I am joined today by a fashion icon. My guest is Nick Wooster, whose bio and experience reads like a roll call of top American fashion brands and stores. Nick’s tenure in the menswear space has spanned over 30 years and has included work as a consultant, a buyer, a designer, creative director and advisor with companies and brands such as Barney’s, New York, Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus, Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, and Moore.
He was named to Vanity Fair’s International Best Dress List, as well as GQs International Man of the Year, while making numerous appearances on the covers of your favorite fashion magazines. Nick is currently consulting for a handful of global fashion brands while cultivating an enviable digital presence with a large social media presence as a fashion authority who pushes boundaries through his distinctive personal style.
I’m excited to talk about, Nick’s personal journey as well as branding, design, personal development, and the life of a fashion influencer, as well as his thoughts. On the current state of the fashion world itself. Nick, welcome to the RUN GPG podcast. Hi. Thank you for having me. Yeah, excited to have you.
You know, I was telling you, I’ve, I’ve been following you for a long time, but it’s interesting though, you know, when preparing, for a sit down with, with someone like yourself, for an interview, I think one of the hardest things to do is actually put a label or a definite description on who you are and what you do, which I think actually adds to the persona and the intrigue.
Personally, when I think of Nick Wooster, I think of a true modern day renaissance man. Would you agree? Well, I don’t know that I’d go that far. I mean, the one thing that I can tell you a headhunter years ago told me that I was a not a good candidate for their services because I didn’t check boxes in a linear fashion.
The fact that I had done it, this was, you know, now 20 some years ago, 22 years ago, the fact that I did many things back then, you know, counted against me, the fact that I’ve done even more since. And for me, I just think that, and you know, not to sound whatever, but I, I do think I’m a template for the future because I don’t think any, I.
I think very few people are going to have a linear, siloed kind of career that is like, oh, you started here and you ended there. And it was a straight line. I think that lots of people, lots of young people have adapted what I’ve done, which is try to variety of things. You know, my whole thing was I was overly ambitious and it was a way to make more money.
I mean, if you stay in one place, you’re not gonna make as much money as if you jump around. Now, jumping from industry to industry may not do that, but if you are within a certain sort of field, usually you’ll be able to sort of do better than your peers who stayed, stayed there. I don’t know anyone who stays in companies now, you know, longer than maybe five years, four years, three years.
You know, I, for me it made it more interesting because I get bored easily, but, I again, but I do think that the downside is you’re hard to place by ahead of hunter turf. That, that’s a good thing. You know, in 2023 and beyond, if you’re hard to place as I head hunter, that’s a good thing. And, and not, fitting, fitting that linear description is the point I’m making.
I like it. again, I’m gonna stick with a modern day Renaissance man. That’s who I, I think you are. I do wanna get some context though. you were born and raised in Salina, Kansas, Kansas, and you’ve described your upbringing as a mix between Leave it to Beaver and Happy Days. So how does a young man from the Midwest become a fashion icon and end up on international best restless and on the cover of Vogue and gq?
How does that happen? Well, I mean, I have no idea. Here, here’s the thing. I grew up in the sixties and seventies and the time was like, happy days or Leave it to Beaver or you know, I don’t know. All in the family. I mean, it was, you know, it was a, it was a, I don’t know, sort of a strange time. I remember thinking that it was messy, like the seventies were kind of messy, you know, the clothes looked bad.
Even back then, I remember thinking, God, people look terrible now, but so many things were changing and, and so in my lifetime, We’ve gone from segregation being, you know, the norm to having a black president. We’ve gone from being gay as a mental illness and against the law to gay marriage. Like a lot of things culturally happened in that time.
You know, war protests, all kinds of, you know, women used to have the right to have an abortion. Now we’ve lost that. Right? To have an abortion. I mean, it’s like crazy. The kinds of things that have happened in the last, you know, 60 years. I mean, I’m 62 right now. I’ll be 63 in a couple weeks. so it was a, it was a interesting time to be alive, to be born.
I’m sort of, I feel like I sort of got in on the end of certain things and, you know, still was able to experience. I don’t know, like the tail end of the seventies in New York or what. That was kind of like, and you know, and then what today is, which is the fact that we have technology, we have social media.
Like the fact that I have, the life that I had would’ve not been fathomable to me as a 25 year old that, you know, saying, okay, you know, in almost 40 years your life is gonna look like this. I’d be like, no way that that’s impossible. But, you know, here we are. And so there’s so many great things about where we are today, and then there’s so many things that are kind of sad.
But by the same token, it’s, anyway, I don’t, I don’t know that I ever answer your question. How did it happen? I have no idea. How does one do it? I could not tell you except to say that, you know, which is like, You just have to do what you love doing. And I, I have always loved clothes. And so that’s the one thing I, I’ve been able to dress myself better than I could play an instrument better than I could speak a language better than I could at math and science.
I could dress myself. So if that’s how, yeah, I’ve been able to make my living. Yeah. Lucky me. Maybe. Maybe I’ll put it a different way, you know? What do you think it was about your upbringing that influenced you to pursue a career or a life in fashion, or, you know, we hear similar stories often and I interview, you know, entrepreneurs, bestselling authors, celebrities, and they come from unlikely backgrounds or upbringings.
Right? Like, is there something to that, like what is it about not being around that thing growing up that makes you want it more maybe? Well, I think that’s, you just said, said it because, okay. So. And it’s, we call it in Sina, Salina, Kansas. Oh, I’m sorry. I said I, my apologies. That’s the Canadian. It’s the Canadian.
No, cuz there’s a Salinas, California Sina with as California, and they pronounce it Sele. It’s spelled Selena though. Like it, I know. And, and the name of the county is Celine County, which means salty. what, so, Celina, Salina, Celine, Celine County, Salina. I, you had to get out of there, Nick. You had to get out of there.
So, okay. So what is it about my upbringing? I mean, here’s the deal. I grew up in, I think I said this before, but like, we were middle, my dad was a mechanic. He owned his own business and my mom stayed home and there were three boys. I just, I mean, and I’m the oldest of, of the three, you know, they knew that I was different.
They didn’t necessarily, we didn’t call it that, they didn’t. I mean, yes, there was like a time when I was really little when I would play with dolls and want to dress up in my mom’s clothes, and they would be like, listen dude, you’re gonna get out of you if you do this. If you have to just do it at home.
Like, don’t, you know? But anyway, the, and then I kind of realized like, okay, I’m gonna get through life better if I sort of don’t act flamboyantly and okay, but, so those are, but you know, but, and my childhood was completely normal in that my parents stayed married through, you know, until my mom died.
