READ/SEE THIS: ALWAYSNEVERNYC WITH ROBERT GELLER

Our friend Peter's lifestyle and design blog, alwaysnever, has some great Robert Geller-oriented content right now including an extensive interview with the designer and a beautiful photo shoot (styled by Peter) that features pieces from Robbie's Spring/Summer 2010 collection (including a prominently featured Leather Combo Flight Jacket).

Scroll down to see photos from both features and read a few poignant selections from the interview.

Peter: Take us through a day of designing.

Robert: Designing a collection part for me is kind of special because we usually design a collection in a very short time and it’s quite a big. Once we get into it I usually wake up very early. I wake up at 5 o’clock and get to the office at 6. And from 6 to 10 I have the office to myself, which is a very nice thinking time for me. I can’t design when there’s a lot of people around, it’s real distracting.

What I’ve done for every season is pick a book on tape and I listen to that while I do rough sketches. It’s something that’s going on that I can look forward to [finishing the book]. It helps me get up in the morning. The two don’t necessarily have any correlation, if I’m doing a collection on Vienna I’m not listening to Death in Venice.

Peter: Sort of like background noise.

Robert: It’s just something, yeah. It makes me feel less lonely.

At around 10 o’clock my assistants come in and we start doing more of the technical drawings together. From the rough sketches we all sit around the communal table in our office, chat and sketch together, which is really nice.

For lunch we either order in and all eat at the table together. Or when it’s nice out we like to go to this sandwich place in Tribeca called Columbine. We buy sandwiches there, go sit in the street in the sun and relax for a bit.

Then we go back and if there’s nothing too crazy going on we’ll continue sketching. But there’s always daily things to take care of, we usually do that in the afternoon. That’s a typical day when we’re sketching.

Peter: Cooks say they can taste different things and musicians can sort of dissect songs and hear layers of sounds. Do you think as a designer you see differently?

Robert: Oh for sure. I think it’s just by the nature of being a designer. You look at things differently. To me if I see somebody that has a really good style, it affects me a lot. I want to be closer to that person. It’s a beautiful thing and I want to see what it is that makes these people cool and stylist.

Peter: It’s like eating. If you taste something that’s amazing you keep tasting and you want more you want more.

Robert: Yeah but as a cook you want to figure out what’s in it. I’m not a cook, so I just enjoy the taste. But if you’re a cook, you dissect and I think that’s whats similar to a designer is that when you see something that’s beautiful you study it and you try to figure out what makes it so beautiful to you.

Peter: Why do you think that dressing up is such a weird concept for guys in the States. Like when you go to Japan or Europe it’s different. Being interested in fashion as a guy is ok.

Robert: I think that’s changing a little bit but I think that just has to do with tradition. I mean my dad’s not super interested in clothing but always had nice clothes and he always cared about what he wore. So it wasn’t weird for me to be interested in clothing, it was just something normal, as a man.

What I noticed in Japan is that it’s really a hobby for guys at a very young age. All the kids know all the American Styles from the military, they’re so into vintage. It’s insane. They read fashion magazines when they’re teenagers. So that’s kind of the extreme. I think in the States there just isn’t that culture for boys.

Peter: Do you think it’s because in America, there is a tradition of the utilitarian worker? Even though that americana/heritage aesthetic has gained popularity, might explain the lack of interest in what is considered fashion?

Robert: Maybe. I mean, that’s a hopeful way of looking at it. But if you go outside of the cities people wear t-shirts, and jeans and they don’t give a shit about what they wear. And if you do you’re labeled as gay. So thats changing now with the age of the internet, it seems like in the States guys are becoming more interested in clothing but I just think that it’s something that doesn’t exist, that young men aren’t interested in fashion.

There’s a code in each high school that says how guys are meant to be dressed. If you’re a jock you have to look this way. If they’re goths then they go to a place like hot topic. It’s all bullshit.

Peter: With the Internet now people can see other kids that are their age and say, “oh, it’s OK for me to be into Robert Geller or so and so.”

Robert: Exactly. For example, a website like Superfuture (An internet fashion forum with a large male userbase). I mean, not everyone on there are from the big cities. But they can make friends. And they can discuss fashion and then they can order the clothes online and actually have it. What you used to only be able to get in New York, in Paris or in Tokyo you can get online. So you can be in a small town in the middle of nowhere, if you’re that guy, and you can be wearing all the cool shit. You might get beat up but…

Peter: Or get more girls…

Click here to read the full article at alwaysnever. Keep scrolling for photos from alwaysnever's editorial shoot titled The Escape.

To check out BlackbirdBallard.com's selections from Robert Geller's Spring/Summer 2010 collection (featured above), click here.

To see the full editorial on alwaysnever, click here.