Designer Michael Bastian is joining Bill Blass Ltd. as menswear creative director. This is a position that hasn’t been at the label for two decades.
DNR reports that the move is part of an effort by NexCen Brands Inc to, “relaunch men’s sportswear and tailored clothing for fall 2008.”
NexCen bought the label at the end of last year.
Bastian, who is former fashion director of chic department store Bergdorf Goodman, will head design of, “all licensed and wholly owned men’s wear categories, which will later include fragrance.”
“People forget he was the first to do a lot of things,” Bastian said. “He was first to have a men’s runway show. The first to have a designer shop-in-shop, at Bonwit Teller. He had the first designer fragrance for men in America. But there’s been a huge gap since it ceased to be a collection business coming directly from his vision.”
“Men’s in general is a growth market now,” he said. “More guys are interested in clothes and dressing up. So this is the perfect time to bring this back.”
The designer will also continue to design for his own eponymous label.
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