But, and my, my, my parents were good people. They were nice people. They provided for me, they provided for my brothers and I, and, you know, but so the, but the one thing, there was nothing about my upbringing that would’ve indicated that this would be my life except, and this is again, the kind of thing which I’ve spoken a lot about, my parents both, but my father especially had amazing work ethics in that.
I was expected. I mean, I’ll never forget when I turned 12, they were like, okay, you’re gonna mow grandma’s yard. I’m like, why? Like, I don’t wanna do that. And I got $3. It was like backbreaking. It was an entire day. I had to ride my bike, you know, like half hour to get there. And you know, and the idea was that you would save 50% and you would, you could spend 50% while I sort of that up pretty much along the way or pretty early on.
But I did do that. And then I started mowing a couple of other yards, you know, and the thing is like I was not suited for that work. But I did it. You know, I hated the fall because it was like, you have to rake the yard and you need to go next door and ask them if they need the yard raked and you know, down the street And then like the snow, like shoveling.
You have to shovel. And then when I turned, so when I, and I told this story a million times, but when I was in a freshman in high school, I remem or sophomore in high school, I remember saying to my mom, mom, I want a navy cashmere sweater. And she was like, listen dude, I’m happy to buy you a sweater, but if you want cashmere, I suggest you go to Roth’s, JP Roth and Sons, which was the clothing store that sold cashmere sweaters.
I think you need to go ask them if they need any help and you need to work for one, because we’re, you’re not, I’m not buying you a catcher sweater. And that really was the sort of the thing that got me to, because I went to that store and like came in and it was like, Hey, do you all need any help after school or on the weekends?
And they were like, we do. And you know, and it’s like, and that was my first job, my first, you know, real job. And I mean, I hated it at the time. I was really pissed because my, and not, you know, I’m not, I’m not bitter about it. It’s just interesting. My brothers didn’t do that. You know, like they didn’t have to do, they didn’t have to mow the yards.
They didn’t have to like get a job after school. But I’m so grateful that they did that for me. And it totally worked out because it did set, set the course for my life. So to answer your first question, how do you get there? I can tell you how I started and that’s how I started. Yeah, it sounds like it’s been a bit of an adventure since then.
I do know you got paid two 40 an hour, right, working at Joseph p Rosson Sun Clothing. And, and is it fair to say that that was your, you know, your first taste of consultation, right? That’s where the consult consulting started, right? Because didn’t they bring in clothing and asked, you know, what, should they be purchasing for the store?
Is that correct? Well, yeah, so again, I wouldn’t have phrased it that way. It wa okay. So, yeah, so for me it was a, I’m being, I’m, I’m being, you know, I’m being a little extreme here, but you were consulting for the store at six? Well, but I know I was, but I was working for the store and as part of the work, you know, these salesmen, because in those days there were what were called road reps and, you know, all the, and there were millions of specialty stores dotted throughout the United States.
There still are a handful of them, but not nearly to, you know, that store unfortunately went. Closed in the, I think it was like around 2000, may may have been 99, it may have been 2001, but some, somewhere in that sort of, and Charlie was ready to reti the owner, the owner’s son was ready to, was second generation, was ready to retire.
And you know, and I think it’s just a kind of like where the, again, societally, culturally, those specialty stores that used to be permeate, you know, American life unfortunately got overtaken by Dillards or Macy’s or these kinds of big department stores. And it’s sad because it was, it was a great store, it was a great specialty store.
And there are are so few of them today. But yes. So in those days the road reps would come in and Charlie, who I, you know, again, I’m so grateful. We’re still friendly. Charlie and I, and I love his wife and you know, he sort of identified in me before I did. He’s like, Nikki, You know, which are the best stripes?
And you know, he just, he was just quiz. He was, and at first I thought I was being punked, but then I was like, all right, you know, and I would like go this, that, and something else, Nikki, what are the best colors here? You know? And, and before I knew it, I’m still in high school. He took me on buying trips.
First went to Kansas City, then went to Dallas, and then through college I would, I met him once, in Dallas. met him a couple times in Dallas. And, you know, it was, it was such a great foundation and it was, and, and to me it was completely fun. There was nothing, there was no work attached to it. It was like, oh wow, you get to pick
And so, you know, I’m so like, wow. I, when I think back on how lucky I was as a 16 year old kid to be able to start doing, I. Work like that. It’s, it’s insane. Well, it’s literally the definition of consulting. So that’s where it started officially, Nick, that’s where it started. I do wanna ask you though about, you, you know, you, you completed, college in Kansas and then you moved to New York and worked at an ad agency.
I know we were talking about this, before we started recording here, about your first impressions of New York. I think this was in, was it the mid eighties, late eighties, 19 January of 1983. 83. So early eighties. So, do I have the timeline correct? You worked for an ad agency before you actually got into fashion, so maybe give us your first impressions of, you know, arriving in New York as a young man, ready to make his mark.
So, yeah, I mean, I remember it vividly to this day. So, you know, basically I had, so I graduated in May of 82 and moved in January of 83. And in those, you know, six or seven months from June to January, I basically worked at the clothing store for Charlie and saved some money, not a lot, but saved some money so that I, you know, was able to, you know, move to, New York with some cash in my hand, cash in my pocket.
And this again, is one of those things that in just in hindsight, it’s so shocking that it was possible. So I literally flew on a Saturday and on the Monday morning, Because there were these three girls that I knew from the University of Kansas that were a year older than me, and one of them worked in advertising and that since that’s what I studied in school, in the journalism school, I studied advertising cuz it was the easiest major that I could find.
Basically she said, listen, you know, there she made three introductions to me, one at. Her agency, which was Satchi and Sachi Compton advertising, and then two others, gray and S, S, C, and B. And I had three interviews during the course of that week, and by that Friday I had three job offers. And you know, the each, the S, s, C and B job and the Compton job paid $11,000 a year and gray advertising paid eight, $8,000 a year.
So, I chose the Compton advertising, which was where she worked. And, I worked in advertising for, you know, two years. Like, it was horrible. I hated it. I mean, meaning that it was horrible for me because I probably should have been a, a copywriter or an art director, although I didn’t, you know, I didn’t do anything to be the either of those jobs, but meaning something creative.
Well, I started in the media department then on the account management side. And that was really like working on Proctor and Gamble. That was really like being a banker. Like, it was not creative and fun. There was a TV show in the sixties and seventies called sixties, I guess called Bewitch to where Darren Stevens was like, you know, worked in an advertising agency.
And I literally thought that was gonna be what I was doing and yeah, no, that was not what I was doing. I remember Bewitched three runs anyways, right? The nose? The nose, yeah. Yeah, I remember. So, you know, and then, and then I followed a woman that I worked with in the media department who sold advertising space at New York Magazine.
