Fashion 'It Man' Derek Blasberg

Paul and Skip exchange style tips and life advice from the world-class fashion figure—a man who's literally written the book (a New York Times best-selling one!) on how to look great at all times. From Vogue and Vanity Fair to CNN and YouTube, Derek shares his amazing story that saw him go from small-town boy to BFFs with the biggest figures in entertainment and one of the most powerful influencers in the industry. While you can't teach taste, this episode comes pretty close. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Our Way with yours truly paul Anka and my buddy
Skip Bronson, is a production of iHeart Ratings.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
You know, you go to a fashion show and people
are dying, They're living and dying over a pair of shoes,
a new handbag, and it sort of did help me
take a step outside of the bubble and realize that
there is I mean, fashion is a legitimate business. The
New York City alone accounts for more than ten billion
dollars of commerce in the style space. But sometimes the

(00:30):
reactions people have in this industry, pump and circumstance that
sometimes circulates around this industry, I'm sure is very amusing
to people.

Speaker 3 (00:44):
Hi, folks, this is Paul Anka and my name is
Skip Bronson. We've been friends for decades and we've decided
to let you in on our late night phone calls
by starting a new podcast.

Speaker 1 (00:54):
And welcome to Our Way. We'd like you to meet
some real good friends.

Speaker 3 (00:58):
Of ours, your leaders and entertainment and.

Speaker 1 (01:01):
Sports, innovators in business and technology, and even a sitting
president or too.

Speaker 3 (01:06):
Join us as we ask the questions they've not been
asked before, tell it like it is, and even sing
a song or two.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
This is our podcast, and we'll be doing it our way.

Speaker 4 (01:26):
Hey, Skip, what's going on? I don't know. I'm just
kind of anticipating Derek Derek Blastpert. Amanda was talking to
him at dinner. I'm ware of the guy, and that's
he's a different kind of dude for us. I love it.
He's got all stuff going to fashion and he's and
he's young, young. I got ties older than him. Yeah, yeah, he's.

Speaker 5 (01:51):
Young, he's smart. Everybody loves him, knows everybody. He's just
a very cool guy. We're gonna have fun with him. Yeah,
So what are you doing in all this heat?

Speaker 4 (02:00):
Uh? What am I doing?

Speaker 5 (02:01):
I'm trying to stay out of it basically. But you
know now that all the playoffs are over, right, the
basketball is over, Hockey is over, and the only thing
on the only sport is baseball, which does not interest
me at all. Not sexy, not sexy at all. Like
I'm stecking a bit on chess tournaments. I'm down at

(02:22):
the lowest head. So when we have Derek on, you know,
he's a fashion easta and he knows where, he knows
where the ball is headed before before the pitch is thrown,
So it'll be funny, fun to hear, you know, his
stories about all the fascinating people he's interviewed all the
you know, he's so laid back, he's such a cool guy.

(02:44):
He and his partner Nick, they have two young children now,
so he's sort of settling in. But he's he's he's
so much fun and it's just clever and smart. I
think we'll have a great time with him. Yeah, I'm
looking forward to it. Here, like this stuff about it
my daughter. He's very very close to your daughter, remand
that they know each other.

Speaker 4 (03:02):
Yeah. But so you're going away, You're gonna go away
at all. You're gonna go to Europe and gonna hang
around here.

Speaker 5 (03:09):
I'm gonna go to Europe, but not until the end
of the summer Labor Day. We're gonna be out in
the Hamptons. But before that, I'm hoping to be in
Europe fourth of July.

Speaker 4 (03:19):
No, not then, it'll be later. I'm gonna hang around too.
I'm not. I'm not gonna commit to Europe. No, that's
so unlike you. Really, I got you, I got the
Broadway play. I've got to stay here and work with them.
I've gotta finish the doc documentary, right, So if I
don't do that now, I'm not gonna make the fall.

Speaker 5 (03:37):
So but I know you, and something's gonna happen, and
you're gonna get a phone call and you're gonna.

Speaker 4 (03:42):
Be oh, I'm going to Iceland. What I'm going to Iceland? Well?
Why why not? I'm just gonna go. You know that's
gonna happen. Maybe in Las Vegas. That's called NL no line.
You can't better because that's definitely gonna happen. I don't know, man,
I got you, gotta attach you to how you get there.
I'm just so sick and sick of the their airplanes

(04:03):
and all of that thing. I've done well after that
last tour. That last tour did oh my god, that's
pretty cool. You know, I know you loved it. I
was trying to talk you out of a couple of
those stops and you said, what are you talking about?
What are your nuts? I'm going to poops? Got they
want I want to see them, they want to see me. Yeah.

(04:24):
And I want to meet your buddy Derek. Yeah, and
I think you you know he's from Saint Louis, which
is you know, we're haven't you performed? But you performed
in Saint louis Is to go to Chase Hotel. Used
to go there with Sinatra. That was one of the
town where the boys were, you know. Yeah, And I
told when I told him, you know about our podcast

(04:44):
and I mentioned Saint Louis, he said to me that
his mother was actually has been through more than one
of your shows when you performed in Saint Louis. So
there's good taste all around in that family, right exactly,
you're going to get.

Speaker 5 (04:57):
Yeah, I'm want to talk to them also about the
fact that you're not hip enough to know this, but
the golf clothing line has evolved from being.

Speaker 4 (05:06):
Absolutely the worst. You're not going to bash forward stuff
worse to bad worst those people in my line is
they dress in the dark. I'm gonna tell them that
if you bring it up in an interview, you're gonna
let me. I'm gonna jump all over it. Okay, good,
go for it, forgive me you go for it.

Speaker 5 (05:27):
By the way, he's also probably going to talk about
his favorite clothing item. He's always going for that navy
double breast suit.

Speaker 4 (05:35):
And I know you love Ale, but a dozen of them.
That's what I've been wearing them since the sixties. I
used to wear them back in sixty three sixty four,
you know, because my clothes are made in Europe. People
look at me. What is that. Nobody's into double breasted
back then, Not that this country hadn't made, you know,
they didn't know how to dress back then. It was
I've always worn double breasted. I love it. You know,

(05:56):
it's cool. He knows that.

Speaker 5 (05:57):
You know, the concept of quiet luxury, you know, not
not having the label, not having the goods here to
the LV. I want to get his take on all
of that, and also the fact that when you go
to Rodeo Drive on Saturday in Beverly Hills, you have
to wait in line to go in and spend thousands
of dollars at these stores.

Speaker 4 (06:16):
It's a phenomenon. I want to get his take on that.

Speaker 5 (06:19):
He really just he just knows, you know, he knows
social networking, He obviously knows fashion. You know, he's fun
and most most importantly, he's very laid back and very
smart and just loved by all.

Speaker 4 (06:34):
Everybody loves this guy, everybody who knows him. I want
to see what exactly he did at Vogue, or if
he was into and winter or not, you know, we
should define that because she's a key person. I loved him.
If she influenced him, or maybe he had no contact
with her at all, because she's still trucking, you know,

(06:54):
she's doing Yeah.

Speaker 5 (06:55):
And also he was the media and culture consultant on
the hit shows Succession. I want to I want to
know what that, what that entailed? What did he do
there specifically? So talk to him about that. You know,
have wis him on? You know what the essentials are
for for a man's wardrobe. He's just a fun guy.

Speaker 4 (07:18):
You're gonna have a good You're gonna have a good time. Okay,
Well I'm I'm all ready for it, my dear. And
the best part about him is that, like I didn't
know Michael Bubley and we we did our podcast with him,
and by the time we got done, I felt like
I had a new friend. And you're gonna feel like
that about Derek. Yeah, I could tell, I can tell.

(07:40):
I could just tell Amanda. Yeah, she was all over.
Well that's cool, man. So we're closing in on my bedtime. Yeah,
we got three hours, he got three hours. I'm gonna
get three hours of sleep. No, no, no, you're down, and
I'll probably live down two o'clock. He hear some stuff
and that'll be it. You'll be word up tomorrow and

(08:02):
look to the heavens say thank you, thank you for
giving us this amazing life. Right, you got it? You
got Oh? Okay, you take care of lot? Okay too? Bye?
Thanks ask.

