For its fall 2012 campaign, GANT Rugger decided not to cast traditional models, and instead put a crew of the #menswear up and comers in front of the camera. The group included former Gilt staffer Lawrence Schlossman, current Gilt staffer Gabe Alonso, and a certain Mr. Zeph Colombatto.
Besides the regular modeling gigs that resulted from the campaign, Zeph has more than one string to his bow — he consults and styles for menswear brands, travels the world taking photographs, and cuts a mean shape in a suit.
Zeph Colombatto raising the flag in the Gant S/S 14 campaign.
I’ve known the man for three years, and he pops up every couple of months in a subway car, at Union Square, outside a fashion show in Paris, or late at night in the back of an East Village bar, and I can quite honestly say there have never been two occasions when he was dressed the same. He’s a true chameleon — one day chanelling Point Break-era Keanu Reeves in a shearling coat with long hair and a beard, the next clean-shaven in a crisp gray suit.
He nails it so effortlessly, he makes the rest of us feel like giving up. And yet when I ask him if he has any tips on getting it right, he gives a one word response: “Attitude.” When pressed for more detail, he concedes, “Rarely do I put brown and black together, or wear socks.” Very helpful. But what else would you expect from a guy whose favorite quote is from Neil DeGrasse Tyson: “I am under no obligation to make sense to you.” In other words, he’s the perfect person to embody our rebel-inspired surf/skate trend.
Shop surf/skate style, as modeled by Mr. Zeph Colombatto, Saturday at noon ET >