In the latest episode of FashionTalks host Donna Bishop speaks with award winning fashion designer Christopher Bates. Donna and Christopher chat about:

• Christopher's foray into fashion (his second career)
• The small moments of inspiration and big swings that built his brand
• How an iconic design element brought people together for life
• The balancing act of being an entrepreneur and a designer

Donna Bishop @thisisdonnab

FashionTalks @fashiontalkspod

Christopher Bates @chistopher.bates.official

ChristopherBates.com

CAFA @cafawards

cafawards.ca

TRANSCRIPT:

Donna Bishop: [00:00:00 ] Christopher Bates, it is so wonderful to have you here on Fashion Talks. Thanks so much for joining me. 

Christopher Bates: Thank you for having me. 

Donna Bishop: Oh my gosh, it's such a pleasure. And I know we'll get into, because you're coming to us from Milan, Milano. So I love the internationalness of our conversation. Thanks for dealing with the time zones. 

Christopher Bates: No problemo. 

Donna Bishop: I love to start off with the same question, which I'm very excited for you to answer, is I believe that all of us who have a love of fashion, who work in fashion, there is a moment, often when we're very young, when we understand that clothing, that fashion has a power beyond just protecting our our bodies from the elements. 

And I'm wondering if there's one that stands out for you. 

Christopher Bates: Yeah, I'm glad you asked because I certainly had that moment. And for me, it was when I was young. um i grew up in Vancouver and this would be during the s. 

I was really into skateboarding and my mom bought my brothers and I [00:01:00 ] really cool clothes, and Chip and Pepper, TNC surf, lots of neon. 

And I just loved it. and i was an energetic kid. I remember I never liked wearing pants. I would always wear shorts, even if it was winter in Vancouver, it gets pretty cold. 

But I'd put on my favorite shorts. I'd run to school every day. And I just felt like, okay, I was in a good mood. Putting on an outfit that I liked made me in a better mood. 

It enhanced my mood. And I was aware of that even as a kid. I wanted to wear my favorite outfits all the time. So yeah, I loved, loved clothes and I was creative. So I started sketching even back then when I was a kid, just ideas for logos and different pieces.

Donna Bishop: And it sounds like you had parents that didn't fight you if you wanted to wear something that made you feel good. Because I'm just thinking about, you know, skateboarding was probably one of the things where I became aware of, you know, street wear and something that was very different from my small town, [00:02:00 ] Ontario, growing up environment. And it was such a revelation in how different it was. 

Christopher Bates: Yeah. And I would literally seek that out. Like even from a young age, like if everybody was wearing like blue jeans, I wouldn't want to, I always wanted to be an individual. So I would look for, you know, what's new and yeah. And my mom definitely supported that. Like, 

We'd go down to the States to go shopping because they had things we couldn't get here in Canada. And then, you know, we'd find like Stoozie. Like I remember when that brand started and they had all this crazy stuff. That was like one of the first streetwear brands. 

And it was good for a skater as well. So yeah, yeah that was how, that's how I grew up. 

Donna Bishop: What kind of teenager were you as you were, e you know, because what I'm finding so fascinating as you're saying this is I hear you talking about Stussy and Streetwear, which is so not the brand that you end up designing. So I'm curious about how that evolution happened. 

Christopher Bates: That's, yeah, as a teenager, I was fairly [00:03:00 ] rambunctious and rebellious; but, you know, I sort of transitioned. I would say once I turned to I started to get a little bit more serious and I was more interested in business, ah for example. So, um yeah, I kind of, I grew up and I matured starting around 

Donna Bishop: And when you say that, do you mean you started to look at creative things more seriously? Or like, what do you like? What was going on in your head when you say you were maturing, but still had this like understanding of the power of expression bubbling within you too? 

Christopher Bates: Yeah, I guess that's when I was taking my career seriously. Like I was like thinking, okay, what university are you going to go to? What are you going to study in university? Like, what do you want to do as a career?

And this whole time, like I knew I wanted to do something creative. um But I wasn't really into like fine arts. And, you know, growing up in Vancouver and in [00:04:00 ] Canada in this period in the s, fashion was nowhere on the radar. 

and I had no idea, um you know, about that industry. And that was a career I was thinking, okay, marketing was interesting to me because, you know, you had advertising, graphic design; that appealed to me. 

Architecture appealed to me a lot. So those were sort of, you know, realistic career choices at the time that I was considering. and it wasn't until I graduated from high school, I did my first trip to Europe. 

And that was a game changer. That's when, ah you know, it really opened my eyes and my imagination. I became really inspired, um you know, by Europe and fashion and just everything about that new world for me. 

Donna Bishop: What was it about Europe that appealed to you so much? Like, do you remember a scene or, you know, something that just really sort of was that bolt [00:05:00 ] of inspiration? 

Christopher Bates: Yeah, it was, it wasn't just one thing per se, but I remember being in Rome, you know, on that first trip and, and I was just taking pictures of everything because literally like the lamppost, you know, would have design elements. It would have like a little, you know, gargoyle head on the side and it was so different from the architecture in North America, which is very sort of straightforward and functional. 

um In Rome, everywhere I looked, there'd be like ruins and even that was, you know, beautiful and stimulating. So, you know, that was one part of it. I would say the architecture and the art, the history was really stimulating. 

But then, yeah, the people's individual style as well. And that's something that, ah you know, really registered with me on future trips that I did still, you know, in my early twenties, um, I remember being in Stockholm and I would 

say that's where I had, you know, my Eureka moment, um, because the people there were [00:06:00 ] just so stylish and they had so many creative things going on with their outfit and their look. 

I felt like they were light years ahead of, you know, Canada and, during this whole period, I had been keeping a sketchbook with ideas for designs and logos and things. And it was that moment, it was the summer of when I was in Stockholm, and I said, these people would like my ideas.

That's when I knew there was like a market out there for the concepts that I had. So that's actually the moment when I decided to become a designer. 

Donna Bishop: What was it about Stockholm that was so inspiring? Like when you say these people or, you know, this city you think would like your ideas, what was the synergy there that you were sensing? 

Christopher Bates: It was little things, you know, just walking on this shopping street. I saw this guy who had a necklace, but it was tied around his wrist. 

um [00:07:00 ] And I just thought that was really creative. Like I knew it was a necklace and it was just the way that he had done it. And I remember seeing guys when I was at the clubs and they were the first ones, they were like showing their ankles, they had tapered pants They might have even had some kind of elastic at the bottom and then they'd have dress shoes on and you could see their ankles. And that was like, I'd never seen that before, but I have to say, I thought it looked awesome. 

It looked really cool and really fresh. Like they were still business and, um you know, well-dressed and presentable, but with a really cool forward kind of edge. 

So small things like that, that just kind of started registering and that um I've never forgotten. 

Donna Bishop: And do you still think of small details like as you're designing even now? Like it sounds like that's a bedrock value of Christopher Bates. 

Christopher Bates: Exactly. and Yeah. The details are really important. I think that's what differentiates, you know, my products and [00:08:00 ] my aesthetic from other brands. I start with the fabrics. First of all, that's a really important detail. Okay. 

And then I think, you know, what should this fabric becom