Geeking Out Over Fashion and Pugs With Jacques Greene

Over the past three years, Jacques Greene has shifted people’s ideas about what house music can and can’t be. He’s worked on projects that’ve covered soundscapes not too disimilar to people like Radiohead and the XX; he’s torn up everywhere from Fabric to Plastic People; and he’s released two EPs on LuckyMe and Nightslugs along the way. 

Part of Jacques’ appeal – aside from the music – is the fact that he’s a pretty reserving character. His appearance is mysterious and, as anyone who has ever been friends with a street-style blogger will tell you, appearance is everything. Levi’s know this – they’ve been creating jeans for decades – and have recently launched their Live in Levi’s project: a celebration for those who embody the passion and creativity of their own appearance. 

We caught up with Jacques to talk about wearing jeans for three weeks in a row, why pugs are stoked to be alive, and whether or not he’s intentionally shrouded himself in mystery. 

THUMP: Hi. Where are you right now and how are you prepping for your Roundhouse show?

Jacques: I’m in New York at the moment. I spent the summer writing a lot of new music so now I’m kind of reverse engineering it and putting it into this main sampler that I use when I perform live and making sure I know the songs inside out. 

People know your music but they don’t really know much about you. You’re this elusive figure. Even your Twitter is super mysterious. 

The anonymity was never really about being too shrouded in mystery. I don’t think I ever aimed to be a Burial or SBTRKT figure. It’s more to do with my comfort level and how much of myself I’m willing to put online. I like to be able to control as much as I can and how much of myself is out there.

Tell us something about you we probably won’t know. 

I really, really want a dog. Like, so bad. Unfortunately the nature of my work means I can’t be around all the time, so I can’t, but New York is a crazy city for dogs. My friend turned to me the other day and said “New York has dogs that’ll actually make your day better”. There’s a culture here of all these really amazing little dogs walking around all the time and it fucking blows my mind. 

What kind of dog would you get?

I love the little ugly ones, like French bulldogs and pugs. I feel like me and a pug would get along really well. I love how they’re always just struggling to maintain, you know? They’re panting all the time and have this look like they’re just lucky to be there. They’re just stoked on being alive and making it this far.

What are you wearing today?

I wear jeans every day. I’m not sure if this is gross or not, but I like to travel really light when I tour so often just go with one pair of black jeans and live in them for like three weeks. They get a bit crusty but that’s kind of part of a good pair of jeans. It’s like a leather jacket – you don’t want to look like you’ve just walked out the store in it. 

Are we talking drainpipe skinnys, phat pants… paint the picture for us.

Levi’s 511s. The 510s are a little too slim but the 511s are good, they have a good low-rise crotch. You can wear with them dress shoes, sneakers, a dress shirt, a regular shirt, no shirt…

Just topless and a pair of jeans?

Just topless and a pair of jeans, sitting around channeling a Mick Jagger vibe in my living room.

Is that a look you rock when you’re settling down to write some music?

Day-to-day, I am the most boring person. I have so many variations on the black t-shirt it would astound you. 

Like when Bart Simpson opens his closet and it’s just a bunch of orange t-shirts?

That’s the dream –to just find an entire top-down outfit and never deviate from it. I read an article recently on the virtue of the uniform and the idea that so many great people throughout time have settled on just wearing the same thing every day. David Lynch, Martin, Andy Warhol, Steve Jobs…they’re guys who kinda just wore the same thing every day. Then there’s this idea of knowing what you want and how you want to present yourself and being comfortable with that, but then also the idea that it frees up space in your mind and life for more important things. I wish I could settle on one shirt or one pair of shoes I really liked and just buy them for the rest of my life. 

Do you ever have days where you’re just like whatever, I’m gonna wear sweatpants?

I’ve got one decent pair of sweatpants, but I don’t have like the big GAP sweatpants. There’s one Karl Lagerfeld quote where he said wearing sweatpants is like announcing to the world that you’ve given up and I think for the most part I kind of agree. I moved to New York just over a year ago and before that I was like completely anti-shorts. I don’t know why. Just, no shorts. It’s so hot here in the summer that there were a few days where I gave in and wore shorts, but I’m wearing these jeans right now and I could not tell you the last day I wore anything else. I think I’m quietly giving up on variety. 

So our generation will be denim ’til death?

I feel think there’s a moment in everybody’s lives where they cling to the one apex era of the best movies, the music and best clothing. You get some parents who are just forever into early 80s Tom Waits and like one colour pallet that was really hot in ’87. Best movie of all time? Goodfellas. Just like that’s it, I’m done, I’ve seen everything I needed to see in the world and everything after this point is to the next generation. So it will be really funny to see the people of our generation settle into that. I’d like to imagine there will be a middle aged person at some point who will just listen to mid-2000 Wiley forever. 

Wiley’s actually got a good thing going on right now where he’s wearing shirts with words like “wicked” embroidered into the collar. Perhaps that’s something you could incorporate into your wardrobe?

Oh my god. Good for him. I love that. Maybe I’ll just turn up in London in a pair of jeans that say, “I’m wicked”; build on my self-worth and confidence with aspirational clothing that says who I want to be.

Definitely, definitely do that.

Where do you wear your Levi’s? How long do you leave it without washing them? What are you doing in them right now? Tell it using the hashtag #LIVEINLEVIS and check out some of the stories here.