The Aaron Levine Approach

You’ve spent most of your career thinking about clothes. What still excites you about getting dressed?

Getting closer to knowing myself and wearing what makes me feel the most like me.

After working across so many different sides of the industry, how has your idea of what makes a great product changed?

Simple and beautiful and coveted and easy enough to be worn into the ground is the most difficult.

How would you describe your own approach to personal style today? Has it changed much over the years?

I tend to keep it super simple and easy. I think the way I put things together reflects my personality and it can affect my mood. If I get dressed and head out to leave and feel like I’ve tried too hard, I need to go back and change. I try to keep it low key.

“If I get dressed and head out to leave and feel like I’ve tried too hard, I need to go back and change.”

After years of designing for other brands, what made you feel that now was the right moment to put your own name on something?

It’s never the right time and it’s always the right time. I’ve got scars from this work. I’ve been in tons of stressful situations and maybe know how to handle that stress better? Maybe. I say this as I’m stressed out of my mind. Also, I ain’t getting any younger and I need to keep following my bliss. I always compare it to music. There’s always room for a great new band on the scene that has something to say.

Is there a piece from your own collection that feels particularly personal to you, or that best represents what you wanted the brand to be?

There are several. Our button front utility jackets, workwear suits, denims, easy flannels… the bouclé half zip… the beanies… rollneck sweaters… they all feel like they come from a place of honesty and genuinely loving those pieces. They come from favourite times of my past and I try to make them just slightly new. We can never step into the same river twice, so I want to keep these things moving forward while maintaining enough of their DNA that they feel familiar.

When you’re developing a piece for Aaron Levine, where does the process actually begin?

There really isn’t a set beginning. It could start with a fabric, or a vintage piece or other favourite garment or shape from my closet. It could start from a movie, a song, a book or hanging out and being inspired by friends. The most important thing is that it comes naturally and doesn’t feel forced. Sometimes I’ll get to a place and something makes it into a line and it doesn’t feel like me and I regret it.

What are the five pieces you think every man should have in his wardrobe?

Impossible question, but maybe this will help me clarify and simplify my own life as I move into my next chapter.

1. Great T-shirts. Black, white, moody neutrals.

2. Denim. Black, levels of wash from rinse to vintage in indigo.

3. A great suit. Whatever that looks like to you and makes you feel like a really great, put-together version of yourself.

4. A great crew neck sweater in a couple of colours. Maybe cashmere, maybe merino.

5. A great workhorse outerwear piece like our new barn coat that you can dress up or down.

I mean, look at that, there isn’t even any room for shoes. Or a pair of boots. You’re gonna be barefoot.

What separates a great version of an everyday piece, a shirt, pair of trousers, knit or jacket from an average one?

Discipline in simplicity and purpose. The fabric, the sophistication of the colour, and the construction. Great doesn’t mean ostentatious.

“Great clothes in my opinion highlight the wearer and allow that person to express and feel like the best version of themselves.”

Is there something in your wardrobe you’ve owned forever and would never get rid of?

I have a collecting problem but if I was forced to make that call it would be my dad’s M65 from the army with his name on it.

At this point in your career, how has your definition of success changed?

I just want time with people I love and to relax and recharge so my brain stops spinning. That’s what success feels like and I have a ways to go. I love what I do and sometimes it can feel like drinking from a firehose. My brain also requires a bit of stress to work properly, so I don’t want to unplug, but I would like to slow down a bit. So I guess if I were to sum all of that up, the ability to say no is my definition of success.