Aziz Ansari was an unlikely celebrity at this past February’s Fall 2011 Fashion Week. The comedian of Parks and Recreation fame was seen everywhere from hot-ticket front rows to the GQ men’s fashion fete, where he was seen shmoozing with editor Jim Nelson. Onlookers might wonder if Ansari’s priming himself as the next Amar’e Stoudemire or Sean Avery: a diligent student of style safely under Anna Wintour’s wing. However, in Minetta Tavern last Tuesday evening at the debut of Adam Rapoport’s revamped Bon Appétit magazine, Mr. Ansari clarified why he shouldn’t be considered a new face of men’s fashion.
“[Fashion Week] just got me on the first week in a long time that I hadn’t been working. If I have time off and I want to go out, it doesn’t take much,” he explained. “It could be Model Train Week and I would have been out there every night, and people would have been like ‘Aziz Ansari is the face of model trains.'” Asked what designers he trends toward, Mr. Ansari answered: “I wear a lot of Band of Outsiders because their stuff is cut for tiny men like myself. Also, Osh Kosh and Tommy Bahama.” -Chloe Malle