So I followed her and went then a year selling advertising space. And that was only significant in that A, I’m not a salesperson, and B they helped diagnose, or they diagnosed my drug problem before I did. And although it took me six years to figure that out, you know, meaning getting sober, I, I’m so grateful that they actually, they kept me on for a year completely unproductive, completely.
I was just a waste of time and space for them and expense because I was spending money to like, take people to dinner and lunch and not providing, not, producing any, you know, income, not producing results. Right. And yet, you know, but, but after that whole experience, you know, a person who had been a client, you know, said to me, what do you want to do?
And I was like, I want to be a buyer. And she was like, okay, well I, I know someone who works at Sachs is a buyer. She arranged a meeting for me with this, with this woman who was like a dress buyer at Sachs. And she was like a scary kind of like retail lady that there were lots of those in those days. And I went to meet this woman named Miss Nas.
I mean, that’s how she was like, my name’s Miss Nas. I’m like, okay. I mean, that’s how department stores were in the sort of eighties, like mid eighties. Like they, they called everyone Mr. And Miss, or Mrs. And. You know, it was just, it was such a different kind of environment than it is today. But I got, and you know, they said, listen, we could hire you.
Our training program doesn’t hire until this was March or March of 1986. They were like, listen, the training program doesn’t hire until the, you know, like the end of the summer for like the school year, basically. You could, you know, try, but it’s all Ivy League people that compete for these spots. Or you could, we could hire you now and you could become an assistant department manager and you know, and if you, and if it works out, we’ll consider you for the assistant buyer training program, you know, after you’ve worked at least a year.
Okay, I’ll take that. And, you know, I, I mean, I was never gonna be hired as a, I mean, I, I did not qualify for their training program. They didn’t really like me there at that time. But I worked and I sort of got my foot in the door and it, it put in the door in terms of like, I was working in retail and one day after being there exactly a year, a woman who had worked on the floor at Sax had gone to Barneys and she and she pa happened to be passing through, saw me there, standing there, and she was like, oh, listen.
Peter Rizzo, who was the head of men’s wear, men’s wear buying at Barneys, New York when it was a, was a single store in Chelsea and it was the most amazing store in the world, is looking for an assistant buyer. You would be perfect. You should. And she gave me the information. I called him, they arranged, you know, I met him.
And you know, again, I, it was just one of those things like, I have no idea because I had bleach blonded hair like Billy Idol. Now I have bleach blonde hair, or now I have white hair, but it’s not. and you know, and I, but I, anyway, but they took a chance on me and they hired me. And like it was the most amazing time to be at a place like Barney, New York.
And so basically the hire hired me as an assistant. And you know, a lot of people, I mean like if you work at Neo Marcus today, or Sachs, like you might be an assistant buyer for at least two years. If not longer, and then they make you go back to the store to be, become a department manager, then come back in as a planner.
You know, the, the, the track to being a buyer is maybe four years at, if you’re lucky. I was there for three months and they fired this guy and said, okay, you’re the buyer. I mean, I wasn’t the buyer like how you would think I would be. I worked for this guy, Peter, and he re literally taught me everything that I know, but they gave me the title of buyer and, you know, and I got to travel and, and I learned, you know, I got to learn the fundamentals of the business.
And I always say everything that I know today, I really attribute to what I learned from Peter because he was, he was an excellent merchant. And so many of the skills that are, that. Were prized back then. I don’t unfortunately think they’re prized today because retail’s such a different thing. It’s all data, it’s all, you know, it’s just a different kind of experience.
But it was intuition and what they cared about in those days. The pressman family that owned Barneys, and what people who worked in fashion cared about is taste. And people would, they would say, oh, you have really good taste, or, mm, you don’t have, really have very good taste. And I always felt like I was being looked at sideways by people, you know?
But that’s how I learned, that’s how I learned how to, why were they looking at me sideways, you know, for choosing that or saying that, or, you know, and, and it was those kind of, those kinds of non-verbal cues that you, I think, that I learned to pick up because tastes like anything is a muscle. It has to be exercise, it has to be.
You know, kind of trained. And, although I think I was born with some raw material, it had to be honed. And so that experience was so incredible. but I got recruited by Bergdorfs to, you know, go there and I was a suit buyer, what they called clothing Taylor, clothing buyer at Barney’s, which in those days everybody wore a suit to work, or virtually everyone wore a suit to work, but it was still a declining business.
Like the numbers had not been what they were, you know, 10 years before. And, you know, the handwriting was on the wall than it was that it was a dying business, but they had many more years to go before it. It finally did Peter out. But I was given the opportunity to work as the men’s designer, collections buyer at Bergdorfs.
And there’s really probably no better kind of place to be, have to be that person. And it was also the year before the men’s store opened, the men’s store that, you know now across the street. That we, I mean, I, for when I started there, it was part of the women’s store, and then we opened that men’s store and it was, you know, which is 32 years ago now.
it was an amazing time to be a buyer, and to have had that experience. So very interesting, and I appreciate you unpacking that. So you went from, the ad agency to Sac, to, Barneys and then to Bergdorfs, right? Yes. and a couple things there. One was a shout out to Peter for mentorship, obviously.
and, and you really did collapse time, as we say, right? You didn’t have to go through the process of the four years of training that you would. Now, you know, you were there a few months and you ended up with the title buyer, which is really interesting. But, from there, maybe walk us through the progression, of how you became, you know, designer, creative director, collaborator, with some of the other brands, if you don’t mind.
Okay. Well, so, you know, so. Again, you know, and, and the time period that we’re talking about was, you know, starting on the floor at Sachs 1986, and by the time I finished working as a buyer, the, my last buying job at Bergos was 1993. So seven years was really the span of time that I did, that. I did those, you know, that I did that work in when I, as I was a buyer in sitting.
And in those days, buyers actually went to runway shows. You know, today, like if you’re a buyer from Sax or Neimans, you don’t go to the runway shows like in Europe, but we did back then. It again, I was just so lucky to have been sort of born at the time that I was, but as I would sit in shows, I, and this again, is in, in insane as it sounds.
I’m gonna sound like an asshole, but I, I. I guess what I, I, I used, so I used to think, wow, I, I can, I wanna work on design, like I wanna work on the clothes. Like I see what’s happening and I sort of see what designers are doing, and, and men’s wear is a different animal than women’s wear. I, I used to think I could do that.
I want to do that, I want to do that. So, you know, fast forward to, I followed my boss from Bergdorf to Calvin Klein. And there I still worked in retail. I used to buy for the retail stores, but I also helped worked with John Possen, the, the architect who designed the Calvin Klein store, which is sadly now close.
