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PULTENEY STREET SURVEY - FALL 2018

Christopher Legaspi

Christopher Legaspi ’12

menswear editor
Vanity Fair

As life imitates art, the culture of men’s fashion is continually shaped by Christopher Legaspi ’12. The Vanity Fair menswear editor is crafting the visual narrative of what it means to be a modern man for millions around the world, making him the best person to ask:

Q: What was your go-to outfit during college — and what would you change today?

A: “To be truly honest with you, I’m so embarrassed to even reflect on my sense of style back in college. My go-to outfit during college was a pair of perfectly broken-in Sperrys (which I just lost and am in need of replacing), khaki pants from J. Crew, a plaid button down shirt or t-shirt with some kind of writing or logo, with an oversized Barbour jacket or the season’s newest printed Patagonia Synchilla Snap-T Pullover. I very rarely strayed from that and it was easy and comfortable and I could wear it to class, to dinner, and to the bars downtown. Opportunities were endless. Simple as that.

Looking back at it now, I would have told myself that fit is everything and so are neutral colors (i.e. black, white, tan, navy, camel, etc.). I would get rid of those plaid button down shirts and oversized Barbour and get some plain oxfords and a new fitted Barbour. The oversize probably did not keep me as warm as it should have in the long winter months upstate. Also…Sperrys in winter?! Get some black and/or brown lace up dress boots and wear them to class, meetings, dinner, bars, etc.

I think I just fell into the preppy look hard and it took me a while to acclimate my closet after moving to New York City and working in the fashion industry. I’ve still got a few plaid shirts hanging in the back of my closet behind all my navy, black, white and gray.”

The Editor in Style

For Christopher Legaspi ’12, fashion was always on his radar but he “had no real experience or background in it going into college.”

An internship at Details Magazine during the summer of 2011 was the in he needed to turn that passion into a career. After graduation, Legaspi, a media and society major at HWS, joined Details as a fashion assistant, before joining GQ magazine, and later Vanity Fair, where he served as associate menswear editor for two years before rising to the role of editor.

Working with politicians, actors and other high profile talent means his schedule is unpredictable and “my day-to-day varies a lot and can change at the drop of a dime. No workday, photo shoot or article is ever the same,” Legaspi says.

Guided by the magazine’s creative director, Legaspi takes photo shoots from concept to the page — “meaning whenever we have any male talent on the cover or inside the magazine, I do all the market for the photo shoot,” he explains. “I also work on the men’s market pages, which are our shoppable pages that are based on the biggest trends of the season.”

Things can get complicated “when we have multiple male talents for a cover shoot and all of them vary in sizing,” says Legaspi. “Not only do I have to get specific sizes from all designers, but sometimes the concept for the shoots are not as easy as just suiting. At Vanity Fair we love black tie (tuxedos) and white tie (tailcoats) and that can be very challenging to get sizes, and not everyone makes white tie tailcoats.”

But between the creativity it takes to make a photo shoot successful and the excitement of looming deadlines, Legaspi relishes being “able to create such amazing stories through fashion and surprisingly learn so much about culture, history and everything in between.” –Andrew Wickenden ’09