Last week we stopped by a preview of the eBay Holiday Collective, the first collection of clothes, accessories and housewares available exclusively on the site and, after a few minutes, spotted designer Chris Benz in all of his pink-haired glory sitting at a table close by. Luckily for us, he gave a little tour of the very cute and very affordable designer duds and accessories he created along with designers like Billy Reid, Fallon, Jonathan Adler, Steven Alan and more. (The collection arrives online in mid-November.)  Since we love a good walk and talk, we chatted about his own obscure eBay obsessions, his upcoming S/S '13 collection and the origins of his signature hair do.

So tell us about your collection for the eBay Holiday Collective.
I do so much traveling that I wanted to create travel essentials. We did men's and women's silk twill pajamas -- which come with a little bag you can use to put an airplane pillow in -- a cashmere wrap, little printed canvas pouches (which I personally can't get enough of), stationary, and a cashmere T-shirt. I embroidered my signature on the back [and] I actually have that tattoo.

When did you get the tattoo?
Last year -- it's pretty new. After I got my stationary done with that monogram I was like, "I love it! Let's put it on my body."

Do you have any other tattoos?
I have the word "September," and I also have a little illustration of an ocean wave. They're all hidden -- I think that's important.

Have you worked with eBay before?
No, but I've been shopping on eBay since I was in high school!

Do you have any weird eBay obsessions?
I hope that every time I wake up there's going to be some new "saved search" with some random, Italian mid-century ceramic designer or something. I really like searching through things using obtuse search criteria.

Back to travel. Do holidays involve a lot of traveling for you?
Sort of, except that my family usually comes here for the holidays. I love being in the city when everybody leaves, and you can walk around and go to any restaurant you want to.

Do you have any Christmas traditions?
My mom's birthday is the 23rd of December and for the last couple years we've gone to the Carlyle. They do a prix-fixe dinner, which is really good, and she's sort of WASP-y and she loves the whole experience.

Where's your favorite place to travel?
I love going to Paris. I know it's cheesy and everybody's been but I still get really excited when I get to go -- especially in September, since it's so beautiful. I don't even care of it's pouring down rain, or snowing, or blazing. 

Have you had a horrible hangover-at-work experience?
Not really! I think I kind of have it down to a science, with my three Advil, a sugar-free Red Bull, and a huge bottle of water. I always feel like if you're hungover should actually do what you don't feel like doing. Laying down makes it a million times worse. You should schedule a lot of stuff to do so you don't think about it. Or you can always just have a beer in the morning. 

Are you excited for the upcoming season?
We're having our first muslin fitting tomorrow so [the collection is] pretty much designed and now we're doing fittings and sample-makings and stuff.

What are your inspirations for it?
I feel like it's a bit more feminine than we usually do. There's this thing happening in Tokyo, which is really interesting -- and this is not really my inspiration -- this aesthetic that's kind of Lord of the Rings-ish.

I love your hair. What made you decide to go pink?
It was that really, really cold and long winter in New York and I wanted to get a piercing or do something radical.  I get my hair done at Mudhoney, and I was like, "Just bleach it white and get out every color of Manic Panic and we'll just decide whatever we feel like at the time." We decided the pink, and I just kept it up. It's like a built-in accessory -- you don't have to wear anything interesting.

Chris Benz's collection for the eBay Holiday Collective will be available November 12th.

Photo by Billy Farrell/BFAnyc.com