GQ Style Summer 2017

At GQ Style, we see ourselves as an American magazine that’s international in scope. Since we launched in May 2016, we’ve shot features in Jamaica, Zermatt, Tokyo, Paris, and Milan, with more far-flung adventures in the works. But this summer, we felt called to shift gears and explore the exotic wonders of our own backyard. At a moment when the country’s psyche is stratified and stressed-out, it felt like the right time to find some common ground. Common ground like the gypsum dunes at White Sands, for instance. So we decided to do a summer cover story shot in three of America’s great national parks. And our first call was to the great photographer Ryan McGinley. I first encountered Ryan when I started hanging around downtown N.Y.C., in 2003. He…

1. Turquoise 2. Tonal Seersucker 3. Artful Bandannas 4. A Bike We Like 5. Global Weaves 6. Cool-Dad Tourist Gear THE YOUNG AND THE RIGHTEOUS “Bob Dylan, James Brown, Zora Neale Hurston.” The actor Jesse Williams is naming socially aware artists. “James Baldwin, for Chrissake!” It can be done, he argues. You can be fashionable and conscious. Successful and woke. In fact, I’d argue, it’s simply the modern way to be. And Williams proves it on a daily basis. He’s Middle America’s heartthrob on Grey’s Anatomy, Paris’s latest obsession in Kenzo’s spring campaign, and a steadfast voice in a time of harsh racial conflict. “I’m more comfortable around social-justice work,” he says. “I’ve been doing it much longer, and it means more to me. But I need both to sustain…

Even for those keeping close tabs on what the young and influential stars of after-hours parties and fashion Instagrams are wearing, Needles seems to have come out of nowhere. The Japanese label has been around since 1997, but until recently it’s not something you’d have spotted in the DJ booth at a Parisian nightclub or worn by A$AP Rocky in paparazzi photos. Founder and designer Keizo Shimizu launched the line 20 years ago with one piece: a simple loose-fitting suit jacket inspired by one a young Miles Davis wore in the 1960s. “That intrigued me tremendously,” he tells GQ Style, “so I tried making one like that myself. Hence the birth of Needles.” But Shimizu’s fashion venture began in 1988, when he launched Nepenthes, a distribution company in Japan with…

The folks at Patagonia don’t spend much time thinking about what’s cool. Instead, for over 40 years they’ve focused on making easygoing highperformance gear that leaves the tiniest footprint possible. Authenticity, thoughtful design, strong ethos—wait, isn’t that everything a brand needs to be cool in 2017? That’s why these days, you’re just as likely to see the iconic Monte Fitz Roy logo in downtown N.Y.C. as you are on West Coast beaches. Founded in 1973 by Yvon Chouinard as a rock-climbing outfitter that sold rugby shirts and corduroy shorts, Patagonia was never really supposed to do nearly a billion dollars in sales. But Chouinard’s Bauhauslike design philosophy ensured that its simple, stylish products— like pile-fleece jackets, quick-dry shorts, and Pataloha Hawaiian shirts—soon became timeless outdoor icons. Today Patagonia has 30…

Lemaire makes fashion that is suspiciously quiet. Each collection is a rigorous exercise in restraint, precision, and ease. Not that the clothes aren’t interesting—they are. But they lack the spectacle that most designers stir up for attention. There’s rarely a concept, an identifiable impetus, or any scandal. These are not clothes for red carpets or for flaunting in front of street photographers. “We are not thinking about fashion from a spectacular point of view,” designer Christophe Lemaire has said. “It is more about proposing good clothes.” Together with his partner (in both life and work), Sarah- Linh Tran, Lemaire has developed a new kind of language for menswear, one that has reached its widest range with the springsummer 2017 collection. The fits have a deft slouch, the kind of oversize-but-just-right…

Last fall I was with a few friends on a golf trip and I noticed something interesting happening with my buddy Aaron. Each day, when we got to a new course, the caddies would crowd around him, asking him questions about his new clubs. They were excited and engaged in a way I had never seen before. It got me thinking about the value proposition behind the things we buy and how they represent us. This is apparent when you purchase a new car or build out your wardrobe, but aren’t there some less obvious corners of your life that can be dialed way up? It became obvious on that trip that sometimes when ordinary things are radically elevated, they can become nontraditional luxuries that spark off-the-charts excitement for a…