But in 19 93, 94, we worked on opening that store as well. But in the fall of 19 94, 1 of my closest friends, oldest closest friends who is, was the head of creative services for Ralph Lauren, said, listen, Ralph wants to meet new people and. And I knew that how Ralph worked was the people who worked in concept design at Ralph Lauren were not designers.
They were not trained technical designers. They wanted people with taste style, a kind of, and they were the ones who got to set the tone for, and I got, you know, I met Ralph and I got hired on the spot, and I got to work at Ralph Lauren. I mean, that was, I mean, talk about getting like a Harvard MBA in terms of the opportunity to sort of sit courtside and see the.
You know, mastery at work. I mean, working at Calvin Klein with Calvin, you know, in, although it was retail, was also an experience and also fundamental to where, you know, but to work with Ralph or to work with the teams of people who work at Ralph at a time when Ralph was in those days was, I mean, there was nothing in America.
There was nothing more aspirational or more important. you know, I’d argue that today, unfortunately, Nike is probably more aspirational to most kids than Ralph Lauren would be. But for someone like me, it was super, like, it was just, it was such an opportunity. And, you know, and again, in, in hindsight, cuz I was only there for a year and three or four months, but what I can say is that, you know, I that up.
I, I ended up going to rehab in the middle of that experience, which, Was, again, I’m super grateful that I actually got to go to rehab and that I’ve stayed sober since then, and that they gave me the, you know, the, the, the runway, the flexibility to be able to do that. I was not, you know, one of the things about Ralph Lauren is that, you know, it’s, it’s a culture of life.
People who’ve worked there all their career, all their life, and then new meat who cycle in and out. I was the fresh meat, I was the flavor of the month for a very short amount of time. But it was, again, such an amazing experience because I, to this day, how they work, what they do, which is, I mean, nobody can do it better.
It gave me great training to be able to then consult and work with brands later, later on. But, you know, there’s still a big gap of time between 1996, which is the time that I left Ralph Lauren and. 2010, which is what I will say is the beginning of why you’re even talking to me. Yeah. And there’s a lot that happened in those years.
Yeah. that were not, you know, stuff that is gonna be, people are gonna be like, oh wow, I want to do that. It’s the opposite. Like, so anyway, after Ralph Lauren, I ended up working with a small designer, a guy named John Bartlett, you know, who is still a good friend of mine, and someone who I love very much, who was one of tho, you know, was a designer on the rise at that time, had a very small business and I worked with him along with a few other people to help build his brand into something a lot bigger.
We had an Italian deal, Italian production deal. Then we des simultaneously designed his collection and a, and an Italian brand called Blos. And through 2000, that was a very, it was an amazing time to work in fashion, to work around design to work. You know, as an American in Europe, and we would go back and forth once a month and we were flying constantly for three years.
It was an amazing, super interesting experience. But by 2001, John’s business had changed. The Italian deals stopped and his business wasn’t big enough to sustain him and me. So it was like the, the account said, listen, you know, and I was, and I was totally like, it’s fine, I’ll get another job. What ended up happening was I didn’t get the next other job.
That’s when the head hunters told me that I was impossible to place anyway, and I had to declare bankruptcy. I had to, you know, and so I went on what became an eight year odyssey of like trying to survive and assuming that in my forties, that, okay, well the life that I had in my twenties and thirties, I guess is behind me now, so, You know, fashion is a young person’s game.
You know, it was a good run. you know, and, and I’m gonna have to figure out the rest of my life. But, and it involved moving to Los Angeles and I just assumed that like, that was how the rest of it was gonna play out. And, and I also learned to be content with what I had in the fall of 2009. I heard read that a job, the men’s fashion director at NEMA Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman was available.
And a friend of mine had had that job and he left. And I talked to my sponsor, but I talked to some other people and I was like, listen, do you think I could interview for that? And they were like, oh, sure. You know, like, here’s who you contact. And it wa, I mean, I knew it was a long shot. There was probably no way that I was going to get that job.
But my attitude was, listen, if I get it, great, if I don’t get it, great. Like, I have a great life in la. And I really, I mean, of course I wanted it, but I really didn’t think that it was ever gonna happen, but it did. And so that then starts the chapter of where I am today, where I’ve been for the last 13 years.
And, and so that job well, and although it was a dream job for me, and you know, Bruce PAs is still in that job and he’s a good friend and someone who I respect and, and admire, and he’s been there almost 10 years now. And, you know, good for him for, you know, being able to do that thing, which I wasn’t able to do Oh, for very long.
But like, Kind of like being an assistant buyer of Barneys. The good news was, was that I didn’t have to do it very long. not because I didn’t want to, I was devastated when I got fired from that job. But, but the, but the reality wa is that I was immediately taken care of in such a way. And the last, you know, years have been so much more lucrative than it would’ve ever been if I had just stayed working as the men’s fashion director at New Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman.
So in the end, I won. It didn’t feel like it at the time, but, you know, everything happens for a reason. And, and to me, like to again answer the question of like, how do you get there, you know, it’s like one step at a time, one foot in front of the other. Like there is no magic carpet that like zine, if you do this, you’re gonna get that.
It doesn’t, I mean, at least my experience, it didn’t work like that for me. Each one of the experiences that I had in turn, I believe makes me a good. Gives me a reason to be able to build myself as a consultant or to be able to go and talk to people about their business or about their, you know, design or coming up with, because I’ve done the work, like I’ve taken steps along the way so that I could be qualified to be able to do that.
Not just because I have a million followers, but because I’ve done this work. You know, sort of starting at the bottom and through the trenches and all the way through. The fact that I have an, an audience is again, an amazing thing, but that’s not what makes me qualify to do most of the things that I’ve done.
Right. And I appreciate you breaking down the history there. The question I have, you know, in, in listening to, you know, all you’ve been through over the last three decades or whatever, What was the biggest takeaway of working with Ralph Lauren himself?
What was the biggest takeaway of working with Ralph Lauren himself? I mean, I don’t know. I mean, listen, it, it, it was so phenomenal to be in the shadow of, or in the proximity of greatness. I mean, he’s someone who long before me and way long after me, it was the fact that I had that moment of being there.
It was such an invaluable experience because, All of the things that I think of when I think of the fashion business, which unfortunately I don’t think of today. When I think of brands, education, knowledge, experience, taste, you know, quality, like there, there were just so many things that you. Saw someone who was a perfectionist.
The process, the way that the discipline, the work ethic, the, you know, none of this comes easy. And if people think it’s easy, it looks easy, trust me, good luck, because it’s not, you know, lucky sometimes people are very lucky or can be, but at a place like Ralph, you, they, it was grounded in something. It was based in something.
