On “sex and the city”, my character was well-known for his fashion. That was completely due to Pat Field, the genius costume designer——she had more to do with the creation of that character than Candace Bushnell, Daren Starr, Michael Patrick King, or this little bald man who inhabited him since 1997. And yes, he did wear suits that cost up to $20,000. And no, I didn’t keep them, to be perfectly honest, I usually kept the designer, that is, I would get something from the suitmaker that “willie” would wear, not “stanford”. To tell one story to make a point however, Pat Field would LITERALLY carry around a $3 pair of vintage-store cufflinks for YEARS, waiting for the right ridiculously expensive suit for Stanford to be wearing to match them with—-and no, I am not making that up.
“Willie” wears thrift shop clothing. Yes, we are all characters, we decide early on, are we going to be jeans guys, dandy guys, “I give up” sweatpants guys, “I spent way too much money on this dumbass label that I saw someone ELSE wear on TV” guys…..whatever. I do have a ton of clothes from working on various things, but if anyone is deranged enough to have been paying attention, the suit I wear the most on red-carpets and premieres and other nonsense-fests is very well-cut, slim, grey, with an amazing blue lining. It is from——wait for it——-BANANA REPUBLIC and was on the sale rack (why anyone would shop on any OTHER rack is beyond me) and cost $120. That is absolutely true. The character of “Willie”, who is known for dressing extremely well, only wears thrift shop choices (the best are all in Vancouver by the way, THRIFT CITY might as well be a temple), GAP sale rack, Banana Republic sale rack, used Levi’s, and anything that is on sale from UNIQLO, the Japanese department store on Broadway in Soho—-(I just got 4 pairs of slim cut jeans from there, $15 each, that I have literally been asked “Where did you get those pants, they’re awesome!”) The gentle way they cup the globes of my….oh crap, wrong website…..My favorite T-shirt at present is from a thrift store and is from a 1984 road race, but the best part is the stencil drawing of the 1983 winner, complete with his Andy Gibb haircut and Magnum PI moustache….
I love shoes, particularly whatever is on sale at john Fluevog, and any sneaker (preferably canvas) that’s on sale. When I want a splurge, Ron Herman here in LA has their yearly sale, wait till the 3rd week and its 70 percent off……but again, those sale racks at Banana and Gap have some awfully sweet suits and trousers etc, I am usually shocked by them……and never overlook the obvious deals at the glorious Target for the best made v-neck t-shirts and socks in the land by Hanes….my neighbor even takes stuff she doesn’t wear and goes to a ‘trading collective’ right here in Studio City California, she brings in a bag of stuff, they price it, and she has that much credit to spend on stuff at the store….how awesome is that?
Nathen wears ONLY whats on the sale rack at Kids Gap, and the oddly fantastic Children’s Place, which will not be a shock to anyone with kids. His favorite shoes (wearing them today), are fleece lined hush puppies that I got there on the sale rack for——ready——TWO DOLLARS, I shit you not…….I don’t run around looking, I happen to be driving by, I see the sale sign up and pop in, big friggin deal…simple simple simple…..He also rocks some awesome thrift store stuff, and SJ often compliments me on how well he dresses (luckily for me, he is into it too)….I must say that SJ’s kid dresses amazingly well too, so we have similar thoughts on that stuff…cotton is king…..for dress clothes, I am shocked to see that the Target brand suits Nathen well, but it has to pass the snotty Dad test…….
Now—-GLASSES…..I wear them. Always have, should have had the lasik surgery years ago, but now if I have it, I’ll be needing reading glasses anyway so what’s the point. I wear them in every film project, I wear them in life. I like a frame that makes a statement, with a light tint, that’s just me. I have tons of pairs (although I have been good lately at giving the ones I absolutely will never wear again away to the Lions Club and Goodwill for distribution to people who need them, do I really need 50 pairs?) I have had sponsorship deals with most of the very high-end places here in LA, but mostly, no shock here, I buy frames from Vintage and Thrift stores for like $5 and put my lenses in…there’s a place on Mott Street in NY (Optical 88), that’s been doing my lenses for years for like $60, which is HALF what every other place has charged me….and now here I will do something I am trying not to do on this site, and plug an amazing company that I heard about from my dear friend and business partner Jay Baxter….it’s an online eyewear company called WARBY PARKER——they are all vintage inspired designs, REALLY great looking, like REALLY REALLY great looking, you pick your frames (beautiful ones), get them your doctors prescription, they verify it with the doctor, make it, ship it to you, AND—-READY?——GIVE ANOTHER PAIR TO SOMEONE WHO NEEDS THEM——thats right…..and get this———it all costs only NINETY FIVE DOLLARS………PLEASE give them your business, they are amazing……..WARBY PARKER, online only……
That’s it for today, not an explosive post, but save money on clothes when you can, it’s not hard——as Pat Field says, “fashion should be democratic”, meaning fashion is for everyone….inexpensive does not mean badly dressed….whatever odd iconography I have as a fashionable person actually costs like nothing. An amazingly cool pair of vintage pants for $5 makes me feel better than a dumbass cookie-cutter pair gotten at a major department store…..that could be just me, but I doubt it. I have a friend who is a major movie star, when we were younger we almost never went to a baseball game without stopping off at a thrift store on the way and picking up some awesome shirts to wear….when you make it part of your “fabric”, pardon the pun, it just becomes second (hand) nature……
See ya tomorrow….and thanks for your comments and questions, and please keep passing this around……thx,
WG
