How I Shop: West Wilson

We all buy clothes, but no two people shop the same. It can be a social experience, and a deeply personal one; at times, it can be impulsive and entertaining, at others, purpose-driven, a chore. Where do you shop? When do you shop? How do you decide what you need, how much to spend and what's "you"? These are some of the questions we're putting to prominent figures in our column "How I Shop."

The speed with which West Wilson has won over the Bravo audience is unprecedented. The 29-year-old social and editorial producer walked into the titular "Summer House" with a confidence and disengaging charisma that instantly endeared him to his seasonal roommates and viewers alike, making him a breakout in his first season. The New York Times dubbed him the "new number-one guy in the group" — which is pretty much the highest honor that can be bestowed upon a man on the network.

Between a budding romance with nurse/model/dreamboat Ciara Miller, a beautiful bromance with financier (and fellow "Summer House" freshman) Jesse Solomon and a quest to find a full-time job following a media layoff (who said reality television wasn't real!), Wilson also broke out visually, eschewing the typical uniform of very skinny pants, button-downs and loafers in favor of his preferred shorts, vintage T-shirts and Nikes. Now employed (spoiler alert!) by Complex, he's remained true to himself and his style even as his profile has ballooned — except, now, he's open to refining and fine-tuning certain parts of it, at times with the help of a stylist.

Ahead of the "Summer House" Season 8 reunion, we talked to the reality rookie about developing a sense of sartorial confidence early on, his love of vintage merch, "raw-dogging" his Hamptons wardrobe, embracing the hungover aesthetic (even in sponsored Instagram posts) and much more.

"I think back to elementary and middle school, and I wore some horrible, horrible outfits. I think about, how [did] my parents let me walk out of the house in public dressed like that? But I thought I looked cool, and my parents letting me look stupid [when] in my head I thought I looked awesome allowed me to build up a kind of fashion confidence that, if maybe they were shitting on every outfit I wore from a young age, probably would've been hindered.

"I like being talked about, so I like to wear outfits that look good. But I try not to do anything too over-the-top — when I was younger my dad said, 'Look good without looking like you were trying to look good.' I've tried to keep that mindset, where I like one piece to be loud and everything else to be kind of subtle, never anything that's too try-hard. You might be rolling your eyes because I wore crocheted bucket hats and all that dumb shit, but, I don't know... When I see people who you can immediately tell they planned every piece of an outfit, that screams 'try-hard' to me.

"I believe a good boxer and a good sock for will set you up for a good day. Sweat-wicking. And always crinkle your socks. Don't pull 'em up too tight. Have a crinkle. It looks too serious if your socks are tight.

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"I'm very, to a fault, just proud of the random things that have made me into who I am. A lot of that is geography, growing up in Missouri, going to school in Montana, living in New York and Las Vegas. My biggest pride pieces are things from local bars or restaurants or hats from schools and shit like that. I spend a lot of time on eBay looking for pieces from things that are significant to me. That usually lands with people because it's unique, but it's not fucking designer... For example, this cap is an eBay find, Montana State Booster from the '90s; I did go to Montana State, so it kind of works, but usually it's a little more subtle. That's a big one for me, that there's some story to what it's from.

"I'm huge a loyalist on eBay, Depop, Poshmark, all those. I just like a vintage bar T-shirt. It's cool. There's history to it. As far as going-out pieces — I mean, Abercrombie's made one of the best rebrands maybe ever. I love their stuff. I shop at a place called Asos a lot. My family is very into looking good with zero care for anything designer or high-end. My mom probably has a couple bags or whatever, but I just never grew up with anyone caring about designer shit. I feel very content with that, because the watches and clothes I wear still get compliments all the time.

"The one thing I do wear is Jordans, and that's expensive, I guess. I played college football where it's a Jordan culture already, but then also [former employer] Bleacher Report is a very sneakerhead-y office culture. A part of the content we were making was very fashion-forward. Honestly, that job made me insecure about my shoe game, and I feel like I had to step it up working there.

"For the media jobs I've had, I'd been on-camera for the last few years prior [to 'Summer House'], so I've been conscious of how I'm presented on camera — a clearly very different audience — at sporting events and stuff... Almost in a parallel POV to this show, with these older Hamptons guys, I was working for a company that was very young, very pop culture, very hip-hop-influenced, where I knew they would be aligned with how I dress. But I was also working next to a lot of network TV people, which is a lot of old white dudes.

"If someone has to talk to, again, a hundred old white dudes in suits with big cameras, and then I pull up with whatever it is, that was a lot more palatable, given age and the hip-hop culture that sports has embraced recently. That helped.