And I feel like that, like the Pressman family before was more than Bergdorf’s was, you know, these people. And it’s so sad that that Barneys doesn’t exist today, but people, they really valued your taste, your experience, your gut, your intuition and your knowledge. And so many places don’t care about that.
Now, you know how many clicks, what’s the engagement? You know, how, how many followers, like different, I mean, it’s just a different. Different era. I get it. so Nick, you’re very popular on social media. You brought it up, you have a large following, right? You’re also synonymous with the, the street style movement, right?
Which blew up, a few years ago on a lot of social profiles and feeds. can you give us your take on that whole thing? Cuz I think I, I still think a lot of people are inspired and actually shop based on street style posts and pictures. They, they do, you know, they see something someone’s wearing and they, they shop based on that and purchase based on it.
And secondly, can you pinpoint the moment you realize you were officially a fashion influencer? Well, yeah, I mean, I, I don’t know that I ever fully came, you know, came to terms with that, but I knew that by the summer of 2010, in June or July of 2010, after Lawrence Schlozman wrote this blog post about Nick Wooster as a sartorial badass, that I re, and this was six months in of being sort of like out of the world and sort of reintroduced to a world, which I knew from before, but a lot of people, like my friend Josh Pescovitz and some of those sort of kids that are now 40 years old at the time, or you know, like where did he come from?
Because I had been sort of during their formative years was when I was in LA I knew I understood because like I, you know, that between Tumblr and, and like, I would do Google, Google alerts on my name because I was always curious, like, you know, or people saying bad things about you more than it was like that I needed to see what was being said about me.
I understood that like, oh, this is like, okay, there are people here who are following me, that are interested in me, that are talking about me. And again, I always thought I was being made fun of. I really did. Like when the first time I saw a meme and it was like something about Wco, I thought that they were giving like, that they were thinking that, I was thinking that I was, and I was like, wait, what?
You know, it didn’t, it really didn’t occur to me that like, oh, so by the spring of 2011 when I got fired from Neimans and Burks, I knew. Like intellectually in the back of my head, like, okay, this is way different than 2001 when I couldn’t get arrested. And yes, the next morning, like, I got no severance. It was this whole thing because they said that I was fired for cause.
But I was like, what am I gonna do? Because I’m not a saver by nature. So it’s like I, you know, if that paycheck wasn’t coming like in two weeks, I, but there were three offers in email the next morning, you know, and I knew that at that moment. But like, okay, again, I didn’t call myself a fashion influencer, but I knew that there was something different than there had been before.
And that, not that I was like, oh, I’m fine. I just knew that I wasn’t desperate or that it was not gonna be a, a scary as scary a situation as I was afraid it might be. Yeah. The Woo God. Yeah. I mean, that trended, it’s literally the definition of an influencer, right? When you have a hashtag, good or bad, but the Woo God, you’re also someone that, a lot of men try to emulate in terms of personal brand or, you, you know, you’ve had a major influence on a lot of personal brands for men.
, what are your thoughts on personal branding and, what does it, what does that mean to you, or how would you describe the Nick Rooster brand? Ugh, well, first of all, it’s so embarrassing to me, like this whole idea, like when people talk about themselves as if, if you are talking about your, yourself as a brand, Eh, like already I’m lo I’ve lost interest.
I, I, I’m not gonna be disingenuous and act like, oh, me. I, I had no idea. Of course I have an idea. I think it’s really terrible, this idea that everybody’s a brand and everybody’s this and, you know, yes. Kim Kardashians, the Kardashians are brands, like they’re doing it way, way, way, way, way, way, way better than I could ever, well, not dream of, but than I could ever do.
And, you know, Chapo like you go, all I know is that I have been able to, for, again, always having had corporate jobs, to be able to work independently is such a, like, that’s the most freeing, incredible. Thing that I’m the most grateful about. That’s what I’m interested in, is the ability to keep myself going, not having to have a full-time job.
That’s the only thing I’m interested in. And so I don’t know what that means in terms of branding, but yes, I get it. Like, I mean, again, I don’t, I mean, when people say it’s really on brand or opera for themselves, I’m like, listen, anything that keeps me working is on brand as far as I’m concerned. So could I, could I say something that could myself?
You know, like about people or groups of people? Of course. And I’m not even I, but you know, as long as you’re not doing that, as long as you’re not doing anything to harm other people. Who cares, like, you know, and so again, I’ve just been so fortunate, so lucky that I’ve been able to work with and around and for and beside some amazing kinds of brands.
You know, how amazing to be able to do things like that. Yeah. It’s a Nick Wooster brand. I’m telling you. You are a brand. You are. I, you know, I think in terms of personal brand myself, what do you think it is about your particular style that speaks to so many men? Have you thought about that? So I have, especially as it relates to Japan or Asia.
I mean the first, I think it’s two things. I think it’s because I’m regular or I’m not perfect. I’m not a model. I’m not six feet tall. You know, I yo-yo and weight up and down, but like, I guess because I’m more normal compared to actor model, whatever that, you know, is just looks a certain way. That’s, and especially with Asia, the fact that I’m short, I just feel like those were the sort of, the reasons why I became relatable.
And outside of that, I have no idea. Well, I’ll tell you when I get ready in the morning, I say, ww n w which is what would Nick wear? That’s what I say. So, speaking of, what would Nick wear the concept of fashion? who are your style icons and maybe your favorite brands over the years? So I don’t have any style icons.
Like, and I don’t mean because like, there are plenty of people who dress way better than I do or who I think dress better than I do. I always think it’s like one of those questions, like I, I mean, I might look at like shelter magazines to get home decorating ideas, but I don’t look at fashion magazines to get dressing ideas.
Like I never have. I’ve always had a complete, once I understood like once, and that was again, being a buyer first at Barneys, but then at Bergdorfs once, it’s like the, the mystery for me was because I, I’ll never forget when I was like given the opportunity to be the designer buyer, I was like, oh my God, I don’t even know all the designers out there.
You learn quickly. But once you understood the, in, from the, in, like the inside, like once you understood like, okay, these are the brands that like we are gonna carry, these are the, and then there were always ones that you wanted to carry, but either couldn’t, or again, I did rely on magazines because in those days there was no internet, you know, magazines, journalism did provide such a.
An information base for people like buyers or, or, or customers for that matter. But, you know, I, I always feel like I got my culture information and things about what was hap going to come from magazines, which were super important to me, but not necessarily the close. I was always more interested in the pictures, like, where did they shoot it?
