Women’s fashion is so much more about fantasy, adopting a certain persona one day and another the next, while us guys have less room to maneuver. Does that make dressing men less fun?
With guys, the decisiveness is easier to work with: things either work or don’t work. And it’s nice to be able to present a new style perspective to guys, and for them to embrace it.

We need to be nudged a little bit to try new things.
You know, wearing a cool pair of shoes was not necessarily acceptable for guys 10 years ago, but now it’s OK for guys to have more than five pairs of shoes—two pairs of sneakers, one pair of black, one pair of brown, and maybe something outside the box. I think guys are just as much collectors now as girls are.

You’ve got a sizable a wardrobe. How do you decide what to put on each day?
The strange thing is, I’ve worn everything in that closet. For the most part, my clothes are very well worn. I don’t really buy a lot of extra stuff. I don’t spend money just for the sake of having a lot of stuff. I actually buy things that I really want to wear. Just because something is a couple years old doesn’t mean it’s dead to me. I still wear my Thom Browne suits that I bought four years ago.

You arrived on the scene with a defined look—including your signature bowtie—but you always seem to be experimenting.
I never intentionally put on a bowtie for it to become any type of thing—not that it was necessarily successful—but it was all just kind of stuff that I was testing out, and ways that I felt that I could freshen up my look and my wardrobe. And as I’ve had a little bit more time in the fashion world, I think my confidence has built to where I can wear an orange suit or a sequined tux jacket. I’m a firm believer in testing the boundaries.

And I believe in evolution. You don’t have to stay stuck in a style. I don’t have to stay stuck in cricket sweaters and a bowtie every day. I can dip my toe into colors, and I can dip my toe into minimalism, and I can dip my toe into the rocker guy. It’s kind of nice, once you’re known for something, to throw people off, and not do the thing that people are expecting.

Are there any photos of “Goth Brad” lurking out there on Facebook?
Oh, not lurking on Facebook, but lurking in the book I did with Mickey Rapkin [Born to Be Brad, March]. I’ve been through so many phases. I would watch the club kids on Geraldo in the ’90s when Michael Alig and all those crazy kids were doing their thing, and I so wanted to be a part of that—and so incredibly wasn’t—but tried to do my version of it. Then I drifted into a Marc Jacobs grunge phase, which worked really well for me, and I immersed myself in the freaks at school and finally found my people. And then when I finally came out and started going to Toronto—and was into the whole gay ’90s fashion vibe—I cut off all my hair and wore a Caesar haircut and wore skin-tight clothing. Really unappealing, when I look back on it, but I went through it.

You’re based in L.A. but spend a lot of time in New York. Are the style differences between the two cities narrowing?
I’m probably going to get in trouble for this, but guys on the East Coast just dress better. They look better, they carry themselves a different way. I say this in the second episode. I think everybody basically just wants to look f--kable. On the East Coast, you’re more in contact with people on a consistent basis—I feel like guys always have that on their radar.

Plus in L.A., everyone has a car, which is sort of the ultimate accessory.
The car is the ultimate accessory and also the ultimate mobile closet.

You can just do wardrobe changes sitting in traffic on the 405.
Exactly. That’s what traffic is for. Wardrobe changes.

You’re on the road a lot—what’s your strategy for traveling in style?
I bring all of my favorite things at the moment. I’m a firm believer in starting off your trip looking presentable—I just don’t understand why people need to dress like they’re going to a pajama party to be on a four-and-a-half hour flight. 

In terms of packing, I set out a rack, and I put out all of the things that I want to take, and then I edit from there. Because when you actually see it all together, it’s like, “Do I actually need that neon raspberry dress shirt? I probably don’t.” And I do usually try to bring carry on, because there’s nothing I like less than checking a bag.

What are your favorite things right now?
I’m not going anywhere without my Michael Bastian for GANT cords. I’m also bringing my new Burberry tassel loafers with the big sole on them, which is going to be my January/February shoe, because I won’t slip around, and I also just got a pair of Swarovski-encrusted Ferragamo laceups.

Wait, didn’t I see those in the video tour of your house on the Bravo site?
No, those are my Louboutins.

Ah, right. Why limit yourself to one crystal-encrusted pair of shoes?
I have many pairs, and I actually intend to collect more. 

Your first Gilt MAN sale, which we worked together on last year, was built around offbeat combinations—high and low, classy and casual. What can we expect this time around?
They’re all kinds of things that I would want to purchase, or would want to have in my wardrobe. And it’s also curated in a way that the pieces all work together. I know how I would put them together, now it’s up to the Gilt lover to put them together.

“It’s a Brad Brad World” airs Mondays at 10 p.m. EST on Bravo.