Speaker 3 (08:23):
So I love I love this guy. Derek is great
and Nick is great. Love him a lot, and you
know we met through mutual friends, and I just love
I love the fact that Derek always knows sort of
where the ball is going before it goes there. Certainly
in the world fashion style, all of that. But your journey,
it's really pretty extraordinary because you know, I grew up

(08:44):
in a small town, but you grew up in Saint
Louis and sort of went from there to the big
city where you you know, had a lot of ambition
and you wound up with a job at Vanity Fair,
Which is how did that happen? How did you first
get started there?

Speaker 2 (09:00):
I speak with my therapist and about not diminishing my journey,
but I will say that growing up in Saint Louis,
in a pre digital world, I had no idea that
there was a style industry. I mean, you could pick
up a magazine and you could see that there was
a photographer and a model. But I had no idea
what a stylist was, what an art director was about, retouching,

(09:23):
craft services, this entire industry that floats and supports the
style space. But I came to New York. I think,
like most people, well like a lot of people, I
came here for college, for school. So I graduated high
school and then that fall I moved to New York.
My parents, Bill and Carol Blastberg, packed up our family

(09:45):
Chevy and drove. We spent the night in Ohio. They
dropped me off at my dorm in Washington Square, Park West,
and I don't want to get too granular in the weeds.
I can see Paul already dozing off over there, but
I will.

Speaker 1 (10:03):
No, no, no, no, how dare you deren? When I nod,
I'm in love.

Speaker 2 (10:07):
That's what it is. It got it.

Speaker 1 (10:10):
I'm a noder. I listen. I'm so in love my
daughter Amanda when she speaks. I listened, Demanda, Amanda, she's
the best. She adores you. No, no, When I do this,
I'm very interested.

Speaker 2 (10:25):
But when I do this, we got to call someone.

Speaker 1 (10:29):
We all have great faces for radio. Right, it's a
good thing nobody can see, is go ahead? You interrupted
yourself anyway.

Speaker 2 (10:37):
So when I moved to New York, the first person
I met in the dorms was a model.

Speaker 6 (10:42):
And you know, I'm not a particular I'm not a
particularly uga booga astrologist, cosmologist, fate sort of higher power
sort of guy Missouri's they'll show me state of course,
So I'm much more of a show me kind of got.

Speaker 2 (11:01):
But the first person I met, the very first person
I met, And again I was pre digital, so there
was no Facebook or Twitter or Instagram, so it wasn't
like I could make friends. Before I got there was
a model at Elite, an agency here in New York,
and in my freshman year, I met her and then
I met her booker, and they hired me to write

(11:22):
all the biographies of the women who were represented by
the agency. So this was more than twenty years ago,
so within my first few months of living in New York.
It was a part time job. You know, it wasn't
like a real job. I think I was paid like
by the biography, maybe like fifty bucks per bio. But
that's when Amber Valletta and Giselle and Maggie Reiser and

(11:45):
Linda Evangelista. A lot of girls were at Elite Model
Management at the time, and then from there that's where
it all sort of snowballed. I graduated with a degree
in journalism. My first job out of college was working
at Vogue magazine with Winter. I interned there when I
was in college, and then I graduated and they hired me.
Then they fired me. That's a conversation for another podcast.

Speaker 1 (12:08):
We'll take it.

Speaker 2 (12:09):
They didn't fire me in a spectacular way, but I
was sort of moved. I was not a great assistant,
we'll say so.

Speaker 1 (12:14):
No interfacing with Anna Winter, No.

Speaker 2 (12:16):
Not really. I mean I now obviously cross paths with
her quite often, and I mean she's such as she's
an icon, uncompromising and has been in that job. But
you know, right now, in fashion there is a lot
of turnover. I don't know if you guys, I don't

(12:37):
know if you are watching the fashion news as closely
as I am. But this year the designer of Valentino
stepped down, the designer of Chanel stepped down, there's a
new design queen. There's there's a lot of shuffle, and
one thing I will say about Annah Winter is that
she started her job in the eighties and she's she's
still there. So yeah, and then I can keep rambling.

(13:01):
You guys want to grab a coffee or something and
come back, I'll still.

Speaker 1 (13:04):
Know we have I have four of them waiting right
here by my table.

Speaker 2 (13:07):
And then I had a show on CNN called CNN
Style with Derek Blast.

Speaker 1 (13:10):
Remember that.

Speaker 2 (13:11):
And then I had a fashion YouTube. YouTube had before
me not had any sort of real interaction with the
style space. And when I started there was only a
handful of shows that was live streaming or creating incilliary content.
And when I left, more than four years later, I

(13:32):
think there was more than four hundred and fifty brands.
And then most recently, I curated I co curated Richard
Avedon's centennial retrospective, so the photographer Richard Abadon would have
been one hundred years old.

Speaker 1 (13:46):
Ye loved Richard. He was a good buddy, did you know. Oh,
let me give you a little background, because I want
to find out how you fared at Gagosian. You know,
I listened. I started back in the late fifties into
the sixties. Derek, my wife May she rest and was
the top model at Ford, So you know I knew
uh Javon she Chanelle and you know, Anne was introduced

(14:09):
me to that whole world, including Leo Castelli and Paula Coop.
When I started buying art, you know Stella, all those
guys when it was cheap, and you know, finally it
culminated when I moved at a carmel with Gagosian, who
was just starting in business. You weren't with him in
the eighties. I don't think you were born yet, right.

Speaker 3 (14:27):
I wasn't.

Speaker 2 (14:28):
I was not with him at the eighties now.

Speaker 1 (14:30):
Right, So he was he was looking for art and
I sold him three key pieces Kelly, a couple of
my big Stella huge pieces when Frank was doing all
that steel stuff, so he was like the guy and
everybody was scratching their head, who is this cat because
he was undercutting everybody. But how was your experience over

(14:52):
there at Gagosians? And I know you're buying art. You're
into art, aren't you.

Speaker 2 (14:56):
Yeah, I'm in a huge I'm a huge admirer of
Larry's and i' worked with him in a variety of
capacities for more than a decade, so I helped him
relaunch his magazine Skip and Paul, I mean, I won't
make you tell me your mailien addresses right now on
this call, but please when we.

Speaker 1 (15:11):
Hang out office at paul Anka dot com, nobody's interested.
So I'll tell her again. Office at paul anka dot com.
Everyone's invited to feat it. Somebody buy a CD, get
in touch with me, Office at paulanca dot com. So
there you have a Derek. No, I've listened. I've collected
art all my life. I used to go down to

(15:32):
uh downtown Leo Castella. Does that ring a bell?

Speaker 3 (15:34):
Leo?

Speaker 2 (15:35):
Of course, there is the guy.

Speaker 1 (15:38):
He was called the Macha back then. So Leo would
take me to these studios and I'd watched Stella with
these pieces in these forty foot ceiling studios where they
work Skip and it was like unreal. And I said, yeah,
how much? How much?

Speaker 2 (15:53):
How much? Would you say? I'm embarrassed.

Speaker 1 (15:56):
Well, i'll tell you, I'll tell you you'll die. So then
I'm with the rat pack, right and we're gambling. Member
in it was Sinatra and we're cheating. You know, the
dealer say don't take the hit. I mean everything that
went on before Hughes. So I'd take all the cash,
and I was buying Roschienburg. I was buying Stella for
thirty grand, forty grand. Then all of a sudden, those

(16:17):
prices went through the roof. When the Sachi brothers you
know who, they were in English, so they had the
largest Stella collection, so I was selling them. But I
went from twenty to thirty grand. Of these important artists.
I think the most I paid was seventy thousand for Roussienburg.
And what the hell was the name of that paint.
I sold it to Larry for like two and a
half million a few years later. But that's when I

(16:39):
got interested.

Speaker 2 (16:40):
Have you had it now? I mean, you have such
a healthy relationship with these choices, I'd be kicking myself.
I had a bunch of Auschenberg.

Speaker 1 (16:50):
Listen, I've contemplated jumping many times. I've been on the edge.
Took a couple of ambient I said, no, don't be
a schmuck. You had your fun with the artist. No, no, no,
it's and then it took off, as you know, and
then it went nuts.

