10 Essentials: Todd Snyder

When Todd Snyder was 24 years old he had an idea for a shirt he couldn't find anywhere else. He was interning at Ralph Lauren, and in his free time at home, he cut and sewed the shirt himself. When he wore it to work and the design director asked him where he got it, Snyder realized he might be onto something."I didn't really wait for someone to tell me to go do something," he says,"I just went and did it."
After cutting his teeth at Polo and helping bring J.Crew to the menswear masses, Snyder left right after opening the J.Crew Liquor Store, three days before Lehman Brothers went south. Still, he had to do it.
"I knew if I didn't start my own line, I would always regret it," Snyder says."And now, after doing it, it's the best thing I ever did. It's been a dream come true for me, seeing how many people are responding to it. It really re-instills the reason I got into fashion."
Recently named one of GQ's Best New Menswear Designers in America, Snyder is one to watch out for. As GQ creative director Jim Moore said,"Todd Snyder has arrived."


1. The Smiths
"When I got into college, this was the first band that I loved and identified with. Morrissey's amazing, how he plays with lyrics and sound. I've seen Morrissey live, when I was in college, and I think the Smiths had already broken up. Morrissey's such an interesting dude. I've never met him personally, but I've always liked his style and I think his music's really great."

. The Strand "The Strand, for me, is a special place. My wife and I used to go before we had kids, and we would just walk in and go to our separate places and then right before closing time we'd be heading home. For me, I get really inspired by books in general, so it's a place I can just literally get lost for hours with a rare book or a great photography book."

3. The Tate Modern
"For me, there's so many things that play an integral part of design, and art and music have always been a source of inspiration. It just brings me into that moment, and when I go to any museum it really transports me into something else. But there's something about the Tate that is especially that way. I went when Mark Rothko was exhibiting there, and I just was like, ‘This is unbelievable.' His paintings are huge, they take up entire walls, and it's literally just color on these big canvases."


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