<Get haute tips from fashionable trendsetters with our Style Scoop Interviews!>
Today we're thrilled to bring you a StyLe ScOoP InTeRvIeW with Original Penguin's Design Director and FIDM Grad Christian Arkins. Original Penguin's designs have definite old school cred (they were worn by Bing Crosby and Richard Nixon in the '50s and '60s), but Christian, an Apparel Manufacturing Management Grad, and his team have successfully revitalized the brand for the 21st century. As a result, both the men's and the fairly new women's line have a certain Wes Anderson-ish appeal that we really love (and by "really love" we mean we've given our boyfriends Original Penguin makeovers). Follow Christian's fab tips and you just might acquire a rakish rat pack vibe of your very own! --Kim
The Style Scoop Q&A
Name: Christian Arkins
Email: christianarkins@yahoo.com, christian.arkins@pery.com
Occupation: Design Director; Men's and Women's Collections, Original Penguin
City: NYC
Five sites you must visit daily: Always a sure bet for up to the minute seasonal collection viewing, I am addicted to style.com during all of the major international fashion weeks around the world. I also love WGSN for a similar thing, but they are better for research-related things like color/fabric/etc.
Ebay is always a sure bet for old Jamaican records from the '50s and '60s, cool Danish modern furniture finds, and old rare books/magazines with amazing and inspiring images. Ebay is also good for vintage clothing but some of the vintage websites that only do clothing and accessories are great like vintagetrends.com, they have EVERYTHING!!!!!!
Youtube.com is my latest obsession, the amount of inspiration that you can find is
incredible and impossible to find elsewhere, I love the collectors of old clips from last century's fashionistas that nearly no one else has now, it's wild. I have seen a ton of Marilyn Monroe's old media clips recently that even impresses my best friend who is her
biggest fan!!!!
Favorite design/lifestyle publication(s): I don't live by any one--I do read them all though. I don't leave home without Elle or Vogue. I also like Anthem and Nylon a lot as well. I am a crazy vinyl-record collector, Wax Poetics is also one of my favorite hardcore vinyl 'zines.
Favorite designers(s): I have been obsessed with Nicolas Ghesquiere for Balenciaga in the last couple seasons. Taking risks and being aesthetically redefining is what designers should stand for. His ability to bring together the company's past, its core aesthetic and the ability to reinvent the "look" with modern and high concept has been very inspiring. Accentuating the true beauty of fabric and its proper application to silhouette has been amazing to watch as well from Balenciaga.
I also love what Hermes does in their Men's collections, it's classic, super-sophisticated, sexy, and modernized with an amazing sense of pattern and color.
Who is your style icon? Although my style icons change a lot, I think Cary Grant and Jackie O. would produce the hottest and super stylish kids together.
What is your dream purchase for fall/winter? For me, I would love a Hermes brushed wool black pinstripe suit and a colorful Penguin Black Label cashmere sweater to wear over a vintage woven shirt and under the suit. As a gift for a woman, I would have to buy her a vintage silver fox fur stole with a jewel closure to stay warm with. Who says girls can't be glamorous too...
What is the most beloved item in your wardrobe? My denim collection. It's all about quality, not quantity for me, vintage selvedge Levis and new RRL lightly rinsed skinny boot win over the others these days in my closet..oh, and my collection of Paul Smith socks, they definitely get their own exclusive drawer...and it is about quantity in this case...hehehe.
You're spending the afternoon shopping in the city of your choice. What's the
itinerary? That's an easy one. Even as a world traveler, I can pick my favorite in less than a second, I LOVE Copenhagen, it is such an inspiring city. It's caught between being European, being Scandinavian and being Danish. The result is a city that has so much style, mens and womens. They love the American vintage aesthetic, they love Euro-fashion and Japanese denim, and at the end of the day, they simply love being "individual". Just off the central squares are amazing little shops that combine designer and vintage and they are all unique unto their own. I absolutely love it. It doesn't attract a lot of American and/or boring international tourists, so you can sit at almost any outdoor café anywhere in the city to enjoy a Danish sandwich and a side of chips (fries to the layperson...hehehe) and it won't feel too generic.
If you could own the wardrobe of any film or television character, whose would it be? Probably Cary Grant in North by Northwest, and anything from The Graduate, from Anne Bancroft and Catherine Ross for her and Dustin Hoffman for him. One of my classic favorites from the '60s with a great sense of humor.
The ultimate accessory is... The ultimate accessory for guys, in my mind, is a vintage Swedish aviator watch from the early '60s. For girls, that's an easy one....Mark Jacobs' Silver Metallic Leather Peeptoe Ribbon-trim platform heels...you know..for the Holiday parties, all you need a is sexy black dress, black pearls and a cool vintage clutch... easy!!!
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