(Photo: Glenn Glasser)

Are you wearing a bathing suit?
Yes, they’re swim trunks. It’s really hot out, and I didn’t want to wear anything long or cumbersome, so I decided on little tiny shorts. And the ones that I had were swim trunks.

But do they breathe?
They’re fine. I spend most of my day inside, so it’s not a really big deal. I’m wearing boxers, too.

Do you put a lot of thought into clothes?
I think about clothes all the time. Like, literally all the time. But for my own life, like, me getting dressed, it’s mostly just about me putting on clothes to be clothed.

That’s sort of hard to believe, given your outfit.
Well, maybe it’s subconscious.

How do you talk about clothes with your friends from F.I.T.?
It’s more shorthand, almost. You don’t have to explain things. I say 4TS instead of the Condé Nast building [4 Times Square]. Just, like, fashion-speak. I don’t refer to people by their last names, usually. It’s Jack and Lazaro, not Proenza Schouler. It’s Karl, not Karl Lagerfeld. This is sort of silly, but I use French for no reason. I use Frenglish a lot, because I think it’s more expressive.

What French words do you use?
Outré. I think that’s a really good French word for clothes. It’s a little weird, so it’s a good word to use.

Related:

• Archive: “Look Book”
• Articles by Emma Rosenblum
• Table of Contents: Jul 14, 2008 issue of New York | Subscribe!