<http://schema.org/articleBody>
" Do you know #jacques? If not, consider this an introduction. The brainchild of ever-dapper Elliot Aronow, it&amp;#039;s an online lifestyle movement \u2014 a push for mix-and-match, high/low dressing with a nod to one&amp;#039;s own inclinations, be they musical, cultural, or otherwise. Put another way, #jacques is all about personal, attainable, and sincere style that&amp;#039;s not beholden to rules. And now it&amp;#039;s an online store, World of #jacques, which deals in price-friendly vintage gems, plus picks from Aronow&amp;#039;s own line. We caught up with Elliot to talk about this latest venture, future collaborations, and where he scores his one-of-a-kind finds. Esquire.com: Can you explain what #jacques is in your own words? Elliot Aronow: It&amp;#039;s a men&amp;#039;s lifestyle movement based on taking control of your relationship to style and, by extension, the world around you. In a less heady sense, it&amp;#039;s sort of my take on Ralph Lauren meeting Malcolm McLaren as filtered through the Beastie Boys. Or maybe it&amp;#039;s a bunch of dudes who grew up as weed-smoking punks showing you what they love about unstructured Italian jackets and vintage Brooks Brothers oxfords. We&amp;#039;ve been around for over three years on an underground level, but just recently we went online to spread our gospel. ESQ: You have an impressive background in the music industry, from working at Fader magazine to your own start up, RCRD LBL. Why the shift from music to giving men&amp;#039;s-wear advice and now starting your online store? EA: Up until I was 28 or so, it was always about dressing like you were in a band \u2014 emulating The Who or the Small Faces or Joy Division. But I started to class things up a bit and find my own voice once The Strokes came along. I remember I owned five ties after Is This It? came out; I only had two before. In terms of the shop, I think guys want clothing that has a real content and ideas associated with it. Clothes that come from a specific place culturally \u2014 preppy, punk, traditional, rap-approved, etc. \u2014 and serve a purpose are very exciting to me. I really relate to mod and hip-hop culture, especially the idea of looking sharp even when you didn&amp;#039;t really have any money. And I wanted to give guys a way to own the look that I support. The shop has become a fun new adventure and a way to showcase what #jacques loves in terms of specific brands and also in terms of a broader movement.  ESQ: You&amp;#039;ve got a collaboration with Brooklyn Tailors coming out soon. What was it like working with co-founders Brenna and Daniel? EA: Well Brooklyn Tailors are really the reason that #jacques even started in the first place. They provided me with the means to express myself through suiting and opened me up to the idea of wearing traditional clothing in a subversive way. In 2008 or so, I met Danny and Brenna through a mutual friend, and Danny really educated me on what certain stylistic details in suiting \u2014 like a patch pocket, or a peak lapel \u2014 actually meant. He would be like, &amp;quot;This is more casual, this is good for a meeting,&amp;quot; or whatever. Once he and I linked up, it was a wrap. I became addicted, and it&amp;#039;s been great to watch them grow and continue to raise the bar with every collection. I&amp;#039;m very excited about the #jacques by Aronow x Brooklyn Tailors tie collection that&amp;#039;s coming out in a few weeks. We went for a sort of Cali abstract painter meets Brooks Brothers repp tie look and did it in three colorways. ESQ: And tell me about your upcoming collaboration with Kool A.D. from Das Racist. Who&amp;#039;s idea was it to do a limited-edition shirt, and when will it be available? EA: Oh man, Victor aka Kool A.D. has been the homie for a long time. Back when I was doing my TV show Our Show, Das Racist came on. They did a cover of the Beastie Boys&amp;#039; &amp;quot;Sabotage&amp;quot;, and I think that interview was the best I ever conducted. We stayed in touch and one night I had this idea to make a shirt that was loosely inspired by a very old, hard-to-find Beastie Boys shirt. Victor is a critically acclaimed cartoonist and fine artist, so I thought he would be the perfect person to interpret the idea and do a design for my #jacquesSPORT line, which is more tees and casual stuff. We did them on a tri-blend shirt, so they&amp;#039;re super soft. They&amp;#039;ll be available online in August. ESQ: Where do you have the most luck finding the vintage items? EA: Phone books, estate sales, the Internet, secret Japanese dudes, and shady bartenders. I can&amp;#039;t say more than that. For more the latest from Elliot and #jacques, follow him on Twitter at @iamaronow and @worldofjacques "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/style/mens-fashion/a23446/elliot-aronow-jacques-0713/>