"Michael Bastian will tell you that his new line for Gant is aimed at the little brother of the customer he already has. But even he realizes that's more marketing talk than straight talk. ""When I started designing the collection, the guy I had in mind was right out of college, and he was putting together his first real working wardrobe,"" Bastian says. ""It's that moment in life when you realize that everything you wore as an undergrad just looks stupid—you need an upgrade."" Except that Bastian, who's in his forties, now finds himself wearing plenty of his Gant line. And why not? It costs a third of the price of his own collection while featuring a similar array of all-American staples. That he ended up with Gant isn't surprising. Both are iconically American labels—in a sense. Gant started in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1949, but is now owned by the Swiss and headquartered in Stockholm. (Got that?) Bastian launched his own self-named line in New York four years ago, but it's manufactured by cashmere kingpin Brunello Cucinelli in Italy. Bastian's collection for Gant consists of 120 pieces, and he hopes to keep it going for at least six seasons. Long enough for little brother to grow up."
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