Bretman Rock Feels His Best When He's Shirtless

There are plenty of beauty influencers comfortable with staying in their lane, and then there are those who become full-on forces, constantly pushing themselves and their followers to explore new interests and passions. These are the capital-P-Personalities, whose names are no longer just synonymous with Morphe palettes or haul videos, but with all types of creative expression and countless projects. With his pivot to fashion, Bretman Rock is firmly in the latter camp. 

The 24-year-old influencer started his online career creating comedy videos on Vine before transitioning to beauty content on YouTube. Since the viral contouring video that launched him to stardom in 2015 (sadly now deleted), Rock has hit some major career milestones, including a Playboy magazine cover and being named one of Time’s "30 Most Influential Teens" in 2017. Most recently, Rock teamed up with Klarna, a global shopping service, as the brand's global “ambaddiesor”, to shoot a YouTube content series in Sweden.

Above all, Rock is a fashion icon through and through, so we caught up with him to chat about everything style. Below, he shares his most treasured pieces, his biggest fashion regrets, and why he feels his best without a shirt on.

 The "Outfit" He Feels Best In

"It's really not fashion-y, but what makes me feel like me, is anytime I'm shirtless, honestly. Because when I'm home—I live in Hawaii—and it's so warm and humid here all the time. So, I'm usually always shirtless. The drama would go into what I'm wearing as my bottoms. Sometimes I'll switch it off by wearing a skirt all around the house. I wore a skirt to the beach the other day."

The Wardrobe Staple He Can't Live Without

"Well, it doesn't really count as wardrobe, but if I had to choose, I would say my hair has to always be done. But if that doesn't count, my number one wardrobe staple is a sexy pair of underwear. Only I know what's underneath, so I could literally wear whatever I want—but only I know what I'm wearing underneath, you know what I mean? So, I would say a sexy pair of underwear makes me feel like the baddest bitch."

His Thoughts On Gold

"On me—I have to emphasize that this is on me because I don't want people to think I'm a gold hater—I love silver or white gold on me. I don't have a necklace on today, but I usually only keep silver."

The One Piece He's Held Onto from Past Jobs

"Oh my gosh, my stylist would probably tell you that I steal every time I have an iconic look! I always try to steal something from the look, whether it's just the necklace or a piece of a fallen feather that came out of a piece." 

His Personal Style In Three Words

 "He, she, they."

His Style Evolution

"My style really has changed after I met my fashion godmother, Brian Miller, who has been my stylist for almost a year and a half now. I've always had a sense of style, but because I was so immersed in the beauty industry, I wasn't really educated on the fashion industry as much as I would have wanted to be. And with Brian's brain and my sense of style, I feel like it just changed. But, for the most part, it also hasn't really changed—It's still very much me. Whenever Brian and I get dressed, my favorite things are pairing vintage pieces with newer pieces and marrying the two. "

His First Major Fashion Investment Piece

"I feel like it's everybody's first fashion investment piece, but the first big fashion girl purchase that I ever made was the Speedy bag from Louis Vuitton. It's very inexpensive for LV, and my mom has now acquired the bag.

"I made that purchase with my very first big boy check, and I was still in my senior year of high school. I felt pretty proud of myself, and I actually even used it as my school bag here and there. And then the checks started coming in, and I acquired more LV stuff. I actually got a little backpack for myself after that."

His Favorite Fashion Memory

"Growing up, my dad was obsessed with the band Queen—he always played all these CDs at my cousin's computer shop. Some of them had music videos, and I was obsessed with the "Break Free" music video because they were dressed in drag. I remember watching these men with beards in drag, and I was like eight years old, and there was just something that I was obsessed with.

"I saw myself in Freddy—I'm not saying I'm Freddy Mercury by any means—but I saw a sense of myself, and I saw myself in that music video early on in my life. That was my very first fashion awakening where I was like, I kind of wanna wear a pink tube top with titties."

His Biggest Fashion Regrets

"Honestly, following the trends. I remember, I thought I was cool back in middle school, wearing Tumblr pieces at the time. You lose a sense of your identity when you're following trends because everyone's doing it. It's not really a fashion regret, but I would say it was the most I [ever] felt basic, and I think that is a fashion regret in itself—when you feel basic."

The Three Things He'd Keep In His Closet for the Rest of His Life

"If I could only have three things in my life that are in my closet right now, they would have to be pieces that I have worn for fashion shows, like the Jacqmeus piece I wore when he did a fashion show here at the Secret Beach. I got to keep that, and it's still in the bag; I haven't even washed it yet because I still want it to smell like that day. That piece was really sentimental—it was a green little moment.

"I also would keep this Balenciaga chain dress. I never, ever got to wear it, but it was about $12,000, and I'm going to keep it as an archive piece. And the last piece would be the look that I had worn for my Playboy cover last October."

His Fashion Icon

"At the moment, I have a lot of fashion icons, and I feel like if I started listing them off right now, it'd be a lot. But my OG fashion icons would probably be Freddie Mercury and Prince. I love those two. Currently, I love and enjoy what Yoon and Ambush are doing. I love Asian representation, and they're fashion designers that I've been really loving.

"Robert Wun is also really great, and I also enjoy Dion Lee. Anyone Asian in fashion right now is killing it, I think."

How He Stays Grounded

"I'm such a big family guy, and I'm also such a routine person. And so what keeps me sane or present is, honestly, just keeping my routine. I like to work out and meditate every morning, and I journal. And not forgetting to visit my family here and there, which is really not that hard because my mom's a very needy Filipino woman who needs to see her son every week. Otherwise, she thinks I'm dying. But just visiting my mom as often as I can and keeping up the routine that I have."