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menswearmusings · 7 years

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If You Think You Should Never Meet Your Heroes, You May Have the Wrong Heroes

One of my favorite bands, Metric, sings “They were right when they said/ we should never meet our heroes.” I have to say, in my case, I unequivocally disagree.

Two weeks ago I took the opportunity to meet one of my heroes, Antonio Ciongoli, creative director of my favorite menswear brand Eidos. He was going to be in Michigan for an event at AK Rikks, a very well-appointed menswear shop in Grand Rapids that carries the brand. Glen Allsop, the photographer who has worked with Eidos from the beginning, was the main draw. He was selling a collection of prints and photo books from the trip to India that served to inspire the Spring/Summer 2017 Eidos collection. Much of the proceeds from each sale would be going back to the village in India they visited. Antonio and the other man behind the brand, Quentin Clemm, were on hand to tell the stories behind the collection and show off the clothes.

I waffled back and forth for a long time on whether I’d go. From Nashville, it was way too far. But it happened to be during a week when I was in Cincinnati for work, so I was faced with a 5.5-hour drive instead of an 8.5-hour one. Still, an 11-hour round trip was a big proposition for what I feared might only be 20 minutes of small talk and a handshake. “Would there be a ton of people there, I’d be one face in a crowd, we’d shake hands, and then he’d move on? Or worse, if I’m one of only a few, would we run out of stuff to talk about after half an hour?” Antonio himself finally convinced me after some back-and-forth on Styleforum.

The event itself was simply an afternoon meet-and-greet opportunity—see the beautiful photos, meet the man who shot them, enjoy the beautiful clothes, meet the man who designed them, enjoy a glass of wine, shot of espresso, or cocktail on the house, and oh yeah buy something, too. My wife and I arrived around 1p.m. My close friend from college Adam works at the store, but he was getting tech support at the Apple store so he wasn’t there. We thought, “should we wait until the event officially starts at 2 to go in?” Without my friend as a crutch, we were nervous. But we went inside anyway, and of course there was nothing to worry about. Small plug for AK Rikks here: their hospitality is exceptional. Immediately we were greeted, offered a drink, and asked what they could help us with.

Antonio, Quentin and Glen were getting a tour of the place, Tom the sales associate told me. In the meantime, he showed me around. I told him I was interested in Ring Jacket, which nobody near me in Nashville carries. So we went upstairs, walking right past where the VIPs were. I casually waved at Quentin and Glen, but Antonio’s back was turned, talking to the store’s manager. I tried on some jackets, trying hard to play it cool. My menswear idol was literally 10 feet away from me, but he was engaged in conversation. Finally the whole group stood up and walked towards me, and we were introduced. It was somewhat surreal. Here’s a guy whose work is so important to me, and whose personal style influenced my own tremendously, in the flesh! It had the potential to be one of those moments like when you feel you know someone you’ve seen on TV because you watch their show every night, but of course meeting them in person is bizarre because you are just one of unnamed multitudes who watch them.

So this moment, pregnant with potential for elation or disappointment, for personal connection or alienation, for making the 11-hour-round-trip worthwhile or not turned out to be pretty… normal. Antonio is just a good-natured guy. He’s energetic and enthusiastic about what he does. He is easy to talk to. He is relatable. And of course I should’ve known that. He regularly posts on Styleforum, and he and I have in fact communicated there more than a few times. He gave me great recommendations for places to eat, shop and sightsee in Italy 2 years ago. When the buyer at my local Nashville menswear shop Haymakers saw him during the market buying season a year ago, he asked about me (she related to me later). And even more monumentally, just a few weeks ago, he sent me a video wishing me a happy 30th birthday at my wife’s request.

Maybe if my hero were Ralph Lauren, the moment would be different—after all, neither Eidos nor Antonio Ciongoli are household names. But as it was, he was excited to meet me in person, too.

After we shook hands and talked for a minute, he and Glen continued on the tour, but Quentin stopped to talk. “Love the ‘gram, by the way,” he said half-ironically. Now there’s a compliment. Quentin is not the face of the brand as much as Antonio is—but he’s a very stylish guy, with handsome features and a great personality. To be recognized and appreciated by him is huge to me. We talked for the next 45 minutes or so until the other two were done with the tour. He gave me a peek into their world of suppliers, buyers, designers, and manufacturers; the relationships, the challenges and the personalities. At one point he responded to a question I asked (I can’t remember what), “Well it’s kind of a long, complicated answer; not sure if you want to hear that.” Dude, I drove 5.5 hours to hear this story, lol, I have nowhere else to be.

The rest of the afternoon flew by. I worried it would be a crowded event with many guests for the hosts to attend to. It turned out that we had several hours of one-on-one time to get to know them, hear their backgrounds, ask questions and share in our common enjoyment of menswear. Antonio told the story of their trip to India, explained his thinking behind some of the seemingly more bizarre aspects of the collection and made me excited for the future of the brand.

Glen is an absolute pleasure as well—a very relaxed, congenial guy who instantly relates to everyone. We talked photography, print making, religion and art. We determined that Antonio should do a “greatest hits” collection some season instead of designing all brand new stuff, so I could get my hands on my personal white whale—the perfect denim workshirt from the SS2015 collection.

I couldn’t have asked for a better experience. It was well worth the 11-hour round trip. If there’s an event near you where you’re able to meet these guys, I encourage you to do so—they are very interesting to talk to, friendly, and highly engaging.

One more thing: when Antonio finished with his tour, he came down to where I was talking with Quentin, looking at Glen’s photo books. Antonio reached into his bag to get something—a gift he had promised to bring me if I came to the event. I said earlier that he explained to me some of the more bizarre things in the collection this season. He told me that he hasn’t lost his mind, that he too is a normal guy who wants clothes he can actually wear, and so if there are clothes that seem odd, know that he wouldn’t have included them in the collection unless he had a good reason. A few weeks ago I had lightly ribbed him in a blog post I wrote on Styleforum, saying: “I was lucky to get on the Eidos train before it became more about Indian pajamas or whatever […] (and thankfully, Antonio still throws us tailoring fans a bone).” He good-naturedly responded, “You really need a pair of Indian pajama pants to round out your wardrobe…”

So of course the gift he brought me was a pair of the Indian-inspired “Agy” pajama pants. He told me he wanted me to have them because they’re so comfortable that I would become a believer—to illustrate his point that bizarre as they may seem, they have a place in the collection. He explained that Eidos began with Napoli attached to the name, but he intentionally decided to drop that a year ago or so. The suits and sportcoats Eidos makes showcase what he feels is the best tailoring tradition in the world, which he believes every guy should have: that of Napoli; soft-shouldered, relaxed, stylish and comfortable.

In the same way, he knows there are other parts of the world with equally historic clothing and style traditions that he wants to discover and share. This collection draws a line between the Neapolitan foundation of Eidos and the culture and traditions he witnessed in India. I can dig it.

I guess to recap for full disclosure, I was given free Indian pajama pants from my favorite brand. Does this make me a shill now? So much for journalistic integrity, I suppose…

My outfit that day includes: Propercloth linen-cotton stripe shirt; American Eagle selvedge jeans; Eidos sportcoat (similar); Meermin chukkas

Photography by my wife, Dana Moss.

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