Executive Producer, Interviewer, and Editor: Alex Hughes, Photographer: Troy Hallahan, Wardrobe Styling: Dylan Wayne
If you’ve been out in New York City over the last year, there’s a 99% chance that you’ve seen a fellow gay in a Lucas Stowe Brand tank top or body suit. The Bushwick fashion designer has been creating a wardrobe of unique essentials — — from skirts to speedos — that accentuate the body and are sexy, flirty, and attention-grabbing.
Lucas himself is a strikingly tall and handsome scion that can be picked out of a crowd not just because of his stature and good looks, but because he’s also probably sporting a design that you’ve had your eyes on from his shop.
As the designer is embarking on a new calendar year after a banner 2023, we sat down with him to discuss his designs, his fashion turn-ons, which other queer brands fill his closet, and what we can expect from him for summer 2024.
Read our interview and view the rest of our photoshoot with Lucas Stowe below. The interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
Lucas Stowe wearing Jacquemus suit, Lucas Stowe top, and Syro boots
So.Gay: To anyone who may not know much about you and your brand, tell us about you and Lucas Stowe Brand.
Lucas Stowe: I’m Canadian, I’ve been living in New York for two and a half years, I moved here during COVID, it was really crazy. I work for Steve Madden, that’s my day job, I’m a designer.
I’ve been working on my brand for, honestly, I want to say seven years now but when I was living in Montreal, it was really different. I was doing fashion week, it was more like a real fashion house, kind of.
And then COVID happened so I had that sparkly tank top, it’s one of my best sellers.
I didn’t have access to materials and stuff because of COVID but I had leftover fabric with that and then people really loved it so I started making those for friends. And then it really blew up.
My brand is [mainly] queer people, that’s really my audience. That’s who I want to dress, people from the community.
Just girls that want to look c*nt and want to party.
Honestly, I wanted to make clothes for me because there was nothing out there that like made sense. Whatever I want to wear, what my friends want to wear, like that’s kind of like how I get inspiration.
And now instead of doing full collections, I just do drops. So I’ll design for a couple of months, design something and then if I like it, I’ll just release it whenever I feel like it.
I do everything on my own –- all my e-com photography, some of my modeling, my production, I do everything that’s custom-made, I do it on my own.
So for example, I dressed like Sam Smith and all their dancers for their tour this summer, that I did myself because I wanted to make sure it was perfect.
So.Gay: I know you mentioned your former runway shows and I was gonna ask you, do you want to do that again here in New York for a future drop?
Lucas Stowe: I would love that – it would be such a dream. The thing is, it’s just a production like that is insane.
I was lucky because when I was in Montreal, I was a young designer so the runway show companies would sponsor me. It would be amazing and I would love doing that, but it’s just such a production. Let’s manifest that.
So.Gay: I found out about your designs NYC Pride 2023 – your diamond mesh tank top seemed to be on every gay body. Was there a point or is that the point where you’re literally like, okay, Lucas Stowe Brand is next level?
Lucas Stowe: Well, what was cool is that when –- especially during Pride when I was running into people wearing my stuff, and them knowing who I am because I literally designed the shirt they have on that was really, really cool.
The thing about that though is that the more people know who I am – the more [there are] those copies. And so now it’s really crazy there’s a lot of fake brands that will literally take my pictures and put them on their website and sell it for cheaper. That’s frustrating. But I’m also like that’s the industry, that’s whatever, that’s what happens that’s part of the game.
So that’s why I’m trying to always produce new things.
So.Gay: What is great, too, is so much of clothing out there right now is so expensive or so cheap, but you’re very in the affordably priced. I couldn’t believe that your body suit that you just wore was $60.
Is pricing going into your brand strategy — being able to be available for everyone?
Lucas: Yeah, it’s really complicated though with fashion is that the [cheaper your costs are], the more you don’t know where the labor is from, [you don’t know] where the materials from [or] who’s making it.
I do produce some of the stuff in China. So that kind of sucks in a way because I wish I was there to see those things but the industry right now is like kind of impossible.
It’s cool because I am making cheaper things.
The only issue with that as well is that I also package everything and I send everything myself.
So let’s say I sell a bodysuit for $60. I’ll sell way more, but I make a bit less money and then I have to spend all this time packaging.
So it’s kind of like, where do I draw the line of like price versus how I want to be accessible?
But I [do] know that my audience, the New York, the Miami, the LA gays will are willing to spend a little more to more to serve a look.
Especially if it’s special and different.
Lucas Stowe wearing Rotate Birger Christensen blazer, Lucas Stowe skirt, Presley Oldham necklace, and Syro boots
So.Gay: You mentioned Sam Smith. I also saw Adam Lambert wearing you.
Lucas Stowe: Adam Lambert, love him. Whenever I release something, he’ll DM me and he’ll be like, yeah, send it to me. Which is really cool to have support from another queer person.
I did a mood board of my target audience like maybe like five years ago, just because I really want to dress queer people. And he was on it.
And it’s a really crazy full circle moment when he follows me, and DMs me, and he wears my stuff casually and it’s really cool.
So.Gay: You manifested it.
Lucas Stowe: I know. But I also worked hard though. I know manifesting is a thing.
But let’s also not forget that reaching out is really cool. And just doing the work like I know social media is super toxic and crazy, but it’s so important to my business. It’s my biggest tool, honestly.