Speaker 2 (17:05):
It's still pretty good.

Speaker 1 (17:06):
Oh it's crazy. Yeah, they've got a corner down.

Speaker 2 (17:08):
Do you have anything now that you've you've held onto
from the eighties or from that period.

Speaker 1 (17:12):
No, I gave my when I divorced my wife, and
may she rest an amazing, amazing woman. I gave her
the entire collection, just so that her girlfriends wouldn't say
I was an asshole. You know, he's not giving you enough.
I gave her everything. She needed one lawyer, and I said,
I'll throw in all the art. She had a major
collection that I gave her everything. I just said, that's it.

Speaker 2 (17:32):
I think when she passed there was a sale, right,
that's right. And she had a couple of Warhols too,
if I remember correctly, your your.

Speaker 1 (17:39):
We had ten of them.

Speaker 2 (17:41):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (17:41):
I hired Warhol to do my album cover. The painter,
and he flew out and we spent time together in Vegas.
We gave some to the museum, we sold to some guy,
and she had them all and I just gave them
all up. Yeah, we had quite a.

Speaker 2 (17:56):
It's sort of fascinating to think what Warhol would make
of this moment in pop culture. This reality show fueled Instagram,
influencer populated New society, and every time his name come up,
there's a lot of people who sort of pontificate my
friend had a good joke, you know, Warhol said, we'd

(18:17):
all be famous for fifteen minutes. Fifteen minutes be could nowadays,
we'll all be canceled for fifteen minutes.

Speaker 1 (18:26):
And in fifteen minutes.

Speaker 3 (18:28):
So there was an interview that you gave where you
said that working in fashion is like a Saturday night
Live skit. Can you elaborate on that? What was that?

Speaker 4 (18:36):
It is that?

Speaker 2 (18:38):
I mean, to be honest, I stole that quote from
Gwen Stefani. Gwen Stefani started a fashion Lamb, a fashion
line called Lamb maybe ten years ago, maybe a little
bit longer. And she when I sat next to her
at one of those one of these events that happened,
and it was fascinating to hear her take on it
because she really, you know, coming from the music industry,

(19:03):
she would, you know, you go to a fashion show
and people are dying, They're living and dying over a
pair of shoes, a new handbag. And it sort of
did help me take a step outside of the bubble
and realize that there is I mean, fashion is a
legitimate business. The New York City alone accounts for more
than ten billion dollars of commerce in the in the

(19:24):
style space. So there's definitely a reason to care about
shoes and handbags. But sometimes the reactions people have in
this industry, you know, you'll meet a stylist who's crying
because they can't get the shoes they want, or you know,
the flamboyance and pump and circumstance that sometimes circulates around

(19:48):
this industry, I'm sure is very amusing to people who
who witness it for the first time. I'm immune now
you see Skip.

Speaker 3 (19:56):
There you go speaking of television. You know, so obviously
you know, you had your gig on CNN, and then
we talked about you know, you were with YouTube. I'd
like to hear more about how that happened and didn't happen.
But you were brought on as a consultant to the
television show Succession, which was a massive hit, right, you.

Speaker 2 (20:16):
Know, just a dawn of quiet luxury. Skip.

Speaker 3 (20:19):
Yeah, I want you to touch on the quiet luxury
thing too, But what how did you get that and
what what was your responsibility there with Succession? What did
you do on this?

Speaker 2 (20:28):
I mean to be honest, Graydon Carter, who I'm sure
you guys both know Frank Rich was one of the
co Creators of Succession. He also worked on VP. Remember
the show v P Julia Louis Dragon.

Speaker 3 (20:39):
Yeah, of course I love that show.

Speaker 2 (20:41):
Just when it came out, we all thought was ridiculous,
and it's actually proven to be essentially a documentary of
things to come. Anyway, Frank worked on that show, and
he worked a lot with Vanity Fair and New York
Magazine and I think, uh, I don't know how Graydon
suggested me to him. So for season one, there were
several different consultants in different areas of expertise. I think

(21:05):
there was probably a finance person who was looking at
some of the conversations around and really mine was sort
of the median culture stuff. That was the first time
I saw I sort of had a front receipt to
how some of those shows are made.

Speaker 3 (21:19):
And it was.

Speaker 2 (21:20):
Incredibly thrilling and validating because that show became such a phenomenon.

Speaker 3 (21:26):
To your earlier point though. You know, everybody has become
so brand centric, right, So you go, using Rodeo Drive
as just an example, and you see ELV and Chanel
and Gucci and all this everybody lined up. But at
this dinner party where we were together, you started talking
about the concept of quiet luxury. I was just hoping

(21:47):
for those that aren't familiar with the term, you'd sort
of explain what that.

Speaker 2 (21:51):
Is well, as you guys probably have seen even more
than me. There are these trends and cycles, and there
was a moment when it bags logo mania, ostentation, all
this sort of stuff became commonplace in the style space,
and sort of on the back of Phoebe Filo, who

(22:12):
launched her own brand last year, and brands like Lower
Piano and Brunello Cucinelli, which are long established brands, they
sort of had a moment in pop culture because suddenly
it was incredibly chic not to have an exposed logo,
not to have a gold belt buckle that screams the

(22:34):
brand name. It was sort of fascinating to see because
you know, I grew up in the nineties in Missouri
and logos became status symbols, right. You had a lot
of people who were determined to establish who they were
by aligning with brands, and it was fascinating to see

(22:57):
a moment in time when the uh, the quality and
cut of a shirt or jacket or coat was much
more important than forward facing logo. And maybe that's maybe
that's sticks around, who knows.

Speaker 1 (23:11):
You know, the Asians have been going down there sixty years.
They've stayed constant as they've evolved into all the Paris fashion.
They want it, they want the logo, they send mules
over as you know, they're in line right around shan Zouse.
But when you know, I just got back from Asia
and they're so consistent in wanting certain brands, and they're

(23:35):
a huge supporter of the whole fashion industry out of Paris,
as you know, right.

Speaker 2 (23:40):
Well, sure you can't have a brand nowadays and not
have a presence in China, and if you're not well
in Asia.

Speaker 1 (23:47):
They love it. I love it because you know, they
cut especially for the Asians. And when I go there
at five four, I'm the tallest guy in town, so
I can get any piece of clothing eye want. I
should go to sas children Department to get a Jack.

Speaker 2 (24:04):
Asia Ash, that's your favorite designer.

Speaker 1 (24:10):
So but but there's so much money down there, so
much money. And when you walk in those stores, there's
tons of them. You come back home, you're lucky if
you can see a dozen. It's such a difference between
Asian here.

Speaker 2 (24:22):
Well, Paul, it's interesting even that you're saying that now
because there has been a lot of feedback from the
Asian style space that logos have become so after years
and decades of wining Louis Baton and Gior, now the
bags that are selling well are the ones that don't
have the logo. You know, there's now the the like

(24:46):
brands like the Row, Paul. I don't know if you
know the Row, but I know your daughter about they
They they have they have no outwork facing logo or branding,
and apparently they're making the killing in China and all
of it.

Speaker 1 (25:01):
Well, Veto and air Mess were jammed everywhere I went.
They love that stuff.

Speaker 2 (25:06):
They really all over it.

Speaker 1 (25:07):
And they dress you know, down there on like here,
you know where its depending where you are. They dress
up when they go out, and they're maxed out with
you know, LV, air Mess, Gucci. They're just on it.
You know, the homogenous society, so they're all, yeah, collectively
in tune with each other.

Speaker 2 (25:25):
I'm fascinated at the California style. If we're gonna call it.

Speaker 1 (25:29):
What is it? It annoys me sometimes there is no style.
I think the laundry built for anyone I see at
dinner must be twenty dollars a week. I mean between
the T shirt and I've seen twenty holes last night.
That Stella is in four pair of jeans. What the
hell is the La Style? You go to New York,
everybody's dressed that that. Come on, tell me about the

(25:51):
LA show.

Speaker 2 (25:51):
I love that about New York specifically is that you
know you still see men in suits on the subway.
You still see girls and dresses running to a cocktail hour.

Speaker 1 (26:00):
They are under cover agents protecting the city in La No,
tell me about the La Style.

