Finding Identity Through Clothing

For GQ’s global fashion correspondent Samuel Hine, clothes have always been more than fabric; they were a form of identity long before they became his career. Growing up as an identical twin in Chicago, he learned early that style could be a language of individuality. That instinct eventually led him to New York, a meeting with Will Welch (through a friend of his grandmother, no less), and what’s now a decade-long career shaping how we read and interpret menswear.

In this conversation, we talk about the evolution of fashion criticism, the rebirth of men’s style, and why GQ’s “new new masculinity” reflects more than just trend but a cultural recalibration. Hine shares his thoughts on writing as both love and labor, the designers moving fashion forward with integrity over hype, and what he calls a quiet “masculine renaissance” where men might not all be okay, but at least they’re dressing the part.

“I never thought of being visible or outward-facing as a strategy. I just always felt that being out in the world—seeing what people are wearing, what they’re talking about—is part of the job. It’s not just a role you perform, it’s a person you become.” - Samuel Hine 

Episode Highlights:

• Finding identity through clothes — Growing up as an identical twin in Chicago’s North Shore, Samuel used clothing to differentiate himself, from refusing blue jeans to obsessing over Oxford shirts and shaggy sweaters.
  

• From Chinese and history to fashion — A self-described reader before writer, he majored in Chinese and history, then realized fashion could be his intellectual project as much as his personal style.
  

• Early media spark — Running his high school radio station and interviewing Liz Phair showed him media could be a passport into worlds far from his suburban life.
  

• Studying men’s fashion criticism — An independent study traced men’s fashion writing from Oscar Wilde to Tumblr, convincing him there was space to take menswear as seriously as he did.
  

• The GQ break — A friend of his grandmother connected him to Will Welch; he started as Welch’s assistant, then grew with the brand across print, web, social, and events.
  

• What the global correspondent does — “Go where the action is.” He covers the men’s and co-ed weeks worldwide, files features and fast leads, collaborates with 13 GQ markets, and lives between planes and pages.
  

• Show Notes and niche obsession — His GQ newsletter lets him cover the hyper-specific: show reviews, underground designers, and off-runway lore, building a direct pipe to readers beyond SEO.
  

• Who’s winning now — He praises Ralph Lauren for steady world-building over clout-chasing, and singles out Dario Vitale’s Versace debut for feeling genuinely fresh, young, and wearable.
  

• Who would matter without hype — Designers who would make clothes regardless of money or press: Eckhaus Latta, Kiko Kostadinov, Telfar. Purpose and compulsion over noise.
  

• What’s contemporary now — Print. As an antidote to algorithmic brain-rot, magazines channel human taste and help readers develop their own; the medium feels newly vital.

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