You’d think the tough economy will slow down celebrity designers. Well, maybe some, but that’s not the case with pop icon Justin Timberlake. His clothing line, William Rast, has launched an aggressive global retail expansion. On November 1st William Rast opened 3 stores in California, heralding the launch of 40 to 50 units by year 2012.

Images via WWD

Now you can visit the newly opened shops at Westfield Century City shopping mall, Westfield Valley Fair shopping mall in San Jose and an outlet store at the Desert Hills Premium Outlets in Cabazon. Next year, stores are planned to be opened in Chicago, New York, San Diego, Las Vegas, Miami and Scottsdale, Arizona. Kicking its way into the international waters, William Rast will also invade Germany, the United Kingdom and Japan. WWD also reported that you can expect to see the brand’s introduction of shoes!

Unlike other celebrity brands, William Rast almost has no visible sign of Justin Timberlake in its stores. Stepping out of the cliche is done deliberately to distance the brand from the cult of personality that often swarms a celebrity brand. Colin Dyne, chief executive officer of People’s Liberation, the mother ship of the brand stated:

“We’ve always made sure that it’s about the product first. We use Justin in the right ways. He was in our first ad campaign and he’ll be in our next ad campaign.”

We think William Rast is way cool from the start and this season, we managed to fall in love with all of their pieces. But here are our two favorites:

William Rast Waistcoat, $195.00

William Rast Outerwear Jacket, $395.oo

Show William Rast today!

Other than taking viewers behind for a tour within the William Rast premises, JT also showed the new William Rast collection for men and women.  We fell in love instantly with this:

It’s the William Rast Ruffled Vest and William Rast Scarlet Shorts.  Take a closer look of both:

William Rast Ruffled Vest, $198

William Rast Scarlet Shorts, $167

JT said that our President inspired him in making his William Rast collection.  Well President or not, we like ‘em, and we’re glad that William Rast finally launches its Spring/Summer 2009 collection online!

Source

Justin Timberlake appeared on Jimmy Fallon’s new Late Night Show.  The singer / celebrity designer reminisced some memorable moments with Fallon when they appeared at SNL on the Bee Gees sketch.  JT also did his impression of John Meyer, which made us laugh ‘coz he’s sooo good.  Jimmy Fallon made the right decision to put JT on his first episode of the talkshow, because we think JT was the life of the show.

To get Justin Timberlake’s ultra-fly look when he appeared on the show, get yourself this shirt, not just worn but designed by Justin Timberlake for his own clothing line: William Rast.

William Rast woven shirt in brown, $178

William Rast Cloth Outerwear Blazer, $398

See more William Rast by Justin Timberlake

Our man JT a.k.a Justin Timberlake, singer / celebrity designer extraordinaire, is named one of  GQ’s Most Stylish Men 2009. Well, we couldn’t agree more with folks at GQ.  Who’d be better topping the list than a man who brought back fedora craze, make sweater vests look cool, dare to pair ultra hip sneakers with classic tailored suits and make that man-child beard so very relevant?

As much style he oozes, we’re kinda shock that his girlfriend, Jessica Biel, never gave him thumbs ups on his look.  But if you’re wondering where Justin got his sense of style from, well it’s from someone in the family.  It’s his stepfather, Paul Harless, a recently retired banker.  Justin told the story to GQ.

“Nobody dressed like my dad.  When he worked at the bank, he looked like Richard Gere in Gigolo.  And he would do it all the night before, laying out the suit he’d wear the next day.  Even on weekends, if he had to go into the office, he’d wear a trouser pant with a V-neck sweater and tie. And I was like, I want to dress like that! He was just soo cool.”

You can read the rest of Justin Timberlake’s interview with GQ, here.

And here are some of our favorite William Rast items, created by the stylish Justin Timberlake.

For him, William Rast Sweater Vest, $179

For her, William Rast Knit Sleeveless Sweater, $158

See more William Rast by Justin Timberlake

We might be crazy about Justin Timberlake, but we don’t really favor his choice of women post Cameron Diaz.  Especially Jessica Biel, who’s said to design a line of handbags for Justin’s William Rast label.  Really?  Handbags?  We don’t really know when this is going to happen, nor do we have detailed information now, but we will keep you updated.  Meanwhile, mind your worries about Biel’s “future bag designs”, because we have a red hot leather goodie from William Rast that is unquestionably stylish!

The Red Leather Jacket from William Rast. Fierce!!!

Now, one of the perks of owning your own clothing line is, you can have a one-of-a-kind getup, while people can get stuff that is similar, but not exactly yours.  Here, J.T. was photographed wearing a William Rast blazer in grey, while they only retail the black and the white version.  We don’t really mind, though, because the white one is awesome.

It kinda reminded us of Gossip Girl’s famous villain, Chuck Bass.  The white or black blazer is available at the William Rast website, and will make any man look gorgeous.  And we always love gorgeous men!

In partnership along with Parfums Givenchy Justin Timberlake will be the new face of a men’s fragrance due out later this year. So he doesn’t have his own fragrance, but an endorsement for the Parfums Givenchy group.

“Beyond his immense international notoriety, we chose Justin Timberlake because he’s a true trendsetter who has redefined modern elegance,” said Alain Lorenzo, Parfums Givenchy’s president.”

Justin also has a clothing line by the name of William Rast, which you can purchase online here. Be sure to look out for the update with the release and where you can purchase the Justin’s cologne.