Speaker 3 (26:06):
Now.

Speaker 2 (26:06):
I had such a priority placed on comfort, and when
I was working with Google, you know, the tech community,
definitely there's a vacuum for style. You know, there's yoga
pants were what you were to the office. But here
in New York, I'm happy to say when I go
into Larry's gallery, or when I go into the Conde

(26:28):
Nast offices or the Hurst offices, people still like to
get dressed up.

Speaker 3 (26:33):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (26:33):
Even La Bernada, you know, which is it's my first
stop when I go to New York.

Speaker 2 (26:37):
We out my neighborhood. Oh well, the next time you're
in town.

Speaker 1 (26:41):
Come over and have a coffee next time. Yeah, you're
gonna come over and we'll sit and chat. But even
when I went there, some people are dressed and then
you get some real funky souls that come in. I
don't know if they're aliens or they're just there. But
it's very eclectic now from what it used to be
there because I know the family and I go way
back with the red straw. Everybody had a shirt entire

(27:02):
years ago. I mean, I'm obviously aging myself even though
I look one hundred and three. It's a whole different
scene today.

Speaker 2 (27:08):
Wait, Paul, speaking of French New York restaurants, I heard
that Friend Lee isn't going to reopen after you know
they closed during COVID.

Speaker 1 (27:15):
Oh they're going to open it.

Speaker 2 (27:16):
I heard that they're having they're struggling and it's not
reopened now and it may never reopen, and I would
be so you know about that.

Speaker 1 (27:23):
I heard there was a rumble going. But forty percent
of the restaurants in this country, Derek, are having a problem.
They can't get labor, they don't want anybody that can't
get people in the kitchen, they can't get waiters, and
it's part.

Speaker 4 (27:37):
Of the problem.

Speaker 2 (27:38):
Is this the post COVID problem?

Speaker 1 (27:39):
Yes, it's a post problem and a big problem in
this country. People just don't want to work. We're down
to Friday's no and now they want to get rid
of Mondays. But all these restaurants, I mean, I just
finished working a lot of these big casinos. They just
can't get people to work. It's part of what's happening
in the changing times.

Speaker 2 (27:59):
I do think there's good be a movement back to office.
You know, I no longer work with YouTube, which is
owned by Google, but I still have a lot of
friends who work there, and I think right now Google
strongly encourages employees to spend three days in the week
and three days a week in the office, obviously pending

(28:19):
if you have an illness or if you're sick, please
come to the office if you have COVID like symptoms.
But I definitely think even the tech community was one
of the first industries I think that really accommodated work
from home.

Speaker 1 (28:32):
Well, ais changing that drastically. What you hit on is right,
You're going to see, I believe, a three day work
week with people and they'll be paid because they're just
going to turn around and spend it, and corporate and
everybody else is going to make more money because they
don't have to deal with people. But I think we're
headed to a three day work week. I think they
got everybody conditioned.

Speaker 3 (28:50):
I was speaking to my friend Steve Roth from borne Ato,
father of Jordan Roth, our mutual friend Derek, and you know,
he's a major office developer, and he said to me, Skip,
we've basically lost Fridays and we're trying to save Mondays.
You know, everybody's you know, looking at that, which is obviously,
but then you have others like Jamie Diamond who told

(29:11):
his employees, you know, you can go out to restaurants,
you can go to the office. So you know, everything
is changing in that regard.

Speaker 2 (29:18):
What is what is ross policy for his own employees?
Do they have to be help this Fridays a week?

Speaker 3 (29:23):
I don't know the answer to that. But I'll tell
you this about Steve. I had this. You know, you're
growing up in Saint Louis. I grew up in Hertford.
Steve was already a big developer in New York. I
wanted to meet him in the worst way. I had
to go to every person I could get to to
find out, how can I meet this Steve rothrom Bornado
and through a mutual friend John Hansen in New Jersey.

(29:43):
It occurred in the late seventies. I actually came to
New York City and went to lunch with Steve and
we went to this restaurant, his restaurant of choice with
grown wi. I walked in. I never saw that many
flowers in a florist's shop. I mean, the restaurant was
so powerful. I love the the greatest, the greatest flowers
of all time in a restaurant. We went in and

(30:06):
we had lunch, and we got done and he said, okay,
let's go. I said, what about to check? He said check,
there's no check. I said, what what do you mean?
He said, I have a house account. I said to myself,
this is the coolest guy I've ever met. He had
a house account in a fancy restaurant. Who knew there
was such a thing.

Speaker 1 (30:26):
Oh, we all had them back then, skip, Yeah, everybody.
We sued to all go there, all those little banks.

Speaker 3 (30:31):
Well, and that was before, don't forget Paul, that was
before credit cards were really dating ourselves. But that was
even before credit cards. But Steve's always been one of
my heroes. I've always loved him, and he's just a
very special guy. And his wife Darrell. Of course, what
she's done on Broadway is remarkable. But yeah, Gronwi, that
was really quite the place. We didn't have restaurants that

(30:53):
looked like that in Hertford, Connecticut.

Speaker 1 (30:55):
Yeah, it was the place.

Speaker 2 (31:06):
Yeah, you in your real estate empire, do you make
people work five days a week or come into the office?
Excuse me five days a week?

Speaker 3 (31:13):
Well, right now I have a small a small office
in Beverly Hills. I don't have a lot of people
as I used to. I don't think you really have
a choice because if you want to get the right people,
if you will, you can set it up so that
they can work remotely mostly. I mean the.

Speaker 1 (31:30):
Truth is what are they doing?

Speaker 3 (31:32):
I mean, you know, people are making you know, making
setting up appointments, setting up zoom calls, you know, following
up with people, talking to you know, our producer Jordan.
They don't have to physically be sitting in the office.
They just have to have a phone. And speaking of Jordan,
before I forget Jordan lived. When you were talking about
your story about getting coming to New York to go
to school, Jordan lived in that dorm that you were

(31:54):
talking about.

Speaker 2 (31:54):
Aiden Hayden Hall.

Speaker 7 (31:56):
I actually I have a question for you. There is
a myth around Hayden Hall that somebody had a black
tie birthday party in the Hayden Hall cafeteria, and upon
researching you, I've come to the conclusion that that might
have been you. Is that true?

Speaker 2 (32:10):
It was me?

Speaker 3 (32:11):
Yes?

Speaker 2 (32:12):
Indeed, Duran, How old are you? I'm forty two? Are
we the same age?

Speaker 1 (32:15):
I'm thirty six, thirty six, I got ties older than you.

Speaker 2 (32:19):
Plumb it in.

Speaker 1 (32:21):
Too, I'm talking to a thirty six year old.

Speaker 7 (32:25):
But the myth, but the myth endured.

Speaker 2 (32:27):
We heard, we heard tale about that it was my
twenty first birthday and Hayden as normally hated. I think
it's been read named too. I'm really sure in my
age now was it still called Hayden when you were
in there it.

Speaker 7 (32:40):
Was still Hayden. I think it's called Lipton Hall. And
the lunch lady who was in there inspired Adam Sandler's
Lunch Lady song on SNL. Right, Sheeah, Sylvia.

Speaker 3 (32:50):
It's too funny.

Speaker 4 (32:50):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (32:51):
I actually, you know, I am happy that I moved
to Hayden, that I moved to New York for college,
and that it's such a safe, soft landing. When you
have a dorm, you have a you have security, a
place to come home to. We had a meal plan.
I admire people who go to college elsewhere and then
move to New York with nothing but hope and a
dream or what they got.

Speaker 7 (33:12):
Is it true that you'd written new York or bust
on the sheets of your childhood bedroom?

Speaker 2 (33:15):
Also true? Yes, I think my parents still have those sheets.
By the way, a couple hoarders in Missouri.

Speaker 1 (33:20):
To frame those What are you write on your sheets now?
What are on your sheets now?

Speaker 4 (33:25):
Derek?

Speaker 1 (33:25):
What do you write on them now? With your goals?

Speaker 2 (33:27):
That's actually a good no. But maybe there's something Maybe
I don't you'll you will be happy or maybe sad
to hear that my sheets are now incredibly expensive and
I don't take a sharpie to them to write out
my mantras and goals. But maybe there's something to be
said that we should. Maybe we should.

