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"FacebookPinterestLouis W Portrait-600.jpg\n\nWhen a designer's got a good gig at a brand but wants to try something on his own terms, the result is more often than not a parting of ways. It's a true statement but most fashion designers aren't in the position of Louis Wong and most brands aren't A.P.C. Founded by the one and only Jean Touitou, the purveyor of Parisian cool and cult denim counts Wong as co-designer with Touitou himself and and A.P.C. art director Judith Touitou. So when interest in a side project arose, it was Jean's idea to offer Wong one within the A.P.C. fold. To quote the president and creative director, \"when you have a nice house, it is only natural to give someone a room within it.\"\n\nThe outcome is Louis W. for A.P.C., a lineup of outerwear built on the foundation of that equally elegant and rebellious icon of menswear--the leather jacket. Inspired by the styles he saw in '70s French cinema, Wong's initial collection is comprised of three silhouettes, an aviator, a bomber, and a motorcycle jacket, each rendered in deerskin or exclusive wool fabrications and finished with the kinds of trimmings you'd expect from someone so captivated by the originals: quilted linings, decorative ribbing, and Talon brand zippers. The capsule is hitting stores at this very moment so we caught up with the designer to discuss how the line came to be in the first place, hunting for the perfect zipper, and why Wong has no problem picking favorites when it comes to his designs.\n\n \u00B7\u00B7\u00B7\n\nGQ: How did you start to discuss this line with Jean at A.P.C. in the first place?\n\n Louis Wong: I've been at A.P.C. for eight years so at some point you end up having a really close relationship. It's a small team and I think Jean had enough trust in me. He already offered me something like that a few years ago, about maybe launching a side project, but A.P.C. is such a big project already and I didn't want to do something just for the sake of it. So I just had this idea in mind to focus on one specific item.\n\nAt first I thought I would really like to do knitwear but that's already such a big part of A.P.C. and I wanted to focus on something different from the A.P.C. range. Jean started in leather actually, his father was in the leather business, and so he was really keen on the idea.\n\nGQ: When did the collection go from being something you were discussing to a reality?\n\n Wong: Just before last summer I had a discussion with Jean and basically before that point I didn't really have an idea of what I wanted to do. But the imagery was already in my head of French movies.\n\nThe Louis W. Fall/Winter 2012 Collection\n\nFacebookPinterest\n\nFacebookPinterest\n\nFacebookPinterest\n\nFacebookPinterest\n\nFacebookPinterest\n\nFacebookPinterest\n\nGQ: Did the imagery from French cinema inform the bomber silhouette? Or did that come from a style you've had or like to wear?\n\n Wong: Actually I have a few vintage leather jackets in my closet but mostly it's because in fashion I've always been obsessed with French movies and you know, like G\u00C3\u00A9rard Depardieu. In French cinema these guys are always really well dressed but still a bit casual. They look a bit rough, which was something important because with A.P.C. it's always about a clean outfit, a casual outfit. It doesn't refer so much to masculinity as it does a cool outfit. But in my personal taste I like that there is a certain attitude, something a bit masculine. That's why I like this kind of reference.\n\nGQ: When you were designing Louis W., did you try to keep the A.P.C. guy in mind? Did you think of it as an extension or were you trying to keep your line deliberately separate?\n\n Wong: It had to be different but I knew it would end up being seen together. It couldn't be like some fantasy outfit, it had to be grounded. In the end it could be part of A.P.C. but it has a different vision.\n\nGQ: The clothes at A.P.C. are deceptively simple at times as it's almost harder to design something basic and restrained. What was the most challenging aspect about working on your line?\n\n Wong: Because the bomber shapes are really simple, the choice of leather was really important. For instance it's glove leather, a really specific type. I knew I won't see another jacket with the same kind. And also it's all the small details that refer to the old vintage leather pieces like the right pattern on the rib, the thick American zipper by Talon that is really complicated to find...\n\nGQ: Was sourcing details like that hard?\n\n Wong: The sourcing was really, really tough but I knew it existed because I saw the zippers in Japan. I saw new garments with them and I became obsessed. I was like \"we have to find it.\" That was the most important. I think that is the detail that tells you it is a proper leather jacket.\n\nGQ: Did you base the patterns for the jacket on a vintage pattern or start with a completely new one?\n\n Wong: We actually started on A.P.C. shapes, really basic ones. And then I added some details that are really proper, like diamond quilting inside, that are really specific to old aviator jackets.\n\nGQ: Do you have a favorite style from the first offering? I'm sure it's hard - like picking your favorite child.\n\n Wong: It's actually really easy [laughs]. I picture a different person in each one of the jackets but the most basic one is my favorite. The simple black leather one.\n\nGQ: Is your vision that guys get the jackets and just wear the hell out of them to develop a patina like those vintage styles?\n\n Wong: Yes, but I also like the idea of a dressed up guy in leather. Like with a nice suit trouser. The good thing about leather is it really doesn't depend on the day or time of day - you always look posh in it.\n\nFacebookPinterest\n\nFacebookPinterest\n\nFacebookPinterest\n\nFacebookPinterest\n\nFacebookPinterest\n\nFacebookPinterest\n\nGQ: Has it been easy balancing working on this side project and your day-to-day duties at A.P.C.?\n\n Wong: It's actually the opposite, somehow. The line is really tiny, the first one was six pieces the second one is eight. I work with really few pieces so the whole process of what it was going to look like, how it should look, what the story was behind it - that's the longest process. The longest process is to think what type of guy, the imagery - stuff like that.\n\nGQ: Are there any lessons you've learned from your time at A.P.C. that you really used in developing your line?\n\n Wong: I think the most important one is to remember that you are dressing someone, a real person. That's what I really learned at A.P.C. Because obviously it's a commercial brand and the fact that we work in this neighborhood in Paris and the store in practically in front of the office so it gives a different vision of fashion than just a fashion show. You know people are going to go and wear and you're going to see them wear it. You really think differently when you figure that out. Also with leather, it's a more expensive pieces so you want to be sure who you are talking to.\n\nGQ: Looking forward to the Spring 2013 Louis W. collection, how did you expand the line while retaining the same spirit?\n\n Wong: The first one was really defining what is the leather jacket, so I wanted a black motorcycle jacket, a black bomber jacket with just the basics and this time its all about the different ideas we have of leather jackets. That's why I worked with the American theme because it's really easy. In the American movie universe there's lots of different types leather pieces. Just all those typical leather jackets that you like but can never really find the exact way you want them to be. So that's what I was trying to do this time.\n\nGQ: Do you have hopes of Louis W. expanding into more categories or are you happy focusing on this outerwear for right now?\n\n Wong: There are a pair of pants for next season, because it was put together as a suit with a jacket. A full outfit. I think it will always be focused on the leather pieces. My only thought is to think of some pieces more for women and actually that's the case in the second line; I imagined one jacket more easily on a woman than a man in general but I did it first for the man. To do the same pieces but find the right one to fit women - that's what's interesting to me.\n\nGQ: This is looking ahead, considering the first collection is just hitting stores, but have you thought about what you're going to do for next fall yet?\n\n Wong: Yeah, yeah, I know what I want to do. I just want to do less iconic and more new type of pieces. I want to go into different territories.\n\nGQ: Is there a leather jacket that you have that's your favorite? From your own line or one you've had for a long time?\n\n Wong: Actually I only own vintage leather jackets. But I'm going to get one of my own at some point."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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