Since launching their his-n-hers line of classics-with-a-twist in 2004, Rag & Bone duo David Neville and Marcus Wainwright have been responsible for some of fashion’s hottest trends, worn by some of the world’s hottest celebs.
It girls from London to Los Angeles rocked R&B’s slinky leather leggings last fall, Angelina Jolie’s stepped out in an R&B trench, and Kate Bosworth and Sienna Miller both turned up in paparazzi pics wearing the duo’s borrowed from the boys schoolboy blazers and safari jackets with sexy skinny jeans (well-cut, handcrafted denim being the backbone of the Rag & Bone oeuvre).
Rag & Bone jeans were originally manufactured in Kentucky, in fact, before the factory closed, and the line, though decidedly English inspired, is still made entirely in the US of A in factories that have been in business for generations.
The Fashion Informer caught up with the British-born, New York-based 2007 Swarvoski Menswear Award winners - who are entirely self-taught - just before the July 4th weekend to get the lowdown on their must-have grooming products, favorite summer activity and how the lanky lads spend their family time (Neville is married to Revlon makeup artist Gucci Westman and Wainwright’s better half is model Glenna Neece; both couples have young sons, born just a week apart).
So, David and Marcus...
What did you have for breakfast this morning?
DAVID: Coffee and a croissant at home while young Dashel threw food around our living room.
MARCUS: Tea, half my son’s French Toast and a bagel with cream cheese.
What's your favorite holiday?
DAVID: Barbados at Christmas time, when you really feel like you have deserved a rest, and it is cold and wintery at home.
MARCUS: Anywhere on the beach, preferably in the Caribbean - because I can lie on the beach, drink beer in the morning, swim whenever I want and at last get a chance to read.
Tell me about your best friend.
DAVID: I miss my friends in London a great deal, but moving to New York has been the best thing I did.
MARCUS: I married her - my wife, Glenna Neece.
What's the one grooming product you cannot live without?
DAVID: La Mer Lip Balm!
MARCUS: Nail clippers!
Favorite summer time activity?
DAVID: Bat & Ball on the beach.
MARCUS: Barbecuing.
What was your nickname as a kid, and what's your nickname now?
DAVID: Nev.
MARCUS: Parks (Marcus Parkus Pudding and Pie...don’t ask). Managed to shake that now. Old school friends call me Wainers.
What's the best thing about being a Dad?
DAVID: Seeing this little guy develop and figure stuff out. He is only just one, but already so much has happened.
MARCUS: Waking up at 6 in the morning, closely followed by hearing him laugh.
Do you believe in love at first sight?
DAVID: No.
MARCUS: No.
What will be the title of your autobiography?
DAVID: “Positive Vibration.”
MARCUS: I’m not sure there will e an autobiography. “Making Something From Nothing, Doing What I Loved,” maybe?
What's in current rotation on your iPod?
DAVID: Mine is currently broken.
MARCUS: Radiohead, Joy Division, Black Angels.
For what will you be arrested (hypothetically speaking)?
DAVID: I am a responsible dad and husband now, those times are behind me.
MARCUS: That’s a good question. Hopefully, something suitably reprehensible but worth getting arrested for!
What's the greatest, or most important, lesson your parents taught you?
DAVID: Believe and you can make it happen.
MARCUS: Do what you love doing, and that whatever happens they would be there for me.
Beverage of choice?
DAVID: Peroni, lots of it.
MARCUS: Peroni or Asahi beer.
If you had the chance to ask God one question (assuming s/he exists) what would it be?
DAVID: What happens next?
MARCUS: Why all the mystery?!
When are you happiest?
DAVID: With Gucci & our little Dash.
MARCUS: Sitting in the sun with my family drinking beers and barbecuing. That or skiing.
Random Questions For...will return in August.
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