Speaker 7 (33:43):
That's manifestation.

Speaker 1 (33:44):
Yeah, So Derek, with all your style and everything that
you're into, what guy sheets you got? Frete? Tell me
who it is? I mean, come on, I.

Speaker 2 (33:53):
Agree, this is I bought the sheets this week?

Speaker 1 (33:57):
Would you buy. Yeah, I still they's still on Madison,
I said, get them all the time? Up are they
still there?

Speaker 2 (34:03):
Incredibly decadent. I don't want to be known as that
kind of person.

Speaker 1 (34:06):
Oh, come on, we know already. I love I love
that and I love.

Speaker 2 (34:10):
Uh Fredde is really nice. You got you got expensive taste, Paul.

Speaker 1 (34:14):
Hey, you know I got to spend as fast as
I can and know what my kids do.

Speaker 3 (34:21):
So how have you adjusted with you and Nick having
you know, your two kids?

Speaker 1 (34:25):
You know, Hay Father's Day by the way, thank you
so much.

Speaker 2 (34:28):
Every day's Father's Day with a gay couple. You know,
there's there's really.

Speaker 1 (34:33):
Someone switch tomorrow. I'm missing something, you know, I've I'm
curious that do everything in life I can? Well, congratulations.

Speaker 2 (34:41):
Anyway, I turned three years old and there they're three
years They're three years old in May.

Speaker 1 (34:46):
Oh, there you go.

Speaker 3 (34:47):
But is that a big adjustment for you to to
pivot to dad life if you will.

Speaker 2 (34:51):
I don't know how vulnerable your guests get in these podcasts,
and so forgive me if I'm getting to honest or transparent.
But you know, growing up as I did, and as
I mentioned in the middle of the country, there wasn't
a lot of gay gay role models. I have a
gay uncle, or if I did, he wasn't out. You know,

(35:13):
I didn't have a lot of gay people in my life.
I didn't. I definitely did not have any gay men
or women who were married and had children. And I
often joke the only gay people my parents knew were
Liberaci and Elton John. Liberacci wasn't even gay until.

Speaker 1 (35:29):
I'm way before their time.

Speaker 2 (35:32):
And I guess, I guess when I was in high school,
Will and Grace premiered, you know, so then suddenly there
was a moment when when I remember the L word
and queer as folks. So there were definitely pop culture
was at least lending and more sympathetic eye to that.
But I mentioned all this to say that when I
moved to New York and I made friends with older

(35:54):
gay people and I met gay parents, that sort of
opened up this whole world of parenthood to me. And
you know, I had twins. When they were born when
I was thirty nine years old, which is of course
not old, but it's not young either, And so I'm
just so profoundly grateful that I'm now living a life

(36:17):
that is much better for the lack of a better word,
than when I was growing up, I ever thought it
was possible.

Speaker 1 (36:22):
Well, you hit it at the right age, Derek, you
put some time. Oh totally, because it's overrated. Just get ready.
Your life's gonna change. But at that age, you know,
I've got five girls, I got one nineteen year old son,
and you know, if it all stays together cohesively, it
can be fantastic. There's nothing like that. Fall back to that.

Speaker 2 (36:44):
Well, I'd like to be more of your kid. I
only know, Demanda, if your kids are anything like that
one you've been.

Speaker 1 (36:50):
Oh yeah, they've got five of them. They're all good,
solid citizens. My son's very cool, and it kind of
cements you down when you get all the bullshit that
we all have to put up with in each industry,
you know, because we appeel the onion. There's a lot
of stuff that you've got to protect yourself from. But
your kids and that whole core of what that is,
you're going to have an amazing time. But look out,

(37:13):
when they hit their teens in this modern world that
we all fear, what it's going to introduce to them.
That's going to be the big change. The big change
is different.

Speaker 2 (37:21):
My friend, my friend. He's a new friend. I mean,
I'm very honored to call him a friend, But I
can't say I knew him before he wrote this book.
But Jonathan Hate wrote a book called The Anxious Generation
that really sort of rattled me. It's all about how
and you guys, k maybe we should maybe you should
have Jonathan on the show. I'll have to give you
his email after we wrap this thing up.

Speaker 3 (37:40):
Didn't he also write the book about you know All
but you know Ezampire? Et cetera, et cetera said him.

Speaker 2 (37:47):
He's an n YU professor, and what what his books
really focus on is how changing how the advent of
technology and social media has had a negative impact first
on adults with our anxiety, but then especially on children.

Speaker 1 (38:11):
Let me ask you just off of that, because I'm
really interested because you're right on this fashion thing and
I'm a nut for that and a few other things.
You know, of all the celebrities that you've interviewed, is
the one you want to interview that's really impressive?

Speaker 2 (38:24):
Oh?

Speaker 3 (38:24):
Like?

Speaker 2 (38:24):
Who?

Speaker 1 (38:25):
You tell me? You know so many? Is there one
whale out there that you are pressed by you'd.

Speaker 2 (38:32):
Like to That's a great, big question.

Speaker 1 (38:37):
I'm a great guy.

Speaker 2 (38:38):
You're a great guy.

Speaker 1 (38:39):
I'm loaded with all this stuff.

Speaker 3 (38:40):
Do you have a favorite Let's pivot off that and
say do you have a favorite designer?

Speaker 2 (38:45):
That's like asking to pick my favorite kid. Skip. You know,
got those kind of questions get me in trouble. I
will say that one of the people that I'm most
excited about in the style space as far as like
celebrities are public facing people, is concerned. And I've actually
interviewed her before, and we've done some videos a long
time ago, But who has been on a rocket ship
since I seen her? Last was India and Zen. I

(39:08):
think what Zendia has done in the style space has
been incredible. The last time I worked with her she
did a collection for Tommy hillfigure and I think maybe
that's like twenty nineteen. It was de pre Covid. And
in that five years, she had that show Euphoria, She
had that movie Challengers directed by Lua Guadadino, She hosted
the Medcala. She just announced a partnership with All Running

(39:30):
and where she has She said publicly that she signed
this partnership because it aligned with a lot of her
ideas around sustainability and a circular economy. She to me
is this sort of like style star that we need
right now. So her maybe would be my fantasy interview.

Speaker 3 (39:49):
Saw her and Challenger. She was really good in that.
It was a fun movie.

Speaker 2 (39:52):
I think she helped produce that. You know, she's she's
one of these new multi hyphen it things.

Speaker 1 (39:58):
Hey, Garrick, you know all travels on the rise again.
Everybody's running everywhere where today. Do you think is the
most stylish city? What's changed because you go as I
you know, we travel every What do you think is
the most stylish city? Because people are really interested, they call,
you know, give me tips, blah blah blah blah blah.
Where is it?

Speaker 2 (40:18):
That's a good question, and and you're probably going to
think my answer is super generic. But I still love
going to Paris. I'm going to later this month. As
you know, the Olympics are in Paris this year. That's
fucked up the fashion week schedules. But in the summer
there is when the tour, the tour shows happen, and
you know that it's it's the sun's out till late

(40:40):
in the night. Everyone's dressed up to the nines. You're
in Paris, it's still Paris. So the first thing that
came to mind when you said the most stylish city
probably probably it is still Paris.

Speaker 1 (40:53):
And where's London. Where's London fitting.

Speaker 2 (40:55):
Well, then that's probably the greatest street style. I had
a theory for a long time that the weather there
is so shitty that everyone and dresses up to amuse
themselves or else they go crazy. Grace is equal colorful personalities.
I love going to Tokyo.

Speaker 1 (41:07):
Oh I'm with you and I just got back from there.
It's the best.

Speaker 2 (41:10):
The next time I want to go with you. I
haven't been. I haven't been on that side of I
haven't been that side of the world since, you know,
pre COVID, so it's been at least half a decade.
But Tokyo. What's also incredible about Tokyo specifically is that
the first time I flew to Tokyo, I went for
Japan Fashion Week and I was delirious. I got off
the airplane and there was a hole in my bag

(41:30):
and my travel wallet, which had my passport, every credit card,
all my foreign currencies. I didn't realize this until I
got to the hotel, falling out of my bag. So
I panicked and I freaked out. I went right back
to the airport, expecting like maybe someone who turned in
my passport, you know, like, but for sure all my
money and everything's and at the Lost and Found at

(41:52):
the airport was my full wallet with every single thing
in it, including the cash.

