at magazines like GQ and Vanity Fair. He also contributes regularly to prominent advertising campaigns.
(Photo: courtesy of Arnaud Pyvka)
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