Designer Spotlight: BASTIAN P

As I was tumbling I spotted some really dope clothing and did a little investigating. I came up with a line called Bastian P. Wanting to lnow more about the designer and the line, I interviewed the designer.... Here is what I've learned:

What celebrities have been spotted in Bastian P?

Well...we started our company fairly three months ago so its quite early. We do keep in touch with a few celebrity stylists so we're trying to get Dawn (Diddy-Dirty Money), Robert Kardashian, Vanessa Simmons, Tyga, & Chris Brown to get in some of our gear, just to name a few. Just yesterday our Bastian P FANGNG Academy tank top was featured in Tyga's new upcoming video "Make It Nasty." Speaking of rising stars, we have Luke Christopher (author of "Rooftops" ft. Asher Roth) & Adonis Rose ft. The Sharks (Opened up for Nipsey Hussle & YG[12/15/11]) rocking our clothes. A good friend of ours CapAngels, which has made a couple of radio appearances, wore three of our shirts in his music video "L.A. State Of Mind."

Another great friend of ours Tavior Mowry (sibling of Tia, Tamera, & Tahj Mowry) can be spotted with our clothes at UCDavis where he plays running back at. You can also catch CEO of Rich Kids Club Philly Nicks; well known Brandon Willis, Rio Gonder, & Marlon Amaya of Playhouse Hollywood sporting our products.

What is the inspiration behind your line?

There's a lot of inspirations. We'd like to say life itself is an inspiration. But speaking of icons in the industry, Pharrell Williams is a huge inspiration for us; the man is an exceptional genius when it comes to fashion.

Jonas Bevacqua (founder of LRG), may he rest in Peace, is also a huge inspiration. He was really the first person to have a successful line that mixed urban/hip-hop with the whole skater look; much props.

Below, Bastian P "Academy Tank Top"

How did it come about? Where did you get the start-up funds?

We started with little, baby money. A thousand dollars is all we had, which we made from throwing local, house parties which by the way were off the hook! One of our co-founders, Andres Parga, consulted his brother Sebastian (@SebastianParga) about starting a clothing line that would completely devour local competition & eventually rise to the top. At first Sebastian was iffy about it, but eventually realized he had nothing to lose, being broke with the hopes of getting a college degree & a decent job? Yeah, nothing to lose.

How would you describe your look?

You know those t-shirts you go to sleep in & wake up in and feel nothing about 'em? Yeah, we do not provide those products. Our products make you feel like the sh*t, & that's our goal every time we sit down with our designer, Dream Digital (DreamDigitalLA.tumblr.com), to discuss new styles. You'd never think about going to sleep in our products unless it involves passing out after a long night of partying. We are FLY, we are STEEZY. Steez is a term we use to describe the steadiness & ease involved in our successful lives. Steezy = steady + easy. Who wants to live ANY life inconsistently & stressfully?

Define "urban fashion."

Urban fashion flourishes from the inner city. Whether its from the hood or the club scene in downtown, urban fashion is present on the daily. The latest trends you witness on music or reality television is what you find in the inner city. Urban fashion is always in.

Are your clothes available in any stores? Where?

You can find our products at a local store in Long Beach called OneStop LB (on Anaheim & Molino). We are working on getting to other stores in Southern California but other than that we sell our products from our website www.bastianp.bigcartel.com

Do you have a background in design or fashion?

Sebastian has been in the modeling industry for a while. When he was younger he was a student at John Casablancas Modeling (Beverly Hills) but fell off due to his involvement in high school football. Just recently he picked it back up and is now signed to Wild Models. Andres has been designing women's under garments with his father at Seamless Land, Inc. for a while. Our exceptional designer Dream Digital (DreamDigitalLA.tumblr.com), went to school for graphic design & is now even working an intern on the side for Obey.

How would you like to see your line grow?

We want to be at the top. I mean who doesn't? An image we do want to portray though is the one that you can be anyone, white, black, brown, yellow, green, straight, gay, lesbian, business man/woman, thug, athlete, and feel comfortable wearing our products on your time off. Even on your time on!

What is your biggest and most succesful promotion tool?

Definitely social networks. Shout outs to Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, and Youtube for providing us with great ways to promote our line. Without them it would be very difficult to get known in this competitive industry. Networking on a personal level is very big also. It may seem real serious to try and go out networking with big time business people, but it's actually very fun. Meeting people on their time off, having a drink or two, then exchanging numbers is always fun.

Any upcoming fashion shows, appearances we should know about?

Tyga's new video "Make It Nasty" will feature our FANGNG Academy tank top, YG's show on December 15th will feature our clothes, & also our co-owner Sebastian Parga (@SebastianParga) will be featured in a good friend of ours J.Ryan La Cour's "Be You" campaign/photoshoot which showcases many socialites & celebrities. Like I've mentioned before look out for celebrities such as Chris Brown & Robert Kardashian who we will try our best to dress up in some Bastian P. Celebrity stylist Perrin Johnson & celebrity publicist J.Ryan La Cour are helping us greatly with appearances so shout outs to them.