Five Fits With: Dave 1 of Chromeo, aka David Macklovitch
I met Dave Macklovitch—otherwise known as Dave 1, one half of Chromeo—about five years ago. I was photographing him and his brother, Alain Macklovitch—who also has an alias: A-Trak—at home in Los Angeles for Grailed. If you’ve seen photos of Dave, you know his style hasn’t changed, well…pretty much ever. That consistency is rare and special. It’s yet another entry into this index of style we call Five Fits With, once again expanding the boundaries of who and what we feature.
In 2002, Macklovitch moved to New York on a French literature PhD scholarship at Columbia, which required him to also teach. At the same time, he started Chromeo with his childhood best friend, P-Thugg. During his time teaching and studying, they recorded three Chromeo albums—in 2004, ’07, and ’10—after which he felt burnt out. “I really didn't want to let go of academia because I really felt that it was my calling, but it became impossible for my health,” reflects Macklovitch. “I chose music because it’s authentic to who I am. It’s funny but also super nerdy and serious, which is how I operate all the time. And I make music with my best friend from childhood. There's something that's pure about that and I wanted to celebrate that. I was like, ‘Let's do this, P.’ We went ahead and have been doing this full-time ever since.”
Below, Dave and I discuss the early influences on his sense of style, maxing out his daily ATM limit to but a Dior Homme suit in cash, the power in finding a uniform, and plenty of other topics.
Fit One
Can you remember the first moment you became interested in fashion?
There are a few different moments. When I was a kid, growing up in Montreal in the late 1980s, my mom used show me French fashion TV shows. She would show me Thierry Mugler and Jean-Paul Gaultier. I loved fashion TV because I could see naked women and I was a little pre-teenager, hormones kicking in, so that was fun. I was always into style, not so much fashion, but I grew up loving the Beastie Boys and loving Wu-Tang and wearing Wallabees. I couldn't really afford Polo, but we wore Chaps. I loved Adidas Gazelles because I loved Jamiroquai, too. I always loved the way Serge Gainsbourg looked since I became aware of him. Because I studied French literature, I always loved the way French literary critics looked. They always had amazing style. Foucault with the turtleneck, and Jacques Derrida—he was always a bit of a dandy. Those were my style idols.
I was never into fashion per se, until I moved to New York in the early 2000s. First of all, I never could afford anything, but I never found stuff that fit my body type until I went into Dior Homme and put on a blazer. All of a sudden it fit me perfectly. I didn't have to do anything to it. It just made me feel good. I was like, "Oh, cool, it doesn't feel boxy." That's when I discovered Hedi Slimane and his whole transformation of men's fashion. I became a big fan of his. Also, being in America, I really longed for the French culture that I grew up with, and he represented that in a way, even though he had the whole rock and roll thing, there was always a very French twist to it. All of it made me dream.
Fit Two
What was your first significant purchase?
In the early 2000s I bought a Dior Homme suit. I remember I paid for it in cash with these crumpled bills. I had a daily limit on my ATM card so I had to go to the ATM every day for a few days and get the max out of my daily limit. I had to calculate it and go for four or five days.
What does personal style mean to you? Do you separate the style of Dave 1 on stage and when you're not on stage?
No, look at me now. That's one thing about me. It's really who I am. And P-Thugg too. On a Wednesday, he's looking like P-Thugg. First of all, we're Chromeo. We're straight-up cartoon characters. It's like the Ramones. Can you imagine seeing one of them in sweatpants? I would die. My whole thing would shatter. P and I, we're true. What I wear on stage might be a little more dramatic, but really, it's just slacks or tight pants, boots with heels and a leather jacket, and it's a uniform. I think where style and fashion intersect is when you can have a uniform. Style is just an individual look that makes you immediately identifiable. As a musician, it’s very important. One of the things that I tell up and coming musicians who sometimes ask me for advice is make sure people can dress like you for Halloween. It makes fans dream and it creates this character that just feels like, yes, cartoonish sometimes, but also so identifiable and larger than life. The Ramones, Daft Punk, Wu-Tang, A$AP Rocky, Beastie Boys, Sex Pistols, you name them. To me, they can all be Marvel superheroes. Each one has their version of a cape.
Style is also learning about yourself and what makes you feel good and what you think is flattering on you. There are a million ways for people to feel good no matter what they look like, no matter what the price point is. It's just about finding that thing and then you stick to it and you become one with your character—but because you're a character, you can't take yourself seriously. You've got to have fun with it and you've got to have that self-awareness. Some of us are wearing furry Marni. Some of us are wearing Crocs. Some of us are wearing crazy logos. Some are wearing Grateful Dead t-shirts but never heard a Grateful Dead song. Others are wearing Grateful Dead t-shirts and they've heard every Grateful Dead song. I don't know which one is worse, by the way. It's fun. It's the human comedy. One day we're making fun of mullets, then mullets are back, let's all grow a mullet. It's funny. It's cool. You embrace it. It's not dogma. One thing about style is nobody's the style ayatollah. Just encourage people to find their groove, find their uniform, feel good about themselves, and let's all enjoy it together with a smile.
