Designer Michael Bastian’s stellar Spring 2013 runway show was an ode to American alpha male swagger with a heavy dose of summer sex appeal. With those warmer days fast approaching, Bastian is giving us insight into how the collection came together, from the unique hues used throughout the lineup to the old GQ issues that inspired it in the first place. And since seeing is believing, the designer teamed up with photographer Matt Albiani for a series of sun-drenched, poolside images that show off the goods on model Dennis Klaffert.

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"One of the weird things about being a designer is guessing what the world will want about a year in advance of when they will want it. It becomes almost a psychological test in a way--how do I feel now and how do I want to feel then. When I began designing my Spring ’13 collection it wasn’t even Spring ’12 yet. Snow was actually still on the ground in New York, but I knew I wanted this particular spring season to be freer, more colorful, easier, more about feeling good and I wanted there to be a sexier feeling than we’ve been known for in the past. I wanted fabrics that feel good, colors that are so beautiful you buy them, then worry about what to wear with them, that kind of thing. Would other guys be feeling this way? Or wanting to feel with way? That was the question. Would the economy improve or would some unforeseen event make this all seem frivolous and impractical? But we (the team and I) made the decision to go in this direction, to go with our instincts and I’m really happy we did because here we are on the edge of the summer and I can’t wait to wear these clothes.

The initial inspiration we started with was the American colorfield painter Helen Frankenthaler. For those of you who aren’t familiar with her paintings, please research her on the internet. Beautiful colors like you’ve never seen before, in-between colors, colors you really don’t know the name of. Is it more blue or green? Pink or magenta? Often times, the way she juxtaposed colors or watered them down made you see things in a completely different light. It was color for the sake of color; sometimes strange, sometimes saturated or washed out, but always carefully chosen and beautiful. So there was our color palette--that was easy--but now how to give it form? What direction should the clothes and styling take? For a long time now I’ve been finding myself going back to early ’80s GQ’s when I’m looking to be inspired. Maybe because my first GQ was the June 1981 issue-- featuring one of Bruce Weber’s first covers. It’s hard to imagine magazines without celebrities on the cover, but this was from the days of models on covers and this one was a particularly good one--a tan, fit beautiful guy in a tiny bathing suit, being hugged from behind by an equally beautiful girl in a bathrobe. I’ve been staring at that image since I was 15, it’s burned into my brain. It’s always been a dream, a moment I was certainly too young and skinny to live out myself at the time, but one I’d always wanted to recreate somehow. So this was where the collection took flight: we wanted to recreate the most beautiful summer, at least my idea of one. Maybe it really was the summer of 1981.