My Morning Routine
⇾ Bruce Pask,
Bergdorf Goodman
Fashion Director
The art of looking and feeling good
If Bruce Pask looks familiar to you, it's probably because you've seen him featured in street style photos every fashion week. As dapper as he is knowledgable, the menswear fixture has been in the game nearly his whole adult life. He started in editorial—with tours of duty at GQ and T Magazine: The New York Times Style Magazine—before shifting focus to retail a few years ago when he joined Bergdorf Goodman. Now, as the men's fashion director, he's overseeing all kinds of exciting initiatives for the retailer. He was getting so many DMs about his style, that he opened his own corner within Bergdorf's, dubbed B. Shop, stocked with all the signature favorites he's been wearing for years. And this week, he debuted a new Men's Self-Care Shop, presenting a curated selection of products that will focus on improving skincare and grooming, sleep, post-work out, hair care, and internal health. We caught up with Pask to see how he starts his day with style.
The Series
Those moments between turning off the alarm and getting into our work routine can be the most defining 60 minutes of our day. Benjamin Franklin set a day's worth of plans by 5 am and Steve Jobs asked a simple question: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" Our rituals are a reflection of us. So we've ventured out to discover how some of our most influential and fruitful peers get started.
My Routine
I’m much more of a night owl.
I do not love waking up early, but it is a necessity. Usually, I'm waking up around 7:15, maybe 7:30 at the latest.
I do take my sleep fairly seriously.
I've found that I truly need eight hours of sleep to function my best, so I curb my nocturnal nature. But on weekends, I do like to stay up later having dinner with friends, watching movies and just reading and unwinding.
My nightstand, I’m afraid to say, is not orderly by any stretch.
But it is contained. Controlled chaos, if you will. I have my phone on my nightstand, along with my eyeglasses, wallet, keys, and a tray filled with too much change, random currency from trips abroad, a few receipts, and a cloth to clean my glasses.
An alarm is a necessity for anyone who loves their sleep.
I just use the one on my iPhone, but I do not hit snooze. I'm quick to get ready in the morning, so the timing is all quite specific, allowing me as much time to sleep as possible.
Once that alarm rings I’m up and head straight to the shower.
It's how I wake up. The time allows me to collect my thoughts and get prepared for the day. I then head into the kitchen where I will make breakfast. I then open up my laptop and read WWD and The Business of Fashion, take a look at emails and answer a few pressing ones before getting dressed.
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Breakfast is fairly simple.
I pour myself a bowl of cereal (a rotating menu of Cascadian Farm and Kashi), with some rice milk. I always add some wild Maine blueberries. I love them! I brought back 20 lbs of them this summer which I keep frozen, storing a small amount in the fridge that I replenish.
I don’t drink coffee.
Never did, really. I grew up in the desert so drinking hot beverages did not ever seem appealing to me.
I don’t actually spend a lot of time thinking about what I’ll wear for the day.
Before I go to bed, I'll take a quick look at the weather for the next day so I can dress accordingly. So after breakfast, I'll head into the bedroom to iron anything that needs ironing, get dressed, put my shoes on and then I'm ready to go. It all takes about 45 minutes.
That’s one of the great things about having a sort of uniform.
It frees one up from that thought process. I usually wear one of the numerous versions of a chore coat that I have, with a fine gauge turtleneck knit in fall and winter, and then in spring and summer I go with a full cut Comme Des Garçons Shirt in any one of the striped versions I have, and then one of my B. Shop full cut pleated pants in navy or khaki from a collaboration I did with Closed. For shoes, it's usually a Common Projects Achilles Low in any number of leather or suede colors, or Kith x Converse high tops. I do play with variations on this wardrobe theme when I find new pieces that I'm drawn to, trying a new jacket or sweater, etc. but the look is still quite consistent.
My day planning is a mix of digital and analog.
I do use a calendar that's connected with my email and contains all of my appointments, meetings, calls, etc. I also add tasks I need to complete so I can be clear about the time needed to accomplish them. But I also always keep a memo pad nearby where I scribble down notes and refer to them throughout the day.
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My approach to grooming had always been quite minimal.
But I have since developed a pretty healthy skin care regimen while researching products for our new Self-Care shop at Bergdorf Goodman. I wish I had started it years ago, but better late than never, right?
The pandemic forced us all to slow down in a meditative way.
For me, it also forced me to create a helpful regime for myself. Products that are clean, effective and transformative. For instance, my California deodorant by Corpus Naturals smells to me like Big Sur ... sea salt and citrus, white musk and jasmine. And at night, I finish everything off with a quick misting of Amly's Beauty Sleep silver rich facial mist. The UK-based company extracts water from a well on a farm that hasn't been tilled in over a hundred years so it has been entirely undisturbed, leaving the land and water absolutely pure. The scent is really beautiful and it truly does ease me into sleep.
I trim, I don’t shave.
I haven't actually shaved in more than twenty years! I have a trimmer which I use about once per week. I like to keep my beard quite short and neat.
Clockwise, from top left
Haute performance conditioner,
$47 by Iles Formula
Haute performance shampoo,
$38 by Iles Formula
California deodorant,
$24 by Corpus Naturals
Whitening Mint toothpaste,
$13.50 by Marvis
Honey Almond Flax Crunch,
$3.39 by Kashi
Enriched rice milk,
$3.99 by Rice Dream
Foaming cleanser,
$70 by Dr. Barbara Sturm
Hyaluronic acid serum,
$55 by The Organic Pharmacy
Face cream for men,
$215 by Dr. Barbara Sturm
Beauty Sleep face mist,
$78 by Amly
Haute
performance
conditioner,
$47 by Iles Formula
Haute performance
shampoo, $38
by Iles Formula
California deodorant,
$24 by Corpus Naturals
Foaming cleanser,
$70 by Dr. Barbara Sturm
Whitening Mint toothpaste,
$13.50 by Marvis
Hyaluronic acid serum,
$55 by The
Organic Pharmacy
Face cream
for men,
$215 by
Dr. Barbara Sturm
Beauty Sleep
face mist,
$78 by Amly
Enriched rice milk,
$3.99 by
Rice Dream
Honey Almond
Flax Crunch,
$3.39 by Kashi
Never leave
home without ...
Never leave home without ...
My trusty Moleskine notebook. I use the small size lined notebook with a hard cover, pen attached to the elastic. I take notes on everything and refer to them often. I have dozens of them from over the years.
Ruled pocket notebook, $13 by MoleskinePUR
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