Speaker 1 (41:56):
And they'll chase you to the airport. Was a key
if you table of their keys. Oh really, you don't
turn a key in, they will follow you the you
I've been going for sixty years. They were I don't
even use keys anymore. When I was first there, there
were bombs in the ground. And I've watched the evolution

(42:16):
of that country and they're so consistent in everything and
their fashion. They've got their owns and I was just there,
you know, within the last year. They're just unbelievable. Their
sense of fashion, their sense of consistency, the food, the hotels,
the service, the way they take care of their people.
I just love it down there. And then you go

(42:37):
to Kyoto and you can shop your brains out with stuff.
But it's a great country.

Speaker 2 (42:41):
It's a great I hope this podcast gets a sponsorship
in the Japanese Tourism Board. We're given so many free
plugs over here.

Speaker 1 (42:49):
Yeah, we got sponsorships everybody we drop. We got a
sponsorship only for a day though we only lasted day
in these country.

Speaker 3 (42:56):
And not not far from there where you were in
that part of the world. In China. You know, you
go to Shen's End and that's the capital of counterfeit.
That's where they make like all these bags, Derek that
you see on the street, you know, with the guys
selling these bags. You go to Shen's End and there's
one building in the center of the town. And Shen's
End is a new city. It didn't exist twenty five

(43:19):
years ago. So you think of like a major American
city where every building is new. There are no old
buildings because you know the city didn't exist. But you
go to where they make or where they sell all
the counterfeit merchandise. I mean, I bought a fake Rolex
watch just to have just for travel, right, like, I

(43:39):
wouldn't care if I lost its one hundred dollars. I
came back and I brought it to my watch guy
in Beverly Hills and didn't tell him it was counterfeit,
and I handed to him. I said, I don't know
why I'm just having trouble with this thing, and I
handed it to him. He had it in his hands
for literally thirty seconds, which is a long time, before

(44:01):
he said to me, wait a second, I think this
is fake. But it took them half a minute rather
than just picking it up and immediately going wait a second,
what is this. So the way they run the counterfeits,
this is fascinating. If you want, let's say, a you know,
an air mez bag, they bring the bags out, they
have them all there, they show them to you to say,

(44:22):
where are the better ones? Oh, the better ones. Some
guy runs up a ladder and comes down with the
more expensive ones. I would defy you if you took
one of these bags and.

Speaker 2 (44:34):
Put it next to that. Sounds like a challenge, I'm
telling you.

Speaker 3 (44:38):
And you're in this business, it's almost impossible to tell
the fake from the real one. It's just it's just
mind boggling.

Speaker 1 (44:46):
But you know what I've found skip on my current
trip with my buddies over there, that I've known for years.
The French government now have an agreement with China just
shutting all that stuff.

Speaker 2 (44:55):
Down to safeguarden against fakes.

Speaker 1 (44:58):
You can't there certain store as you cannot go in.
They don't want any more fakes. There is an agreement
going down between the French and the Chinese. So you
better rush over there with your ladder skip you and
need he run get up there reading this. They're closing.
But that's it. After all these years because they were
faking our records. Everything was a fake. I was buying

(45:19):
all that fake stuff, you know, for years. But right now,
for whatever's gone down, the French have kind of hit
the table hard and they're shutting all that stuff down.
Because I tried to look for places in Hong Kong
and they said, no, no, they're not open anymore. They're
not selling that stuff anymore. But you can go to Korea.
Korea's got a ton of.

Speaker 3 (45:37):
That stuff, you know, Paul. You know another great thing
about this guy is he's he just touches so many
different bases. Like somebody told me you have a sculpture
of your dog made out of legos? I mean, how
do you do that? How do you get something like
that done? You can look at it. There's the oh
my god, I got like, just tell us Walker's true.

(46:00):
How would that happen? How would that happen that you
would have that.

Speaker 2 (46:03):
There's another one is it's very high low. You know.
This is Legos that my friend's kids made me, some overachieving,
brilliant New York kids. And then this one over here
is Pradu. I did a bunch of robot dogs and
they had a docs and I was my Docsun actually

(46:26):
sadly passed away recently. He was nineteen years old, oh nineteen.

Speaker 3 (46:32):
Which you didn't clone. You didn't clone him like Barry
Diller with.

Speaker 2 (46:35):
His dog Barbara Streisand there's bar Beverly Hills network of
clone dogs. But I did not him. I've met Barry's
dogs and I don't. I think there's a flaw and design.
But nineteen years was a long you know, it's a
long time.

Speaker 1 (46:51):
You know, I was a long time in dog life.

Speaker 2 (46:53):
But now now I have all these fucking dogs around
my apartment of tributes, so I have to get another doctor.
I guess one that looks like the old one.

Speaker 3 (47:03):
That's amazing. So you know, if you're helping a man
put together a wardrobe, like what are the like four
or five essential things you think a man should have
in his wardrobe?

Speaker 1 (47:14):
T shirt, a T shirt and a T shirt, then
another T shirt, and.

Speaker 2 (47:18):
You can never go wrong with the navy blue suit.

Speaker 1 (47:20):
That's right, basic.

Speaker 8 (47:21):
Yeah, And what's fascinate about navy blue suit is that
you know, whatever you see a politician outside of like
it's so jarring, Like a navy blue suit is so
classic and one in doubt.

Speaker 2 (47:35):
And I say this for me too, by the way,
when in doubt, I always just put on a navy
blue suit. My other advice to to fellas is that
no one is off the rack. Like even if you
can find someone to tailor things just a little bit,
you can make a eighty dollars suit, like an eight
thousand dollars suit, but one in doubt navy blue suit.

Speaker 1 (47:57):
Yeah, you're right, lots of blue and I need tailored suits.
You can't fit this body like you know what you know,
I've been going since nineteen sixty two. I don't know
if you're aware of them. Do you know Chiffinelli in Paris?

Speaker 2 (48:09):
No shut out.

Speaker 1 (48:11):
Oh I'm giving you it's the best tailor in the world,
chiffanell I started with the parents, then it went down
to the kids. It's it's like Charve, Charve, I go
to you go to Chevy.

Speaker 2 (48:22):
I write this Charve I know in the plastidven Dome
over there.

Speaker 1 (48:24):
Yeah, right across from the Ritz. But I go to
You should write down Chiffinelli, the finest tailors. They want
place in Rome and they got a place in Paris
and they make the finest, finest suits other than fear
of Anty, who I used to go to New York?
Did you know Feat?

Speaker 2 (48:39):
I just wrote it down. I never heard of it.

Speaker 1 (48:41):
Well fair Anty shut down. He passed. Great guy and
Schiffinelli are just the best tailors in the world. They're
the only ones that make my suits.

Speaker 2 (48:51):
I thought you'd like some of those. You know, there's
a really great a lot of great tailors in Hong
Kong if you're traveling day.

Speaker 1 (48:56):
Yes, you're right. I go to ascot Chan Chan when
I want to get nuts and I want like six suits,
I'll go there and get them made for twenty five
hundred bucks and they look they look as good.

Speaker 2 (49:08):
But bring it. You can bring your product suit and
they they will replicate. I won't say knock at all
out of respect for find folks of products, but can
be inpot.

Speaker 3 (49:19):
So the opposite end of that high fashion spectrum. I'm
a golfer and golfers clothing is really beyond pedestrian, but
it's really sort of classless.

Speaker 1 (49:31):
Are you going to waste the time of this brilliant
young man? This is golf clothes, now, are you crazy?

Speaker 3 (49:36):
This is this is going to make it. I'm going
to make his day.

Speaker 1 (49:39):
Those people don't know how to dress, I'm gonna make it.
I want to hear Derek's take on golf clothes. You
got you got forty five seconds.

Speaker 2 (49:47):
But none a note right skip exactly.

Speaker 3 (49:51):
So back in the day, right, golf clothing was like
bowling clothing. I mean, it's just the worst still is
Oh no, hold on? So Massimo jian Uli came along
and he created muscles of the famous college right exactly.
But he created a line called G four the letter
G and then a slash and fri fashion forward golf clothing.

