Pete in one of his Clandestine hoodies.
Photo © Wire Image.
About Pete Wentz and Clandestine Industries:
By now you've no doubt heard about Pete Wentz, the bassist and lyricist for the band Fall Out Boy, as well as fiance of Ashlee Simpson and rumored future baby-daddy. Well, Pete has added another label to his resume - fashion designer. Pete launched the clothing line Clandestine Industries in 2004, and now has a special line of Clandestine pieces at Nordstrom. I had the chance to talk with him about the line - and let me tell you, he's super-nice and just as cute as you'd expect in person!Pete the Designer:
He's extremely creative, so I wasn't suprised at all to hear that Pete is very hands-on when it comes to his clothing line. He said: "I’m pretty crazy. I’ve been known to move things half an inch here and there. I’m really protective of the brand. I don’t license my name at all. I’m crazy about that. I’m real weird about wanting to create everything. I’ll come up with all the initial sketches, but my artistic capabilities don’t really go much beyond that. So I’ll do the initial stuff and then we’ll have someone like one of my friends or someone on the design team come up with the specific ideas."The Truth About the Fashion Business:
Although I thought that doing a fashion line is very lucrative, Pete told me that's not really the case. He said: "To me it’s more of an artistic thing than a lucrative thing. That’s not really why I’m doing it. I think people think there’s a pile of cash that comes with this, but honestly, most of the money goes right back into it. I like doing it because I like doing it. That’s it."About Pete's Style:
When I asked Pete how he found his own personal style, he said: "My style found me. We only have stylists if we have an event, like if the band has to kind of match each other." When I asked him to describe his own personal style, he said: "I’m like the boy next door gone wrong. I’m just like that guy that lives down the block that you’re not supposed to hang out with."Pete's Fashion Advice:
I asked Pete to give me his advice to teens about fashion, and he really impressed me with his answer. He said: "My thing to people is to go with it. You gotta be who you are. That doesn’t mean you always need to go to extremes - you don’t need to wear the tightest pants or the biggest pants. But everyone is going to make fun of you for who you are if you think outside of the box, because people want to keep you in a box. And I don’t think people should let that get to them. Fashion shouldn’t make you feel bad. Like you shouldn’t feel like “Oh, I can’t fit in that.” It’s a crappy way to go through life." Amen, Pete!
