Back in April 2007, I got a call from Adam Rapoport, then the style editor at GQ. I was apartment hunting in Brooklyn, and the one-bedroom I was touring rattled and shook every time the subway trundled over the Williamsburg Bridge. Adam told me they had an open spot at GQ—an associate-editor role, covering fashion and style—and that I should interview for it. At the time, I was 26 years old and working at an independent music magazine called The Fader. I specifically remember saying to Adam, “But what the hell do I know about fashion?”

That was on a Friday afternoon. First thing Monday morning, I called him back and asked what I had to do to get the job.

You see, I realized a few things that weekend: (1) When you get called up to the big leagues, you don't tell the G.M. you actually just want to stay put. (2) New York City apartments were expensive, and a Condé Nast magazine surely paid better than an indie one, right? (3) If you've ever seen a photo of Miles Davis, Dwight Yoakam, Debbie Harry, or OutKast, you know that writing about music and writing about style are basically the same thing; I could figure out the rest from there.

So I went and interviewed with Jim Nelson, the great GQ editor-in-chief. A glorious amount of the conversation was about a recent trip I'd taken to Kingston for a Fader story. We talked about reggae and dancehall music. He never quizzed me on my top five favorite Italian fashion designers, or on the difference between a half Windsor and a four-in-hand tie knot. I was relieved. It was awesome. I got the job.

Now it's almost 12 years later, and I'm proud to be succeeding Jim as GQ's editor-in-chief. Having served as the style editor of GQ, the editor-in-chief of GQ Style, and the creative director of GQ, I can now name my top five favorite Italian designers, no problem. (I am wearing two of them as I type this.) In that way, some things have changed. In others, not so much. I still believe that music is the original act of human creative expression—and, more often than not, the source of style.

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Announcing a Whole New Era at GQ