At 58, Brad Pitt told Otessa Moshfegh in the cover story for GQ’s August issue, he’s entering what he considers to be the “last semester or trimester” of his career. That means picking up new hobbies, rethinking his work, and—yes—experimenting with his look. While promoting his latest movie Bullet Train in Europe over the last few days, he’s been wearing a string of very funky custom outfits, which were revealed to be created by private-label designer Haans Nicholas Mott, that seem to speak to all of these things at once. In brief remarks emailed to GQ, Mott gave us an inside look at his work with one of the biggest stars on earth.

Mott started his referral-only private clothing practice in early 2010, and also co-founded the ready-to-wear label Anecho with fellow designer Anastasia Khodkina in 2015. His process, according to a representative for the designer, is rigorous and intimate, in order to yield clothing “with outcomes determined by the individuals inhabiting the garments.” In Pitt’s case, the designer collaborated with the actor directly: “i love working with mr pitt because he has a clear sense of how he wants to be in the world and we make work in that space, i.e. mr pitt proposing an espresso linen skirt to go with the linen jacket,” Mott tells GQ, in all lowercase, via email.

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