A Conversation with William Gage Blanton – HuffPost 7.28.14
Mike Ragogna: Gage, you are one of the newest “alt” fashion mavens of the Midwest. How in God’s name did this happen?
William Gage Blanton: [laughs] Alt fashion maven of the Midwest, huh? [laughs] Okay, well, not overnight. Persistence, really, that’s it!
MR: What got you into clothing design?
WGB: Dropping out of college. I was going through college and paying for college for something that didn’t make sense to go to college for so I left. I was paying thirty-two grand a year to go to school for fine arts and I started my company while I was doing it, so I was focusing on my company in class. It was a natural transition from what I’d been doing as a kid, which was design work.
MR: How did it all start?
WGB: It was a natural progression from me doing doodles. I’ve always been into fashion magazines and whatever fashion is going on in the world. My mom was a buyer for Nordstrom growing up, so it was always ingrained in me that this is an important part of life.
MR: Did your eye for art always go towards design, or did you start out drawing dragons, superheroes, stuff like that?
WGB: No, it was definitely design. I started out with cartoon stuff for a little while but that got boring and it went to things that made more sense to me, which was drawing people. When I drew people, I would focus on what they were wearing and form the person out of that. That’s what I did through middle school and high school.
MR: You also have a knowledge of anatomy in order to properly design clothing that would fall right on the body. How did your introduction to anatomy come about?
WGB: My cousin was a science teacher, so I had one of the anatomy and physiology coloring books as a kid. I went through a couple of those. It was a natural process because me being interested in it made me want to learn about it, so I would just study things and teach myself things I didn’t already know or have an understanding of.
MR: Do you have Ny brothers or sisters that you designed for?
WGB: I’m an only child.
MR: Did you make your friends guinea pigs for your early designs?
WGB: No, I really kept them all to myself for a long time. Nobody really knew about it until college.
MR: What about college? Did you use your friends as models?
WGB: Yeah, I did. I used my friends as critics, too. That was the main part; trying to get friends to tell me they didn’t like stuff. That was the hardest part.
MR: I know you do everything, baseball caps, shirts, blouses, what were some of the first items you were interested in creating?
WGB: Honestly, my inspiration from it was runway shows, the mod, European, dark fashion shows. That’s just because they weren’t necessarily pieces that could be worn, it’s more about the shapes and tones of what they use. Raf Simons is one of my big inspirations.
MR: Did you ever strut the runway?
WGB: I’ve done a runway show, yes, last year, and I’m doing another one this year.
MR: You’re currently located in New Orleans. Has the culture affected your designs or how you’re approaching things lately?
WGB: I guess, in a way, it has affected it because I’ve felt freer to be able to do what I have always liked and not have to tone it to more of a Midwest stance of what I know would sell. I feel like I can put out what I like and it will be accepted.
MR: You grew up Portland. What got you out to the midwest?
WGB: Well, my grandmother moved out here because of Iowa. She moved out here before anyone else did in my family. I had dropped out of high school senior year and she was like, “Well, you need to go to college.” So she made me come to Iowa and I finished up high school there.
MR: Who are some of your favorite designers?
WGB: Right now Raf Simons, Alexander McQueen’s new line is really inspirational. But Raf Simons is probably my all-time favorite. As long as I’ve been doing fashion, he’s always been an inspiration. I don’t like colors, I don’t like bright and gaudy things, I like the dark, and especially the shapes of the cuts of designs.
MR: This is related to my earlier question, maybe I’m just rephrasing it a little. Since you moved to New Orleans, have you experimented with concepts you never had before?
WGB: I actually have. They haven’t made it past certain stages of design, but I have. It’s because of the culture there, it’s very European culture, I can push the envelope more.
MR: Where is your clothing right now? What kinds of stores are they located in?
WGB: With the new release of the line, I’ve got a new PR manager so I’m getting my stuff in two stores in New York for the new line. I took clothing back to a couple places I had stuff in previously, so my new line is going to be in just New York and Europe.
MR: Gage, what is your goal?
WGB: The goal is to really do things that are timeless. A shirt is something that everybody has to wear, and a shirt is something that people can wear for twenty years if it draws them, or somebody can wear a shirt for a day and never wear it again. I aim to be that article of clothing you keep for twenty-years.
MR: Do you feel like you’re working on something right now that fits that description?
WGB: Yeah, the line I’m working on right now is very contemporary, probably not what people would expect. It’s very simplified and contemporary, but it’s more of a satire. The line is “Prescription Error,” it’s kind of speaking on the age we live in, where prescriptions run everything we do from the most minute to the largest sections of life.
MR: What’s your advice to designers who are just starting out?
WGB: Don’t be afraid to fail, because you have to fail to succeed. You can’t just expect to make it. You have to know how to fail. You have to fail, fail, fail, fail, fail. And copy whatever you love. If there’s something you like, and somebody who inspires you, just copy it as much as you can. From that copy you will find your own style, your own way.
MR: Nice. You’ve also had a music connection in that your fashion sometimes goes hand in hand with certain musical acts.
WGB: Yeah, I dabble in music, and I’m friends with some major artists and some not-so-major artists. I just like the way that in this day and age music can dictate what’s going to be in style. The imagery used in music is probably the most influential pop culture we have.
MR: Smart. What does mom think of all this?
WGB: I guess she doesn’t really get it one hundred percent, but she’s happy that I’m doing what I like. I guess she’s still nervous because she doesn’t know. “Is this going to be a thing that’s done and over with or is this going to be a lifelong thing?”
MR: But she’s wished you luck and crossed her fingers for you.
WGB: Yeah. I think at this point she gets that I’m not going to be giving up any time soon. It’s what I do, it’s what comes naturally to me at this point, i’ve been doing it long enough that I see everything in shapes and design. I can’t help but walk down the street and see something.
MR: Do you ever picture her buying any of your clothing lines someday?
WGB: [laughs] She’s a yoga teacher now. She doesn’t do buying but I do actually know buyers at Saks. That’s another thing, making connections has been a blessing of mine. I’m able to walk into places and make connections with the right people without me even knowing who to talk to.
MR: So everything has fallen in line for you.
WGB: Yeah, it’s definitely like that. As a young child, I knew I wanted to do something with art, I always have. There was never any question about it. It was not accepted by my family when I was six years old saying, “I want to be an artist, I just want to draw,” it wasn’t like, “Oh, yeah, cool, that’s what you’re going to do,” no, it was like, “You’re going to go to school, you have to get a degree and make a living.”
MR: Any info about the new line?
WGB: This new line is going to be something that’s not expected if you know any of my previous work; it’s definitely going to be on a different scale.
For more info: https://www.soloclothingco.com
Transcribed by Galen Hawthorne