“Fashion in some people’s
eyes is . . . super-indulgent.
For me, it’s just clothes to
be worn.”

By RUTH LA FERLA

Don’t tell Alexander Wang that blue is the new black or that wedge-heel boots are the season’s must-have. Such airy edicts would most likely make him laugh. “No one talks like that anymore,” said Mr. Wang .

“Fashion in some people’s eyes is very untouchable and super-indulgent,” he said. “For me, it’s just clothes to be worn. And at the end of the day, the point is to sell the product.”

That sounds pretty unsentimental, coming as it does from fashion’s latest It Child, a lanky, tousled 25-year-old design-school dropout who, in a scant five years, has jumped from toting garment bags for Vogue to mapping out the vision behind a $25 million family business that is growing quickly.

Mr. Wang’s aggressively street-inflected collections are as avidly monitored by fashion insiders as they are by the shoppers who snap up his leather leggings, draped jersey dresses and biker vests. Mr. Wang’s success is partly an outgrowth of his unstudiedly sexy aesthetic, a tough but sultry look that is as much his stock in trade as his signature filmy T-shirts.

His style is “humorously slutty,” said Sally Singer, the fashion features director of Vogue. “He gives you that effortless, languid look that is the province of the young and the club-going.”

But lately his sophisticated shapes and reasonable prices are now appealing to a mature population of bankers, teachers and Botoxed socialites who aspire to his brand of urban cool.

No need to tell Veronica Chu, a makeup artist in Manhattan . “Most of us aren’t a Size 2,” Ms. Chu said. “It’s nice to be able to wear sexy but comfortable clothes that are not overly girly. I’m kind of over that look.”

Mr. Wang demonstrates a mature grasp of commercial realities. “Ever since the business has launched, it’s been very measured,” said Jennifer Wheeler, the vice president for designer apparel at Nordstrom. “ His deliveries are steady, and his quality is consistent. He hasn’t gone through some of the growing pains new designers can go through if they have success right off the bat.”

Mr. Wang runs his mini-empire without backers or benefit of a family fortune. He works with his mother; his sister- in law, Aimie Wang, an accountant; and his brother, Dennis Wang, who has a background in international business development.

“Alexander is the ultimate shopper,” Dennis Wang said. “He’s very aware of what’s out there - the different looks, the different price points. He has a very innate sense, a clarity of vision, of where he sees the company going. ”

Growing up in San Francisco, where his parents owned a packaging company, Mr. Wang dreamed of traveling to Paris and London “to check out the stores.” In his teens he visited London, taking in a summer course at Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design, spawning ground for Alexander Mc- Queen, among others. He said he found school, including Parsons, which he briefly attended in New York, exasperating. “What was missing was how would I be able to execute my ideas into a business,” he said. “I knew from Day 1 I wanted to do a lifestyle brand.”

To Mr. Wang, it meant catering to a constituency of skinny, loose-limbed school friends and fashion muses . Close inspection reveals that he has incorporated their after-hours uniforms - sweat pants, slouchy T-shirts, shredded jeans - into his designs .

“He is real,” Ms. Wheeler said. “He’s not having to create some mystique.”

Mr. Wang himself seems taken aback by his swiftly rising fortunes. Smiling, he said: “It’s, like, weird to see my name on things.”


MICHAEL FALCO FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES