A$AP Rocky

The Alexander Wang five-step plan for fashion-world domination:
1. Move from San Fran to NYC at age 18 to attend the esteemed Parsons school of design.
2. Drop out.
3. Create a killer debut women’s collection that makes boutique buyers salivate and converts the world’s hippest models, actresses and it-girls into steadfast devotees.
4. Win GQ Designer of the Year 2011, promptly upon your first foray into menswear.
5. Get named creative director of illustrious, 99-year-old fashion house Balenciaga.

That last point is a whole other story, so let’s focus on #4. Wang won over GQ with his T by Alexander Wang line of so-called “basics”—T-shirts, tanks and hoodies that, thanks to their meticulously slouchy “anti-fit” and superior fabrication, are in fact anything but basic.

These days, Wang is punctuating those high-end essentials with streamlined statement items, like the black-on-black cotton/leather shirt-jacket hybrid seen in the photos here. (You could call it a basic in the sense that you’ll wear it every day for years to come. As far as street-cred style points, though—it’s pretty exceptional.)

A few more favorites from the T by Alexander Wang collection (click images to shop each piece):

And, for your viewing pleasure, a sampling of the A-list it-girls and -guys Alexander Wang attracts—featuring A$AP Rocky, Azealia Banks and more:

 
SHOP: T BY ALEXANDER WANG FOR MEN

[Photography: Robin Stein. Styling: Ashley Helvey. Model: Gus Drake.
See more images from this series in our recent Rick Owens post, and on Nordstrom's Tumblr page.]