If I didn’t have that, like, there’s no way I could cheat what I’m doing right now.
So.Gay: What’s your sign?
Lucas Stowe: I’m a Taurus. I have the same birthday as Cher. And then my other two are Leo.
So.Gay: Are there any other celebrities this year that you’d love to see in Lucas Stowe Brand?
Lucas Stowe: Oh, my god. I’ve been trying to dress Lil Nas X. Like I really want to dress him. It’s just hard. Some of these LA people, it’s really hard to get to them.
I also really want to dress Troye Sivan. I know he’s not really my aesthetic, but he could do a little glam. I feel like it would be fierce.
So.Gay: So you ended 2023 with the skirt and then you had so many other launches and drops last year. Is there anything you can tease for us for 2024?
Lucas Stowe: Yeah, I have some really cool stuff coming out. I hope people love it. I’m trying to do really more unique stuff.
I have a rhinestone top that’s mesh and see-through with stones on it. I’m also doing more bodysuits because I did really well. And then I’m doing some really special things because how my kind of calendar works, is it works with festivals and shows.
For example, during Beyoncé[‘s tour], I had a silver mesh top. Beyoncé was like, I want everyone to wear silver. She said I want everyone to look like a disco ball or something. And then my stuff sold out so quickly. So I have to kind of gauge with the calendars.
I know that when Beyoncé had her tour, this summer was insane because of the amount of people who bought my stuff for the Renaissance tour.
And then for Coachella, basically my goal is to have more skin showing.
So.Gay: What is your favorite vacation destination right now?
Lucas Stowe: Right now? Oh, my God. I’m going to say last year, girl, this summer, I went to Fire Island five times. It’s so fun. It’s so fun. Yeah, I love it. It was my third year, I think going. But last year I really popped off.
So.Gay: Do you have any favorite restaurants or bars in New York City right now?
Lucas Stowe: You know what, I go to The Box a lot. As crazy as that is. When you know people who work there, it’s really fierce. And it’s crazy.
So.Gay: Do you remember the first New York City gay bar you went to?
Lucas Stowe: Oh my God, the first. Oh my God, I don’t know. Because I would visit New York when I lived in Canada. I think it was, I remember going to Stonewall. Yeah, I think that’s the first one I went to because it’s famous.
So.Gay: Do you have a favorite gay bar anywhere in New York, Montreal, anywhere in the world?
Lucas Stowe: Ooh, favorite gay bar anywhere. Oh, my God. What’s that one in Mykonos? Jackie O. Honestly, it’s really commercial, but like the shows there by the pool with the sunset – girl, it’s giving. It’s amazing. Yeah, magical.
So.Gay: Do you have any fashion turn-ons with guys?
Lucas Stowe: Gender-bending. I think that’s so fierce. Just do it. Gays are so, I mean, people in general are so scared. No one gives a shit. Like, do it, take a risk, and someone will be obsessed. Do you know what I mean? Taking the risk is very important, I find.
So.Gay: What are your fashion turn-offs in guys?
Lucas Stowe: A fashion turn-off is comfort. Don’t give me comfort, mama. You’re doing it wrong if you’re comfortable. I always think that.
So.Gay: Who is your current male celebrity crush?
Lucas Stowe: I really like the Hemsworth brothers. Yeah, that’s like dream threesome.
So.Gay: If you could be the Creative Director of any other fashion house today, do you have one that you would immediately do it for?
Lucas Stowe: Let me think. It’s hard because what I do is pretty niche, but I would want to do something like Alexandre Vauthier or something. That’s the thing. It’s like none of them are really gay right now. You know what I mean?
So if I were to do like a really big one, I would love to like revamp like Tom Ford. I think that’d be fierce.
I’d just make it super gay, and it’d be fierce, because Tom Ford is super sexy and up my alley. Yeah, I think I would love to be the creative director of Tom Ford.
Lucas Stowe wearing Lucas Stowe top and Vetements jeans.
So.Gay: Besides your own brand, what other brands fill your closet?
Lucas Stowe: A lot of gay brands, honestly.
So like the brand Syro, their shoes, I like to wear them all the time. I think it’s fierce. They do extended sizing, and I wear a size 14 women’s, so that’s the best.
Kingsley, a New York based brand, which I love.
I think that those are two big ones in my closet.
So.Gay: One, you have a growing brand, two, you also have a full time day job. How are you balancing? Are you just working all weekends?
Lucas Stowe: Yeah, I’m one of those people who loves working. I’m a workaholic. It brings me joy. I love going to bed exhausted. I love having a list and checking shit off. I love organization and all that.
It’s a lot of work though. Sometimes I’m like, oh, I’m missing out on life in New York and stuff. But I’m kind of able to go out and kind of make it like a business opportunity sometimes.
Like Donatella Versace once said, I don’t go out for fun. I go out for business. And that’s kind of how I think about it. Yeah, it’s fun.
If I’m going to go to a gay event a party or something in Brooklyn, I’ll be able to see what people are wearing, get the vibe, like what the new stuff is, you know. Or I’ll wear my stuff and then meet people that way.
So.Gay: And you’re a walking advertisement.
Lucas Stowe: Exactly, exactly.
You can shop Lucas Stowe’s latest collection at LucasStowe.com and follow his brand on Instagram at @LucasStoweBrand
