Evan Mock Talks His Fashion Brand Wahine, Skating, and 'Gossip Girl' Season 2
Gossip Girl star Evan Mock's new clothing line Wahine embraces his Hawaiian heritage through his own stylistic lens.
Last year, Evan Mock made his acting debut in the HBO Max reboot of Gossip Girl, catapulting him into New York City's latest cropping of It boys. Through his striking style and effortlessly cool attitude, the skater/model/photographer seamlessly made his way into the fashion industry, from attending shows to walking the Met Gala red carpet. Now, in a more personal endeavor, Mock has partnered with stylist Donté McGuine to launch their clothing brand Wahine.
Inspired by Mock's own upbringing on the island of Oahu, the brand highlights Hawaiian culture while also drawing on elements of surf and skate style that align with the actor's personal fashion choices. L'OFFICIEL spoke to the actor about how the brand came together and his personal style, as well as what viewers can expect from the upcoming season of Gossip Girl.
L'OFFICIEL: Well, can you just start off by telling me a little bit about how Wahine came about?
EVAN MOCK: Yeah, so I mean, basically everything that I do project-wise or creative outlet-wise, I try to glorify Hawaii. And starting a brand that kind of showed my outlook and my take on “Hawaii fashion” or just like the things that I grew up wearing and the things I grew up seeing. Basically, the center of how I wanted to start it was just to come up with things and create things or recreate things that I will personally wear, and I have personally worn before. Um, I mean basically it was 12 pieces for my actual closet and I just remade it with a little bit different cuts, different colors, different graphics, different materials, but it all kind of correlates into how I was brought up in Hawaii. Things that I've seen growing up there, things I wore growing up there.
L'O: And is that sort of what inspired this central ethos around specifically Hawaiian surf and skate culture?
EM: Yeah, I mean, that's my lifestyle, so everything that you see is inspired by the ocean. Inspired by skateboarding. Obviously, those two things are such a gigantic if not the biggest part of my life. Especially with my upbringing but yeah, I just wanted to make stuff that I want to wear and I'm wearing a piece of it now. So, it's cool to see people out in the wild wearing it and enjoying it. It's kind of just like a way for me to share how I was brought up and like share the culture. It's kind of a different look on fashion, and there's not that many brands, if any that are kind of now in a bicoastal in a way. It's like Hawaiian culture and fashion, but I'm also living in New York, so there's a bit of that too, and me getting inspired by seeing outfits here and. I don’t know. It's a mixture of all the things, but we’ll see.
L'O: Have you already seen people out wearing Wahine?
EM: I actually have and it's funny because we just sent all this stuff out a few days ago and I saw a couple of people wearing it out in the wild. It was literally the day all the shipments got sent to their house, so that means they're kind of just you know getting the package, opening it up, and wearing it that day. So that was pretty cool. They're all nice little notions or a head nod to them being really stoked to wear the shit, because it's nice.
L'O: You're a skater, a photographer, and an actor, but it seems like you've always had this love of fashion, so it was starting a clothing line something you always wanted to do?
EM: Yeah, I mean, I just want to be creative in any way I can, and clothing was kind of the easy way to get those feelings or expressions or inspirations out. Yeah, clothing, I mean my love for clothing and fashion has grown tremendously in the last couple years, especially moving to New York. It definitely is heightened. But clothing just seemed like the easy way for me to like just get things out to the world. And to be able to just collaborate with friends who have other brands as well. It’s just fun to be able to honor work creatively with your friend on that under the spectrum.
L'O: Looking at your own style, you and Donté have created some incredibly exciting and bold looks, whether it's red carpet or just out in the wild. How did you two meet and start working together?
EM: Uh, we met in the lobby of The Valerie a couple of years ago, and, uh we kind of just grew as friends after that, and you know, kind of always coming through the idea around in the last year and a half. So, we kind of fully finally just pulled the trigger and did it but also it just felt pretty natural to just, you know, start something with someone you hang out with a lot, and he does all the things that I do not have the time to but also puts in a great input on why we shouldn't trim two things. I usually disagree with what he wants, but that's how partnership goes. Yeah, it's been a great experience working with someone that you know can get the job done and yeah, it was kind of just one night where we sat down and we're like we gotta just do this already. We're talking about it for how long now so, we might as well just try it out and see how it goes.
L'O: One night, a glass of wine, and you start a business.
EM: It's kind of really how all the greatest ideas come about.
L'O: How would you define your personal style?
EM: Oh, I hate this question. Just kidding. No, I mean, I think, for me personally, I think my style is always changing. I'm always constantly inspired by things and yeah, I can't really put it into words, but I think it's just a feeling. I don't know. It just depends where you're at as well. Like if I'm in Hawaii. I never wear a shirt, barely even wear shoes unless I'm going skating. So, it changes for I mean I think my surroundings really kind of dictate where I'm going to wear or what my style is going to be, but I think, like I said, it's just a feeling. Honestly, it's not really a genre or category, [it's] kind of just what makes sense for me.
L'O: Will we be seeing any Wahine looks in the next season of Gossip Girl?
EM: You actually will, yeah. I think it'll be towards Episodes 9 and 10. Yeah, so that's our next block we're on. We're shooting [Episodes 7 and 8] right now, but the clothes will be in Episodes 9 and 10, which is good. We finished the year or the season off with Some clothes that I made. I actually don't know who's going to wear them yet. But I would assume I'll be wearing a piece or two and then some of the other cast as well.
L'O: Besides your character Aki, is there any other character in the show whose wardrobe you would want to borrow from?
EM: I really like Bode. And Thomas, who plays Max, wears a lot of cool Bode jackets. So probably him honestly.
L'O: Is there anything you can tease about the next season?
EM: I'm not sure what I'm actually allowed to say I don't want to get in trouble but I know that season one was kind of a sneak peek of how crazy it can be in Season 2. I think just everything gets heightened. Everything is on a whole other scale. There's a lot of gossip, obviously. There's a lot of trouble, a lot of tangled-up situations. And yeah, I think this season we're all in the groove now. I mean, I feel like filming season one through kind of the thick of COVID was a really interesting experience, especially for me 'cause I've never done anything on that scale before or acted in general. As you can probably tell. It's definitely, yeah, it's just a heightened version of season one. I think everything just turns up so much more and it's a lot crazier.
