Early in Craig’s career, there was a crossroads between music and fashion. He says that he chose fashion, but in a way, he chose theater – “there is a non-reality [about clothes]. You can sew up your own reality.” The amount of imagination and passion that goes into Craig’s customized clothing is more worthy of a screenplay. The ankle-length mohair toggle sweater was designed while envisioning himself as a grumpy older man – he’s sitting by himself in a house where no one comes to visit him, he can’t pay the bills, he’s carrying a shotgun, and blowing holes in the wall. By then, he says, the knit cardigan will have had just the right amount of aging, as it would be if it were in Cold Mountain – “you gotta get the good scrapes, holes, and smell…eventually this sweater will smell like whiskey mixed with mohair.” As a designer, Craig draws upon the good taste of his ancestors, whose roots are deep in authentic Mexican-American “wrangler, rancher” culture (they are real “Spanish-influenced cowboys, with ponchos, hard-pressed clothes, and flat-brimmed hats”). I love his childhood story of hiding his Converse sneakers in the bushes outside of his house (that was in a “windy, dirty town”), because he was expected to dress more formally with suits and bolo ties. Today, the sneakers are long-gone, unless he changes the script to less weighty characters. Craig’s three-piece suits are inspired by criminals like John Dillinger, and his cavalry-twill cape by legends such as Ichabod Crane.

If you like Craig, you might also enjoy Michael Arenella, Thomas Khadafy, or Cator Sparks.