How did they shoot it? Who were the, you know, how more than like, I want that outfit. Very rarely would I see something and be like, oh, wow, I, I, you know, I wanna look like that. I might look at pieces and say like, I want those shoes, or I want, because I was always figuring out how I would put things together.
Because if you see a head to toe look of like, George Armani, I mean, okay. I’m sure it’s, I mean it in those days especially, it was beautiful. It wasn’t a question that it wasn’t gonna be nice, but I didn’t need someone to tell me the outfit. What I was always interested in was mixing things like, I wanna wear those shoes from Come de Garan with a suit from Paul Smith, or, you know, whatever, like, That was more interesting to me than the actual, and, and I, inspiration can come from everywhere.
Airports, movies, tv, yes. Magazines, catalogs, I mean, anything visual, but generally it’s because I’m like, Ooh, I would never wear that, or I would never wear that with that. but again, I, I was always focusing on pieces, the things that, because I’ve never been interested in an outfit. Only in so far as like, does it look good on like, meaning?
And you know, there has always been trial and error. Like, sometimes it’s like, ooh, these shoes are wrong with this pair of pants, or these shorts, or this, whatever. I mean, now I would say I have it down. I mean, I, I’ve, I guess I’ve done over 10,000 hours of getting dressed because, you know, it’s like, I don’t even think about it anymore.
Listen, Ralph Lauren, to me, is still an amazing brand. Georgia Armani is still an amazing brand, but the brands that I buy are almost exclusively Japanese. Like I wear a lot of Comedi, Gar song I wear a lot. And so within that shirt, I’m a big fan of the Japanese brands too. I wear double Taps neighborhood, Vivi.
I, I’m a big fan. Japanese, they, they really push it. I, I like it. and, and the clean and quality, you know, the quality’s always there in Japanese brands, you know? absolutely my opinion. Sorry, didn’t mean to cut you off. Oh, no, no, no. But you know, everything you just mentioned, yes. I always look at, but also Sakai color.
I mean, you know, the great thing about shopping in Japan is you can find a capital is the other one that I actually really love a lot. Can find things and even if it’s like private label or whatever, beams Plus or something, the quality is just head and shoulders above what you would find in an American department store.
Obviously Italy has been also in Incre and, and the UK have been incredibly influential in terms of like style, like, you know, SVO Rose suit. I still have never had a Savo Rose suit made. I think I might be getting close, but like, you know, English shoes, I really only wear English shoes, but a lot of Italian tailoring and you know, I mean, Dore is a brand that I still really look at and like, and they have a great store here.
I, I go everywhere and look at everything. Here’s a question, what should every man have in his closet? Well, this is the thing. Every man should have the right building blocks, which by that I mean basics, which, by that I mean things like, White shirts, blue shirts, navy jackets or suits, you know, brown shoes, black shoes.
And for me, the only colors are black, navy, gray, hacky, military, green and white. Those six colors are the only colors. If you have a wardrobe based on those colors, everything goes with everything. There’s nothing you add to it. So, okay. You want a pink shirt? Great. It’s gonna look amazing with military green, it’s gonna look great with khaki, it’ll look great with gray, it’ll look good with white, never black, but like the, you know, so it’s like you have this kind of like foundation that you can put anything with.
Yeah, I, I, I agree with you. I agree with you. my closet’s all black, and with some white and gray mixed in. That’s about it. I, yeah, I like a clean look. Personally. That’s, that’s, yeah. See, it should be, Yeah. okay. I want you brought this up earlier and I do want to ask you specifically about suits. where are we with suits now?
You know, years ago in, you know, our industry, you were expected to wear suits at client meetings, business meetings, conferences. These days if you show up in a suit, you know, people look at you like you have three heads, right? So, where are we now? Is there a place for suits and ties outside of weddings and funerals?
Like what are your thoughts on the modern man in suits? Well, weddings and funerals. So everybody should have at least one suit that fits them so that on a moment’s notice, it’s like you need to have a suit like ready to go, able to wear at any day of the year. First of all, if you are overdressed, you should hold your head high and just be smug in the fact that like you look better than everybody else.
Like there’s no shame in that, like at all. But I do think that there, that you should always have a suit in your closet and it should either be navy or gray. It should not be black. Like a black suit to me is super greasy and not a good idea. Tuxedo black. tuxedo could also be dark navy, but tuxedo black, but suit, no.
Where are we with the current state of the fashion world in 2023? I know it’s a broad stroke question, but I’m confused by the vision of some of the big fashion houses these days. I’m really confused by it. Like is it a mix of street and formal is, you know, can the clothes get any Bay Year and unstructured, you know, what are your thoughts on that and how are you keeping up to date with the latest tr, I know you don’t like the word trends, but developments and things like that.
So just, you know, you know, broad thoughts on that. I mean, yeah, so I, you know, we seem to have gone, you know, past peak sneaker. We, we’ve moved on, we, I think we have moved on from logo mania, and I don’t mean it as a, as a racist thing or even a classist thing. I mean it as a fashion thing. Hoodies and sweatshirts and sneakers.
Are fundamental to life, like our casual life, our working out life. There is nothing wrong with a hoodie or a sneaker. It is not, however, in my opinion, fashion it is not in my opinion, designer. I mean, well it is designer, but I mean, you know, designers have, have, you know, drawn the line or not drawn the line in the sand.
They’ve, they’ve established that, you know, if they can get a thousand dollars for a hoodie, I mean, God bless again, Chapo like you go. It is not interesting to me. Mm-hmm. what is interesting are. Clothes that take skill. So a co a, you know, I mean, it takes skill to make a puffer jacket for sure. And technical outerwear, absolutely.
But, you know, but an ab but a, an outerwear piece of like a, a, a tailored coat, like an overcoat, a cashmere sweater that you know is fully fashioned, like these are technical, it takes skill to make a cashmere crew neck sweater, which reads as a crew, neck hood, a sweatshirt, and people, you know, this happens in America.
People call a sweatshirt a sweater. It’s not a sweater. Like there’s another, you know, that’s a huge, but again, that’s the, the dumbing down of fashion of America, of culture, of where we are. And I really hate that because it disrespects the artisans that have like made things like to make a pair of Goodyear Welted leather sold shoes.
Or they could be commando soul, but leather sold shoes takes a different skillset than making a sneaker. Nothing wrong with the sneaker, but they’re two different things. Mm-hmm. You know, again, being confused by the vision and concept of a lot of these brands, you know, I get the feeling everyone’s trying like, way too hard to grab attention or as much attention as possible.
Like, I, I was just telling somebody about this the other day when I saw the, you know, the last Balenciaga show. I literally thought it was the Dere leak campaign from Zoolander, literally. And I thought, you can’t make this up. It’s exactly what it looked like. Well, you know, some of those mega brands, and I’m not gonna necessarily name names, it is a, sorry, state of affairs, but I stand by my list of who I told you that I’m interested in.
