The leading menswear influencer’s videos offer a catalog of the unlimited sartorial possibilities that arise when virtually every brand is clamoring to dress you. With an audience of 14.4 million on TikTok alone, what was once Wisdom Kaye’s niche is quickly going mainstream.
What do you think is your biggest contribution to culture?
Inspiring a younger generation to wear what they like.
What’s something people get wrong about you?
Success is often understood as being at the helm of a preestablished entity: a creative director at a fashion house, a stylist at a major brand, a decision-maker at a big company. Sometimes, people look at me and think, Why isn’t he there? as if something must be wrong. But my idea of success doesn’t fit into that model. Starting your own company, building it from the ground up, and growing it—that’s success to me. In many ways, that’s even more meaningful.
Name an influence of yours that might surprise people.
Anthony Bourdain. That surprises people because he’s not in fashion. When I was younger, my mom would put his shows on, and I’d watch with her. I didn’t fully understand it at the time, but I knew he was traveling the world, experiencing different cultures through food. There was something so engaging and beautiful about it—even as a kid, I could feel that. The way he connected with people really stuck with me. In some strange way, what I do now feels like a version of that.
What keeps you up at night?
If there’s anything that hinders my sleep—whether literally or figuratively—it’s always the idea I’m trying to pursue or the concept I’m currently working on. Sometimes I have this really strong itch to just keep working on it and get it done. There are moments when I don’t really sleep because I’m excited or happy about something I’m building. That’s a huge thing that keeps me up at night—either stopping me from going to bed or just running through my head when I’m trying to fall asleep.
What are you looking forward to this year?
Honestly, almost every year I’m just looking to advance my work—taking things to a new level, growing, and inspiring people. But I would say it’s always about increasing the quality of what I put out.
What’s one work of art that got you through an important moment in your life?
A couple of years ago, I was going through a pretty rough heartbreak, and I found myself watching a lot of my comfort movies again. One of those was The Holdovers. It’s a comfort movie for me—something I go to in order to take my mind off things in the best way possible.
What would you be doing if you weren’t working in your field?
I honestly don’t know. I went to school for mechanical or electrical engineering—I can’t even remember at this point—and I was only doing that because it’s what my mom wanted. I had no passion for it. Would I have finished and gotten a degree? I don’t know. I truly don’t. And part of me doesn’t think I would have.
Some people can say they’d be doing something else—fishing, working in a family business, painting—but I genuinely have no idea. From the bottom of my heart, I don’t know what I’d be doing if this didn’t work out.
What grounds you, and what invigorates you?
In many ways, I don’t even know what it means to feel grounded. I’m not sure if that means I’m always grounded or if I just don’t experience that feeling in a traditional way. I don’t often feel like I need to reset or recalibrate.
The closest thing for me is time with friends. Most people are constantly around others, so their version of recharging is being alone, going to a spa, taking a vacation, etc. I’m the opposite. If I need to recalibrate or feel grounded, I want to be around people. That’s also what invigorates me. I spend most of my time alone working, so being around others gives me energy but at the fault of being taken away from my work.
To read more from the 2026 CULT100 honorees, see the full list here.
in your life?