(50:15):
Andrew red Valney has a line right now that I'm
telling you is terrific. It's just I know, for the
two of you, this is an athema of the two
of you. But for golfers that always had the worst
clothing in the world. Some guys now some are into
G four Red Valley, Uh, some of these better lines

(50:36):
of clothing, and it just feeds back into the point
with you, as a guy that knows style and and
sort of has a hand in creating style. I'm just
wondering what are their news. Is there any of the
other new area, if you will, where clothing is headed.
That's not just the old you know, old meat for golf.

Speaker 1 (50:57):
You're talking about golf. Those guys in the dark.

Speaker 3 (51:00):
Now I'm talking.

Speaker 1 (51:00):
I'm talking about put shit together.

Speaker 3 (51:03):
I'm talking about other than golf.

Speaker 2 (51:05):
Nichael, other than Nike, did a good job of I think,
ushering in a new era that find sportswear and ath leisure.
And obviously the first big golf star I believe they
signed was Tiger Woods. This was, you know, a different
era in Tiger's career, and there's definitely been a lot
a better, better style offering to the golf community. Skips,

(51:28):
I'm happy to hear you're paying attention and doing what
you can and make golf a better dress sport. The
one that needs help, of course, is figure skating. So
if you can call your figure skating friends and see
if they can.

Speaker 3 (51:41):
I have so many figure skating friends, I'm not sure
which to call first.

Speaker 2 (51:44):
What's fascinating though, if you want to make it about
sports is that these tunnel walks that happen at the
NBA games and now the Women's NBA game, Kaitlin Clark
has been wearing a lot of Prada, and you see
like on the search, like when with with Google Search Analytics,
when Caitlin Clark wore a Prada white logo tank top,

(52:04):
searches for that skyrocket at I think eleven. So there's definitely, well, golf,
I definitely don't think it's the best dressed port, despite
your best efforts a skip. There's definitely a relationship between
between sports and fashion, and if I am a fashion brand,
I'm really trying to get some of these you know, Kuzma,

(52:26):
these these huge basketball players too and something you know,
they're so fucking tall. A lot of those outfits that
those guys wear are all custom made. There's definitely a
much more robust conversation between basketball players and the fashion space.
And we'll see what happens.

Speaker 1 (52:44):
With the hockey players too. Derek hockey players hockey, and
they really dress those guys. You see them before and
after they're right up there.

Speaker 2 (52:53):
I mean those guys also need a haircut and some
new teeth when they come.

Speaker 1 (52:56):
Up well, you could retire in a year being a
dentist in the NHL. We know. But those guys, you know,
I've been in one of those locker rooms as part
of it for years. But they they love their fashion. Man,
they come to work with shirt styes and the right
cut in this is the short jacket. The way to
go now for man, the shorter jacket. I see so
much of that is that what's in.

Speaker 2 (53:16):
The if you're I mean, there was a moment when
these very crop tailored fit jackets, like when Tom Brown,
I don't know if you're familiar with that lad, but
he sort of drastically reduced fit and legs became shorter
and jackets became more cropped. But in the wake of
this quiet luxury stuff right now, it's about a bag
year looser fit hang off a little bit more than

(53:38):
they used to look at.

Speaker 1 (53:40):
ARMANI general.

Speaker 2 (53:45):
Was from you know, I actually just got a double
breasted peeklepel and navy blue soup from Georgia. Armani. That
was summer. I got, you know, a bunch of weddings
this summer. So hope I don't see you at the
same wedding twice because I'll be wearing that same pete
lapeled navy blue double breath Georgi Romani suit the other
thing and sports. Travis Kelchi is the you know, the

(54:08):
Taylor Swift's boyfriend. There's been a lot of pieces about
his influence on the conversation between footballers and everybody wants
to get into fashion skip even your golf buddies by
the sound of it.

Speaker 3 (54:20):
But by the way, what you're talking about is interesting
because you look at the basketball players. Used to wear sweats.
Now they get dressed up and before they walk in
if they have a shot of them, Lebron was wearing
Tom Brown with the stripes on the sleepy and all
of a sudden, all of a sudden, you turn around,
people are wearing Tom Brown. They weren't even familiar with it.
Because you know all these celebrities and athletes. The truth

(54:44):
is they do have such an impact on the world
of fashion, right. I mean, people are followers and they
see what their favorite you know, actor or athlete is wearing,
don't you, But how would you say your personal style
has evolved over the years.

Speaker 2 (55:02):
There was a good story and sentence door in fact
checks on podcasts. I'm happy to tell it and you
can tell me if it's true or false. Was that
when Nike first signed with Michael Jordan, they still had
a no black tennis shoe rule and there was a fine,
and so instead of and he wanted to wear black
Nike's the originally Air Force ones. So Nike just agreed

(55:22):
to pay the fine.

Speaker 3 (55:22):
Every game that was in the movie. Actually, Paul's son
in law Jason Bateman.

Speaker 2 (55:27):
Tell Jason, I didn't watch air.

Speaker 3 (55:30):
That's the movie.

Speaker 1 (55:32):
His his black shoe. Que said that his black shoe
in the game that he had a severe virus flu
and he played. Somebody bought those shoes for a million two.
Really see look million two black shoes.

Speaker 2 (55:49):
Well they should be read to be worth that much
or something. Paul a little bit of color.

Speaker 1 (55:53):
And I don't know, man, these collectors today, Derek, I mean,
you gotta be saving stuff. I mean, this collectible world
is off the charts. I don't know who these people are.
Who's got ten million dollars for a card for some
baseball player that didn't chew gum? Did you ever follow
these collectors? They're buying everything.

Speaker 2 (56:13):
There was a good article in The New York Or
a couple of weeks ago on the on Julian of
Julian's auctions. And he's the one that really I think
he was in that sold Merily Monroe's Happy Birthday dress
to Ripley's Believe it or not, you know, which they
say is now worth five million bucks. And there's definitely
a market for celebrity collectibles. Paul, don't throw anything away.

(56:35):
My mom is gonna.

Speaker 1 (56:36):
I went through my house a few weeks ago, you know,
because I'm at eighty three. I got stuff in my attic.
I got it in storage places. I got so much
stuff I won't I won't part with. I got a
comic book collection. I was looking at it last night.
I got like six drawers full of old comic books.
We got a doubt the mind.

Speaker 2 (56:56):
That could be you've got any good first appearances in there?
That could be. Don't throw anything away, Paul, let me come.

Speaker 1 (57:02):
I don't throw anything away. I don't even throw a
toilet paperway. I don't throw anything.

Speaker 2 (57:05):
Away that you can throw away.

Speaker 3 (57:07):
Please, So before we let you go, one of the things, well.

Speaker 1 (57:12):
We let him go. I love this guy. Do mean
let him go? You run into a hot chick or whatever.
You keep him for as long as you can. You're
gonna let him go? How do you know he wants
to go? He's listen, it's the middle of his afternoon.
He doesn't dress for dinner for two hours. I love
this man. I'm not letting him go. Skip you go, skip,
go get a new golf outfit.

Speaker 2 (57:32):
Exactly, we can pick out your outfit. I'm seeing a
Slean Beyond documentary tonight. Have you guys heard about this on?

Speaker 3 (57:39):
Yes?

Speaker 1 (57:40):
Yes, yes, I've heard of it. She's an old friend.
I think she's been through hell.

Speaker 3 (57:44):
Recently, and I think, what does she have that stiff something?

Speaker 1 (57:49):
Yeah, she's a great lady. Her and her husband we're
dear friends, and of course we lost him. But she's
an amazing artist and a good human being.

Speaker 2 (57:58):
I'm a fan. I'm a fan of actually, you know.
I think, like a lot of her fans, very sad
that this illness has prevented her. She doesn't know if
she's ever going to perform live a guy I saw
in Vegas three times. Like a real fan, I think she.

Speaker 1 (58:12):
I think she's going to come back, Derek, Oh, I hope.

Speaker 4 (58:14):
So.

Speaker 1 (58:15):
I just see and sense what's going on there. I
think that somehow they've helped her get to a place
where she's going to be confident to go on Stagey.