Fit Three
You have a new album coming out next year. What was your writing and recording process like for this one? How does this album differ or innovate on your past music?
Well, in a way, it was a return to the source because P and I did the whole thing by ourselves, whereas our last album was very collaborative. Our previous album before that, White Women, was starting to be a little bit collaborative. Our last album, we almost wanted to do something like Gorillaz where there's a million people involved. On this one, we were like, "Nah, let's just take it back to your mom's basement and do everything ourselves," kind of like we did on Fancy Footwork. Our production chops have changed and hopefully improved so we were able to go very, very musical and incorporate orchestral elements, live instrumentation and so on. On this album, the lyrics are probably more important than on any Chromeo album. I can't reveal the title yet, but the album is really a meditation on mature relationships and adult relationships and all the intricacies that come along with them. It's really an album where the lyrics are key.
Fit Four
What do you think makes for a good funk album? I'm thinking there's got to be some tension between the borders of camp and homage.
I like music that is seriously made but doesn't take itself seriously. That's why I fell in love with funk. It's made with such attention to detail but all the guys are having fun and laughing. And honestly, one thing about even the way I dress—I know, I've got my little blue steel and I'm wearing Celine—I don't care if people make fun of me. I love making fun of myself. On my Instagram, every time somebody writes a crazy DM, I always repost it because I just think it ain't that deep. If you look at old Bob Dylan interviews, even though he's this poet, the bard of America, in the interviews, he's straight trolling. I think self-deprecating humor is amazing. Self-aware humor is amazing. I'm telling you, like I said, I've got my little bullshit blue steel, my little ankles. I've got the tight pants and the man heels, but it's not lost on me that that shit is funny as hell and it's not that serious. We're cartoons and I love it like that. I did a piece for Hodinkee and the comments section went off. They went crazy because it wasn't this and the blotches were wrong and all that. I slid into the comment section and I was joking around with people and I actually made friends. I started bonding because there's nothing you could tell me that I won't find funny or appreciate, unless it's racist. It really ain't that deep.
Fit Five
What's your thing with Celine and Saint Laurent?
I wish I had the time and the tailor to go buy all these vintage items for which the stuff I'm wearing is the reference. I wish I had the plugs. I wish I had the resources to walk around looking like Vincent Gallo. I don't. I'm on the road. I'm in the studio. I'm doing gigs. I love when people wear stuff like that. I admire it. It looks like the clothing that my French literature heroes or eighties French rockers that I used to admire wore. I can wear it off the rack. It fits me, makes me feel good and it's not branded. It's become my thing. Pull up any picture of me from the last 15 years, I'm wearing the same thing. Identical. I'm wearing the Ray-Bans. I'm wearing a blazer. I'm wearing a little T-shirt underneath. I'm wearing tight pants. I'm wearing man heels or Repettos. From 2009 onwards, my style's just been the same. Before 2009, there's some very sus stuff and there might be a fedora or three in there, and some other funny stuff. But hey, that's indie sleaze, so it’s cool.
Yes, I buy fancy clothes, but I live in them. You saw my boots are busted. My pants have been ripped and sewn back together. That old Balmain blazer, I bought it in 2010. When that collection came out, me and Mordechai [Rubinstein] went through every look and dissected it. I still wear it even if it's got little stains. That's character; its patina. I wear my leather jackets to threads. I wear my blazers to threads. I wear my shirts. I rip them. I get them fixed. There are armpit stains. That's also very professor. I love it. I wear it through. I live with it. If you get to a place where you can afford it and you buy nice, high-quality clothing, you can really live in them and keep them forever.
That said, you can see how I dress on Instagram. You can probably, between a combination of Zara and vintage and H&M, find the same thing. You can find Uniqlo jeans, or go buy vintage jeans, get a good tailor, get them to fit right, with a nice vintage button down. I'm a little lazy, granted, but it's a look that is easy to replicate for not too much. I'm about to put a bunch of my stuff for on Grailed because I've got to make room and I'm going to price it so cheap. I want these kids to buy. Everybody should afford it. I hope somebody doesn't scoop it up just to resell for higher. But at the same time, there's something to be said for incredible quality like that Christophe Decarnin, archival Balmain. I've never felt quality like that. You just wear it forever and then give it to your kids.
If you had to wear one outfit for the rest of your life, what would it consist of?
It would be a biker jacket, a white t-shirt or a tank top, a beat-up pair of blue jeans, a beat-up pair of man heeled boots.
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