I think that you probably didn’t get any of those other names in that list. So you can take, you can deduce from that what you, what you want, but like, there’s no question that in terms of marketing prowess, in terms of attention, getting amazing, like knock yourself out, you know, and believe me, the ecosystem needs those advertising dollars, that those factories, that even if they’re making hoodies, the factories they’re keeping, there’s a lot of, there’s a lot of human capital that gets invested in and benefits from those associations.
I, I, I, I want everybody to do well. And in certainly with, many of those, you know, brands that have killer leather goods, one of the other. Problems with some of those mega brands is that the prices are so beyond offensive that it just, it, it’s like, I’ll spend anything on anything. Like I, I mean, I have BK at a, you know, $4,000 fabric bag.
Like that’s just not, you know, something I’m gonna buy. I’m not gonna spend $8,000 on a puffer jacket. I’m not gonna spend, you know, $3,000 on a sweatshirt or a sweater, or a. Pair of shorts, like they’re just some things that are so beyond and so, okay. It’s egregious. It’s egregious some of the pricing.
Right. And I get it. Yeah. You know, I was gonna ask you now, decades in the fashion industry, is there a commonality you see among the most successful brands in fashion Houses is a one thread through all of them.
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So in order to succeed today, you have to fire on all cylinders. You have to make compelling clothes, you have to have them available, and I would say, and priced right, whatever that is for you, have your ex, you know, you’re either you if it’s an in-store experience or your online experience. So a, a luxury experience means a beautiful space.
People who are attentive and you know, are there to answer your questions and help you not, not do those things. Because sometimes that happens to, or if you’re buying online from that same brand, that your experience is seamless, frictionless, that your box arrives on time. That it, you know, if you say it’s gonna get there on Tuesday, it gets there on Tuesday.
If you, you know, if, if you’ve paid your money and it’s, and says you’ve. Purchased it, that you don’t get an email a day or two or three later saying, oh, sorry, we don’t have it now. Like, and those things can happen and you know, like that does not equate to, but if you can fire on all cylinders and have a marketing message and even events or activations or runway shows that support all of that, like, wow.
Like you, you know, you, that’s how you are successful. And I would say that for the most part, the reason why power brands are power brands is because they have mastered each of those things. Maybe not the pricing thing, and in my opinion, maybe not the fashion thing, but they’re able to sort of like create an experience from one end to the other that is like compelling.
Mm-hmm. And so that’s probably the common thread. Yeah, I appreciate you. Yeah, that makes sense. And I appreciate you breaking that down. And you know, I will say that you’ve certainly had an interesting career. You know, it doesn’t sound boring at all. And of course, you know, being in the fashion industry, you’d have some unique opportunities and encounters.
For example, tell us what lunch with Fran Liebowitz is like. Well, it was exactly how you would expect it would be. It, it was, she, first of all, it was great. It was amazing. It was funny. It was a little bit terrifying. It was, you know, amusing. We both smoked, so I think that made her probably somewhat less, you know, but she was like a little bit bitchy, a little bit, you know, but hilarious.
That’s amazing. I love it. and tell us about being confused for David Beckham. That happened. Honestly, I have no idea except that this happened right at the time that the JCPenney experience that I had was ending. And like, I just remember it being like, wait, what? Like, I, I was so like, and I still to this day am so like, I mean, first of all, how did someone do all that research?
Like, that was like somebody I, to this day, I, you know, I never physically saw the copy of it. but I, you know, it just, it, it’s just so hilarious to me. And it’s kinda funny because it kind of looks, it’s kind of true, but like I had, I’ve never met the guy, well, I did meet the guy once, but I’ve been, I, I had no contact with him.
We have, but it was really. To me, it’s one of the funniest things that’s ever happened in my life. I think, I think the headline was, it was David Beckham’s style, icon. Icon. Nick Wooster, I think was the, the headline. Like, like you’re his style icon. which I, yeah. So that’s impressive. Like I said, interesting opportunities.
, tell us about your current projects and what’s next for Nick Wooster. Well, you know, unfortunately I can’t, there’s, I mean, I, there are some projects in the works that I can’t really talk about necessarily that, you know, again, things are progressing. I, I will be honest with you, COVID, you know, changed a lot of my situ, my personal situation as well as I think just the general situation.
But I’m busy and I’m gonna be in Europe, Europe, in two weeks for, you know, pity Milan Fashion Week, then Paris Fashion Week. And you know, I mean, again, I’m still working, like, I’m still able to keep doing what it is that I’ve been doing. And so it’s shocking to me that it’s still at 63 happening. But, you know, I’m super grateful.
You know, speaking of, 63, and you’re in your sixties, you said almost 63, you know, your success and your traction happened after 50, right? For the most part, happened after 50. What would you say to entrepreneurs, business builders, you know, creatives about success after 50? Have you thought about that and what others can take away from that fact?
Well, I mean, only that if it can happen to me, it can happen to you. I mean, I still to this day cannot believe that. Yes. Like things happen. But, you know, okay, I, I, I’ve spoken about this before. I, I certainly say it to young people. So when I was in my thirties, how I saw 60 year olds was not how I see myself.
And what I mean by that is, They all seemed older to me. And I know that because, you know, people who are within a year or two of my age are like Brad Pitt and, and Tom Cruise. Like okay. And they are, I mean, if I’m one thing, they’re completely, I mean, I’m not even in the same category, but my, but my point is, is that, and there’s lots of, cuz obviously with Instagram, there’s a lot of these fitness guys that are like in their sixties that like, look way better than I do.
But that’s the point. And so 60 today is not what it was 30 years ago. And I, and what’s, and what I would say to these 20 year and 30 year olds, 40 year olds is, and in 20 or 30 years, your 60 is not gonna be my 60. It’s gonna be way better than mine. You know, like, because of all the biohacking and because of knowledge and because of like, I mean, I was 26, 27 years old when I started working out, you know, as a, as a daily kind of thing.
Not daily, but like as a lifestyle. I made that choice. Now, I haven’t always been as diligent as I am today, but in the last seven or eight years, I mean, I have no choice. Like, and I am, and I know for a fact that I look the way that I do because AI biohack, I, you know, I take testosterone. You know, a, a peptide for, to replicate human growth hormone.
I’m on ozempic, you know, or whatever the new one is. But like, it takes effort, you know, to do this. But the point is, is that I’m doing it and, and I know that it’s going to be even more commonplace and let’s say more critical mass. So, I dunno that I answered your question, but that’s, well, yeah, no, I, I, I think there was some definite takeaways from there about, you know, staying and looking young and not thinking about your age.