Speaker 2 (58:23):
I hope, so, I really hope. So anyway, so I know,
so here we go.

Speaker 3 (58:29):
I won't give you the last one. I'll give you
the next to the last, and that is that our
producer Jordan again, he's into fragrance and he had a
question that he wanted to ask you. So, Jordan, have
at it.

Speaker 7 (58:39):
Yes, I'm a newbie to that world.

Speaker 2 (58:41):
I was.

Speaker 7 (58:41):
I was writing an article on Quincy Jones, and during
my research, so many people talked about how good he smelled,
and I just thought that was hilarious. Considering how accomplished
Quincy Jones was, one of the second or third things
people would mention about him was how good he smelled.
And that sort of set me down a rabbit hole
of niche fragrances. And I was just wondering as sort
of a new person to that world and getting overwhelmed

(59:02):
with you know, Creed and Aqua Parma and all these
these great vintage brands. What are some great classic men's
colognes that, like you, kind of came come wrong with?

Speaker 2 (59:13):
Do you know what I started wearing, which is probably
I should be talking therapist about and not you guys.
I started wearing c K one, which that I wore
in college. Oh my god, high school. Maybe I'm nostalgic
and wistful for my older days. I'm actually I'm cutting
and pasting into the chat here, Jordan, there's a great
article that was in the New York Times last week

(59:33):
about how teen boys are now more into fragrance than
they are fashioned. H I'll spend hundreds of on a
new cologne more than they will like a video game.

Speaker 1 (59:46):
Okay, so you got Creed air mess savage.

Speaker 2 (59:49):
I think Caring just bought Creed for like a billion dollars.
I used to wear the fragrance. I used to wear
a lot. There's a blue by Chanelle. I feel very
under eclipped it. I should talk to a teenage boy.
We have no more than me.

Speaker 4 (01:00:07):
I have one.

Speaker 3 (01:00:08):
I have one, Paul. When we were kids, remember canoe?

Speaker 1 (01:00:11):
Oh god, that's all I wore. You know what turned
me on the Creed was Carrie Grant? Really carry Grant wore.
He was the most stylish guy. Him and Dean Martin
A taught me always have a tan. Hello, folks, I
never wore makeup. And he wore Creed. And then he
introduced me to a shirt maker back in the sixties

(01:00:34):
called Si, the shirt maker on fifty seventh Street, because
I used to love his callers and I loved them
high in the back. And he took me up to
say the shirt maker who was Bananas, who was the
sweetest guy, because he never stopped reconstructing his shop, so
if he walked in on June and then went back
in September, he had another door. But he made the

(01:00:55):
greatest shirt collar ever. And Carrie introduced me to Si
and heuded to do me to Creed. Those are the
two things. And have a tan.

Speaker 2 (01:01:04):
Oh, well, you've got the ready to go.

Speaker 3 (01:01:06):
Green Irish tweet.

Speaker 7 (01:01:07):
That's what parallel Cary grant Or and Quincy Jones.

Speaker 1 (01:01:09):
That's what got me starting Quincy, Dear Quincy.

Speaker 2 (01:01:12):
What a trait for me to be in the same
conversation as Carry Grant I'll take well, you know.

Speaker 4 (01:01:21):
What you're worthy.

Speaker 2 (01:01:21):
I'll take it.

Speaker 1 (01:01:23):
You are absolutely worthy, my boy.

Speaker 3 (01:01:25):
So I was going to tell you we had Harvey
Levin of TMZ, a friend of balls, on our podcast
last week, and he'll.

Speaker 2 (01:01:34):
Be a friend of everyone. There's probably a couple people
who wouldn't say they're friends with the proprietor of TMZ.
But sorry, go ahead, there.

Speaker 3 (01:01:42):
There you go. We talk about his schedule. So he
gets up at three o'clock in the morning, let's start
with that, goes and works out. And I'm sure you
don't do that. But what's your typical schedule, Like, what's
the day like for you?

Speaker 2 (01:01:55):
We as kids now, so that's gonna be in fact,
And I used to get everything done in the middle
of the night when everyone was asleep. I still do
the majority of my work between ten and eleven and
one and two, which isn't great. Kids make up at six,
but that's when you, uh, that's when, that's when that's quiet.
That's when your phone's not ringing.

Speaker 1 (01:02:16):
See that Skippy skips always teasing me. Excuse me, Derek,
because I'm up till three. That's when I get all
my creative stuff done. Nobody understands how wonderful it is
to create late. Nothing's bothering you. But go ahead, Derek,
So you're up late.

Speaker 2 (01:02:31):
And then it's me, you and Prince Paul. That's what
we were.

Speaker 1 (01:02:36):
Prince God bless him, what a talented dute he was.

Speaker 2 (01:02:39):
And also, and I'm going to tell you something. So
there's a woman called Anncheske who started a company called
twenty three and me and I once told her that
desinde my best efforts to become a morning person. I'm
a night owl. And she says that she has identified
in our genetic makeup that some people are predisposed to
being more creative in the evening. You know, you meet
some people and they say, oh, I'm a morning person.

(01:03:02):
I wake up at five, no matter what sounds like
that TMZ guy is that sort of person, that's you,
that's you. Skip, I'm not that type of person. I wish.
And there were a long time when you hear about
a profile of an A Winter or Bob Iger or
are Emanuel, these people who are like I'm on at five.
And I used to feel like I would never be

(01:03:23):
as successful as some of these folks because I can't
do it. But I've been unburdened with the notion that
being a night owl can be just as rewarded. And
like Paul, like a prince, like Barack Obama, there's a
lot of night owls.

Speaker 1 (01:03:39):
So Derek, they have to get up. There's a difference.
You get to a certain place. Those people like Skip
and everyone you make, they have to get up to
talk to new We don't have to get up. Will
you become really successful and one day I will go
and say, fuck it, I got money independence. I'm not
getting up at eight and nine. It ain't gonna happen.

Speaker 4 (01:04:02):
Didn't. That's for me.

Speaker 1 (01:04:08):
Those kids, those kids are gonna well, they've already changed
your life. You've got to be up with them.

Speaker 3 (01:04:13):
Yeah, I think so.

Speaker 2 (01:04:14):
I'm just tired of that.

Speaker 3 (01:04:17):
Well, listen, this has been great. Yeah, be sure you
tell Nick guy. I said, all out of love that guy.
He's so good.

Speaker 2 (01:04:23):
I will He's my much better had one. And I'm
gonna tell Amanda that I hung out with her dad today.
So I'm so happy that you that you guys invited
me to join.

Speaker 1 (01:04:34):
She knows I took her to dinner the other night.
She brought Jen along, you know, her buddy, her partner. Yeah,
and I said, I'm real excited. Guess what I got
coming on? Because I was doing my homework on you
and she just went off. So I was all prepared
for it.

Speaker 3 (01:04:48):
You know.

Speaker 1 (01:04:49):
You know what, man, you're one of a kind, and
you're you're making your own path and that's cool and
just stay with it. And a lot of good luck
with your family, you know.

Speaker 2 (01:04:58):
I you gotta say Hi Karl Blastberg, Hi Bill Blastberg,
if you ever see him?

Speaker 1 (01:05:05):
Well, when I go to Saint Louis, I think I might.
I think I'll dodge when there's a Luland crime, I'll
make a trip to Saint Louis. I got my feelers up.
Help bring him to the concert. I'll even send them
an armed vehicle. Give my love to the I will Derek,
I've loved it man, and I'll see you in New
York seriously.

Speaker 2 (01:05:24):
Perfect or I'll find you guys in La Skip today,
Nice to see you guys.

Speaker 1 (01:05:36):
Our Away with Paul Anka and Skip Bronson is a
production of iHeartRadio.

Speaker 3 (01:05:41):
The show's executive producer is Jordan Runtog, with supervising producer
and editor Marcy Depina.

Speaker 1 (01:05:48):
It was engineered by Todd carlm and Graham Gibson, mixed
and mastered by the wonderful Mary Dude.

Speaker 3 (01:05:56):
If you like what you heard, please subscribe and leave
us a review.

Speaker 1 (01:06:00):
For more podcasts on iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
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