On a noisy street in the Lower East Side, Philip Aubin-Dionne, bka Jacques Greene, is whispering into his phone. "Oh shit," he says, "this guy just walked by in a beige trench coat, fancy jeans, dress shoes, and a full on ski mask." He pauses, then says admiringly: "It was kind of a look." The dance producer and DJ has never shied from the bizarre and avant-garde; his interest in design stems from a childhood spent watching his stylish mother sew her own clothes. In college, he saw his graphic design studies as a potential stepping stone to a career in fashion. Though only 24, Greene has been a dance music mainstay for years, his work as a producer and DJ keeping him in a constant state of motion as he hops from state to state and country to country. On a rare break from touring and promoting his new EP—about, of all things, "consumer fetishism"—we got the chance to ask him a few questions about his personal style, his masterful eBay finds, and how he lives, both at home and on the road.
SHOPPING
Jacques Greene: I do a lot of research before I shop. I'm so nerdy with that shit. I don't buy all my clothes designer but when I do, I've seen the show, I've seen it online, and I know exactly the one I want. I'm not an impulse buyer at all. I'm the opposite; I'll see that one thing that I'm obsessed with, and I'll try to talk myself out of it for, like, two months until I'm like: 'Fuck, it's going to sell out and I'm going to regret it,' so I just get it. I'll probably end up doing that with a few overpriced things a year. The rest, I'll wait for eBay. My best eBay find might be this Rick Owens flight bomber I wore all through last winter. I got it for half of what it would cost in the store. Going into a Rick Owens store and buying one of those at retail is not only terrifying, but it crosses this line, like, if my parents ever asked me how much it cost I would be so embarrassed to say.
UNIFORMS
Greene: My ultimate goal in life is to lock down a uniform. I hope that by the time I'm thirty I can have the Bart Simpson closet, like fourteen of the same thing. I mainly wear all black, and I always try to fight it, but whenever I do buy something colorful I'll never wear it. My go-to is the Ace Cash from Acne, you can wear them with anything. They have a huge hole in the pocket because I probably wear them six days a week. I'm wearing them now. I'm still in the jean period of my life, and I might be for a long time. I aspire to be that 46 year old bald dude with cool circular sunglasses and a Yohji Yamamoto silhouette. I bought these massive Yamamoto trousers, and I always put them on and I'm like 'Yeah!', and then I'm halfway out the door and I'm like, 'I don't know—maybe today is more of a jeans day.'
SHOES
I don't have that much space in my life and I don't like having too many things. I probably have ten pairs of shoes: mostly Nikes, two pairs of all black Jordans, a couple other random jogging shoe joints. At one point, I eBayed a pair of the Rick Owens Geobasket, but I don't wear them very often. I love them dearly, but I feel kind of fuccboi about them. I have one pair of dress shoes: the Lanvin Derby from a couple years ago that look like low-cut Doc Martens. You can wear them with so many different things and they can take a beating. I tend to buy clothes and shoes that look better once they're worn in. Before I go on tour I like to go to Footlocker and get a 10-pack of black Nike socks. New socks, holy shit, they can make you feel human. You can do so many things to your body if you brush your teeth and put on fresh socks afterwards.
PACKING
thank u Manchester Parklife was v v real 🙏
A photo posted by @jacquesgreene on
I once showed up to this festival, and I was playing right after Jimmy Edgar. He's on stage DJing wearing the most pristine, oversized white dress shirt with a beautiful gold chain over it. His shirt was immaculate and I'm like, How? How did he do it? Did he get it like dry-cleaned just before the show?' My style is quite casual when I'm on tour. It's a mix of like, T by Wang t-shirts and crewneck sweaters. It's mostly stuff you can fold or stuff into a duffel bag. It's annoying because it's so constricting. One day, I will have that Elton John garment box that follows me around and everything will be on hangers.
SKIN & HAIR
I'm far away from being an American Psycho type guy. I use really basic face soap, just Nivea. I also use this Mandarin Hydrating Face Cream from Aesop. I love that thing. I've got my little gang of Aesop products, and once again it's such a bad habit because once you like Aesop products and you run out, you have to buy them again. Then you realize how much they cost, and you feel like a total idiot. For my hair, I go to this dude Tony at Frank's Chop Shop. He's the most fascinating guy and has had the most interesting life. I go there for spiritual awakening and he does a really good cut, so it's a win-win. I ask for the most low-maintenance cut. I have a hard time taking my hair seriously because I'm not looking at it all the time. I had kind of long hair in high school during the year and a half I thought I was the world's biggest Nirvana fan; it was terrible. I chopped it off, and it hasn't changed since.
Lead Image: Maxime Quioilion. All other images courtesy of Jacques Greene.