Design of the times

Twenty-five-year-old designer Wes Gordon found out that the first lady wore his hounds-tooth embroidered jacket to the 2012 Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards via Twitter.

“I’m literally sitting there looking at Twitter on my phone, and I see a tweet that’s like, ‘Michelle Obama in a metallic jacket and leather leggings,’ ” recalls Gordon. “And it sounds so cool. So I click on it, and it was my jacket,” he says.

“It was so surreal.” Except it’s his reality.

Atlanta-raised, London-schooled Gordon is one of New York’s newest fashion darlings. His tailored, refined and just-edgy-enough luxe blazers, full patterned skirts and fox-fur-embellished cashmere sweaters are gaining serious buzz.

Michael Sofronski

Wes Gordon has considerable fashion savvy, as evidenced by pieces like this vibrant-hued tailored jacket. Plus: He’s got an enviable head of hair.

“To me, the challenge is always that fine line between looking fashion-forward and cool and young but also designing something that isn’t necessarily obsolete in four months,” says Gordon, whose mature goods (which have grown-up prices — approximately $450 for a blouse to $13,000 for a fur coat) sit next to those by such hailed designers as Giambattista Valli, Lanvin and Bottega Veneta at Bergdorf Goodman.

January Jones sported one of his fall 2012 looks at this year’s Oscars after-parties, and Emmy Rossum and Lea Michele have both been spotted in his outfits. Gordon even had his first documented uh-oh moment earlier this month when Amanda Richman and Victoria’s Secret model Oluchi Onweagba both donned his floor-length blue-and-white striped skirt for an NYC charity gala.

“He’s doing a much more uptown look . . . in a way, I feel like he’s the 25-year-old answer to Oscar [de la Renta]. There’s something very genteel about his designs,” says Christine Whitney, a fashion editor at Harper’s Bazaar. “He’s had a meteoric rise.”

Indeed, he has. The floppy-haired quarter-lifer was named Fashion Group International’s Rising Star in January. He was tapped to create a capsule collection for Jones New York’s spring line. And, of course, there was that thing with the first lady wearing his clothes.

“[Obama] was definitely big brand exposure,” admits Gordon, who designs out of his Financial District studio (his collection is entirely produced in Manhattan, save for a few knits). “My mom was really excited because there was a picture in People. To her, that’s the ultimate thing.”

Not too shabby for a Southern lad who made his first dress for his high school friend’s debutante ball, and who presented his debut collection merely 26 months ago in a hotel room at the St. Regis during a massive blizzard.

Gordon honed his nipping and tucking (fabric) skills at London’s Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design (other grads include Alexander McQueen, John Galliano and Phoebe Philo).