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When a designer's got a good gig at a brand but wants to try something on his own terms, the result is more often than not a parting of ways. It's a true statement but most fashion designers aren't in the position of Louis Wong and most brands aren't A.P.C. Founded by the one and only Jean Touitou, the purveyor of Parisian cool and cult denim counts Wong as co-designer with Touitou himself and and A.P.C. art director Judith Touitou. So when interest in a side project arose, it was Jean's idea to offer Wong one within the A.P.C. fold. To quote the president and creative director, "when you have a nice house, it is only natural to give someone room within it."

The outcome is Louis W. for A.P.C., a lineup of outerwear built on the foundation of that equally elegant and rebellious icon of menswear--the leather jacket. Inspired by the styles he saw in '70s French cinema, Wong's initial collection is comprised of three silhouettes, an aviator, a bomber, and a motorcycle jacket, each rendered in deerskin or exclusive wool fabrications and finished with the kinds of trimmings you'd expect from someone so captivated by the originals: quilted linings, decorative ribbing, and Talon brand zippers. The capsule is hitting stores at this very moment so we caught up with the designer to discuss how the line came to be in the first place, hunting for the perfect zipper, and why Wong has no problem picking favorites when it comes to his designs.

GQ: How did you start to discuss this line with Jean at A.P.C. in the first place?
Louis Wong: I've been at A.P.C. for eight years so at some point you end up having a really close relationship. It's a small team and I think Jean had enough trust in me. He already offered me something like that a few years ago, about maybe launching a side project, but A.P.C. is such a big project already and I didn't want to do something just for the sake of it. So I just had this idea in mind to focus on one specific item.

At first I thought I would really like to do knitwear but that's already such a big part of A.P.C. and I wanted to focus on something different from the A.P.C. range. Jean started in leather actually, his father was in the leather business, and so he was really keen on the idea.

GQ: When did the collection go from being something you were discussing to a reality?
Wong: Just before last summer I had a discussion with Jean and basically before that point I didn't really have an idea of what I wanted to do. But the imagery was already in my head of French movies.