Again, you hear it all the time. It’s just a number. It is, and I agree with you. You know, when I looked at, you know, 40 somethings when I was. 20 something. I thought, oh my god. You know, but we grew up with these guys too. You know, our contemporary is the same age. We don’t think of ’em as 40, 50, 60. And I think in a way, you know, fifties, a cool age again, you know, sixties, a cool age, you know, because people are staying young.
And you, you kind of touched on it, but your, your routine, your daily routine. Do you have one? And what is it that you do to keep yourself looking and feeling young besides what you mentioned? Well, so yeah, so I tr so the, the only job that I have in LA and the only thing that I drive to is the gym, you know, and I train every day at eight, sometimes seven, sometimes six.
But it’s, I, if I’m not, if I haven’t worked out by eight, like it’s too late. Like it’s, it’s, you know, six, seven, or eight, but it’s usually eight, and that’s Monday through Saturday. I always take Sunday off. I mean, that’s non-negotiable because, and mobility is the thing that I work on more now than like string training, although we do that too.
But because I didn’t prioritize that when I was younger and you know, I, being able to get up off the floor without my using my hands or being able to tie your shoes, like standing on one leg, like those kinds of things are way more critical for me at this stage. Meaning I wanna make sure that I can keep doing that because I know people that are not that much older than me, they can’t do that.
And that’s my biggest fear in life. I biohack, I eat relatively well, but I wouldn’t say that I, the older I get, the harder diet is for me to sort of keep, you know, doing perfectly. And I think that there has to be a mental component of meditation, rest, quiet. Prayer. Like just, you know, you have to quiet and, you know, and then I also think that like relationships, your friendships, your family relationships, your personal relationship, your keeping things clean on your side of the street, all of that is like your mental and spiritual health that also has to be addressed.
Mm-hmm. Yeah. No, I, I appreciate that. And I, of course, it’s probably one of the most common questions you get because you do look so great for your age. I think it’s fantastic. Okay, final two questions, Nick. These are great. These are great. This, this one’s gonna make you think, this one’s a fun one. If you could have dinner with any three people in history, pastor present, who would they be and why?
well, Fran, Fran Leitz. Truman Capote, or Parker. Truman Capote. I love that answer. Well, I’m reading this interesting book about him. there’s this story, it’s called The Liberal Cruelty. There was like this, there was a Dominic Dunn book written in the eighties called The Two Mrs. Greenville’s, and it was a sort of veiled story about a true society story that happened where this rich guy took a kind of like showgirl, poor, poor girl that the family didn’t approve of as his wife.
She killed him because she thought he was a burglar. And then the family, because the mother was like, all you know, you’re not gonna bring shame on. She got, she shipped her off to Europe and gave her money to stay away, and then she committed suicide. That because of something Truman Capote wrote about her.
And this book mirrors the two lives of that. Anne Woodward was her name, Anne Woodward. And Truman Capote. How they were very similar and, but he’s just such a fascinating character to me. And what’s interesting is they’re all writers and you know, I am a reader. I’m not a, like a voracious reader, but I still like to read books, but they’re all wits and they’re all, you know, like way smarter than me.
So I figured it’d be That’s fair. Well, did you see Capote with Phillips Seymour Hoffman? I did. Fantastic. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Fantastic. So, so the three, the three guests are, again, just to summarize, Fran Lebowitz. Yep. Truman Capote. And, Dorothy Parker. Wow. Eclectic answer. Very impressive. My three would be, and, and you’d want to be at this table.
It’d be, Donald Trump, Kanye West. Nick Wooster. What do you think? Oh my God. Oh my god. Shock value. I’m sorry. I had to say. So terrifying. Yeah. Yeah, I know. Kidding. Jokes. Everyone jokes. very good. Okay, Nick, you’re opening a bottle of champagne one year from now, celebrating something you’ve accomplished.
What would that be? Well, first of all, I don’t drink champagne, but, but okay. Sorry. Non-alcoholic cider. Let’s go. It’s all I, I, I understood, that I, that I’ve made it another year. Mm. I like it. I like it. Just be appreciative of where you are and what you’re doing. And for life itself. I love that. And we’re gonna do a bonus here, Nick, that you weren’t prepared for this.
Putting you on the spot. We’re doing a bonus. It’s called Shut it Down, shut down, shut down, shut down, shut down, shut down, shut. Welcome back to Shut it Down. How this works. Nick, I’m gonna give you two options, okay? Two options. You shut one down, which essentially is picking the other one. Does that make sense?
It could be food, could be fashion, could be music. Either way, it will keep you on your toes. Let’s play. Shut it down. So if I said pizza or calzone, you would shut down calzone, right? So you’re picking pizza. Yeah. Yeah. See, that’s, that makes sense. You’d shut that. Okay, so here we go. They get progressively harder though.
Okay. Okay. Ham or prosciutto? Sh. I’m shutting down. Ham. It’s the only right answer. I agree with you. okay. Here’s where it starts to get hard. Gucci or Prada? Mm-hmm. I’m shutting down Gucci. Wow. Okay. Louis Vuitton or Irma? I’m shutting down Futon. or Vivi?
Mm. I’m not doing it. You have to, you have to pick one. I’m shutting down. Biz Vim? No. Well, you wear content on, I guess. Okay. Alright. You asked. I It’s true. I, I just thought you’d go with the correct answer. Ralph Lauren or Calvin Klein.
I’m shutting down. Shut.
I’m shutting down.
Here’s where, Lamber Ferrari. Range Rover. Here we go. Okay. Here. Okay. This will, okay, we’ll have fun with these ones. Sex Pistols are the Ramones. I’m shutting down the Ramones. Okay. Yeah. I, I, that’s respectable dog or cat? I’m shutting down cats. Okay. That’s Netflix or YouTube? I’m shutting down YouTube.
Okay. Okay. We’ll wrap it up here. Los Angeles or New York? London. Wow. Okay. Off the board. Off the board. work hard or play hard. I’m shutting down, work hard, kinda like it. Thanks for being a sport with that. We played that with some of the, you know, some very influential people. So thanks for playing again.
Amazing. Well done, Nick. I really appreciate you, joining us today. Enjoyed that conversation, that discussion. Very much good to get to know you and your history a lot better, as well as talk about the current state of fashion and design. where do you want the people to find you or go follow you, et cetera?
Well, you can find me at, Nick Wooster on Instagram or Twitter. If you’re on TikTok, I’m the Nick Wooster. also on Snapchat as the Nick Wooster and my website’s, nickwooster.com. Perfect.
