steven-alan3Steven Alan (New York, established 1994, GQ Class of ’08)—Most designers build their collections and work their way up to opening a storefront.

Steven Alan did it backward. The clothes he did make (shirts, mostly) were basically private-label pieces to fill his own shelves. He opened a showroom in 1997 and gradually diversified: a striped tie here, a polo there, until he was a capital-F fashion designer.

Today he’s a one stop shop with everything from shirts and shoes to sunglasses and watches, all stocked next to those under-the-radar brands he’s found through his travels. That collection-curation combo is a move many major menswear retailers have since borrowed—but nobody ever nails it quite as well as Steven Alan.

The Steven Alan for The All-Stars Of BNMDA collection is available at Gap Stores and www.gap.com.