"I do think, because of my age, my personality and style is not at all what the dudes on the show have carried. It's essentially not v-neck and tight white pants and loafers. I'm more of like a Jordans, baggy shirt, camel pants kind of guy. I mean, we all had our moment, and I did go through that phase when everyone else did, and I can't take it back, so I have to own it.

"I've been doing Montauk for three summers prior. So, no Hamptons, but, I mean, it's all kind of the same — get on a train, go out east, share a house. Hamptons style is way different than Montauk, though. I do like Montauk because you can go to a dive bar with shorts and Air Force 1s on. I would say a lot of the places we went in the Hamptons, there are families and stuff, so you don't want to go looking too like you just woke up. Also, I like the idea of having your own style but fitting into whatever place you're visiting. It's a fun little niche experience that we can embrace as humans.

"I packed the same for that as I probably always do for anything. I know better than to pick outfits in my head, because, when you do that and then you try them on and they look stupid, you're shit out of luck. So, I try to just loosely think about two nice shirts and nice pants, some shorts and enough pairs of shoes to be able to curate it in the moment. As a guy, it's not as hard — it's just like shirt, pants, shoes, sneak some hats in. But I definitely did not have advice. I kind of just raw-dogged that whole experience.

"I got so much reassurance from the girls early on... Paige, Ciara, Amanda and Gabby were like, 'We like your swag.' So I kept it a hundred the whole time. I don't think I ever left the house and was like, 'Hope this works.' I still kept it pretty much my swag, for the most part. Looking back, I fucking hated the after show look — they're all cool pieces, but the way I put it together, I wish I could take it back so bad.

"We also have all these theme parties, and that's the hardest part: Half your suitcase is insane, with articles of clothing that you're only going to wear for one party.

"It's lame to do a costume party and not try. It's insulting to everyone... I know I'm not going to bullshit it, because you're the lamest guy if your outfit sucks. Out front, I'm probably like, 'Oh, this sounds tiresome,' but when it comes down to it, I'm going to go hard. That's how you respect the theme. You'd be surprised how much stuff is on Amazon that you can make fun.

"My favorite was the Doomsday party. I do like makeup, I'm not going to lie. I think it's fun. I loved my makeup for that thing. It just looked scary and cool. Anything to doll your face up I find enjoyable.

"I wore a Coogi sweater to our premiere party, and everyone else had on button-ups and stuff. I do try to be a little different without being distasteful. I loved my 'Watch What Happens Live' outfit — that was these very loud, sparkly, kind of borderline flamboyant boots, then I had a cream pinstripe matching pant and zip-up, and I did a little bandana neckerchief, which I was happy about. My hair looked good that day, which, you really have no clue what's going to happen.

"I did get help [for the reunion] — her name's Sammy [Watts]. She's really been good with embracing my style and the mustache and shit. It just makes that baggy look that I wore work a little more. It was the first time, though, that I've ever worn those skinny white, Italian-looking tank tops, I've always thought they were the worst item of clothing the world's ever seen, but I was convinced into doing it and I do like the look. Now, I wear it under shirts all the time... For me, it's nice [with a stylist] — if she says it looks good, then I don't have to think about it or worry.

"No matter what you wear, there will be a comment saying that it's the coolest outfit they've ever seen and there will also be someone saying, 'He needs a stylist. He looks horrible.' It just proves that one person can love something you're wearing and another can absolutely hate it. And if you try to please all these people with how you look aesthetically, you're never going to be successful. You just got to rock with and stay true to you. That sounds so corny and cliché, I realize, but it's a perfect picture painted when both those comments happen on any outfit you could ever wear.

"Now that I've made some good connections, there'll be more people who I work with. People have been very receptive to how I dress and the shit I do during the day. I just did a DSW ad, and they were like, 'Wear some slides into the bodega like you normally do.' I hate to say a 'hungover' look is an aesthetic that I have brought to the forefront, but it kind of is: shaggy hair with an iced coffee, matching sweat pieces and then slides of the bodega. When you think of a shoe ad, you think of something fancy, like being out, and I got to do that in a bodega at 11:00 a.m. That kind of stuff has been fun, to see that brands want to meet you in the middle and curate stuff that feels natural to you. I'll turn down shit — if I think I'll look like a dork in it, I'm not going to wear it. But I think brands want it to be you, which makes it easy.

"There's a guy named Eric Emanuel who I've become friends with, who does essentially designer basketball shorts and there's good inseam and a lot of fun patterns. NBA guys wear 'em. I'm going to slut those out this summer, hardcore. I started wearing more white this spring, and I might lean into that this summer wherever I end up. I have a pair of baggy linen pants that I've been abusing the last few weeks, and that might become a personality trait soon. Because baggy's in, I think I'm re-upping on my loose-fitting pants. They're light and comfy. The silhouette of 'em is nice. I'm acting up in those."

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

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