Before the rocking and rolling on the runway, there were some smiles…and wigs.

A behind the scenes look at the Costume National SS’13 show in Milan for Fashion Week.

There’s really two answers to that question. The wolfman’s name is Craig and he is a regular character of critically acclaimed visual artist, performer and director Rob Roth who has been written about in The New York Times and works as a regular creative collaborator with Debbie Harry. His work has been exhibited at a variety of venues including the the Whitney Museum of American Art, New Museum for Contemporary Art, Performance Space122, Abrons Art Center, Galapagos Art Space, Museum of Arts and Design and Deitch Projects. But to downtown New Yorker’s he’s better known as a founding member of Click + Drag—the now infamous Saturday night at renowned NYC club Mother. With such an awesome career under his belt, we were more than honored when Rob agreed to bring his wolfy creation, Craig, to the launch of our May/June issue. After the party, we sat down with Rob to find out a little more about what causes a man to don full on wolfman make up, what the statement behind it really means and also got a sweet tip about a possible upcoming collaboration with one of our fave brands, Costume National!

The making of the photoshoot “American Boy” from our May/June 2012 issue featuring model Jamie Wise.
Video by Davide Vagni Photography by Giorgio Codazzi and Styling by Elisabetta Cavatota

A new CoSTUME NATIONAL store opened up in New York’s Soho (150 Greene Street) which made the perfect excuse for us to leave the office and go for a visit. Its big, its spacious and the perfect home of CN’s minimal, rock & roll designs. That’s what the press release told us, that’s what we saw in the pictures they sent, and that, readers, is the absolute truth. But what wasn’t spilled in ink was told to us by the fine people who staff the store. Plans are in the works for two noble undertakings—first, that the long white wall along the entryway will soon be used as a rotating gallery of fine art and second, that a grand fête is in the works to celebrate the opening for sometime this summer. In the meantime, check out pics of the store and of some super sparkly shoes after the jump.