IN CONVERSATION WITH MARK ANTHONY GREEN

Mark Anthony Green was the go-to guy for style advice at GQ Magazine for over 10 years. He’s answered thousands of questions from readers about suiting, sneakers, denim, and so much more… The journalist-turned-director just debuted his feature film, OPUS, out now in theaters from the good people at A24. The film follows Ayo Edibiri as Ariel, a budding journalist who's invited to a mysterious listening party for a long awaited album from the cult fictional musician, Moretti, played by John Malkovich. I had the honor to speak to him about developing his style while working at Sid Mashburn’s Atlanta flagship store, how a 15 ½ collared shirt keeps his posture straight, how every black filmmaker should thank Spike Lee, the seriousness that comes with wearing a tie, how fashion shows were on his production mood board, and the hive mindset that comes with working at a magazine like GQ.

Hagop Kourounian: I’d love to start this off by asking you about your own personal style and your relationship with clothing. How much time do you spend thinking about clothes?

Mark Anthony Green: It's funny. I didn't get my sense of style from my dad, but he was always conscientious and always cared about clothes. I grew up in a house where we got GQ magazine when I was a kid. That's how I fell in love with GQ. My dad had Alan Flusser’s book Dressing the Man. One of the first things I ever remember stealing from him was that book. It's always just been in me, in high school I wanted to get best dressed in our yearbook. That was more important to me getting that superlative than like valedictorian, not that I was in contention to be valedictorian. And I got best dressed… I mean the irony is I think a lot of people think people that are really into clothes take a long time to get dressed. But I actually think we take shorter because we're constantly thinking about it. So like I know what I'm gonna wear tomorrow. So then it's a much faster process. 

Hagop Kourounian: I saw an interview you did 9 years ago with Ralph Lauren on their Youtube channel.

Mark Anthony Green: Man that was a long time ago… I had a bad haircut then!

Hagop Kourounian: And you were shooting your shot with Emily Ratajkowski!

Mark Anthony Green: I definitely did and that’s embarrassing… 

Hagop Kourounian: In that video they ask how your style has evolved over the years. You said that it changes, you don’t have a uniform, and that it’s something that has to be earned. Do you still feel that way?

Mark Anthony Green: Wow… First of all, it's very cool that you dug that up. I guess I would augment my thoughts on it. It feels arrogant to say I've earned this because what does that even mean? These days I need to have a uniform because I know that I don’t have the time to continue to care about what I’m wearing. I kinda went back to my Sid Mashburn days. I always wear a pair of Levi’s 501s and a pair of boots. I wear a lot of Saint Laurent Lucas boots or Celine Western boots. If Hedi Slimane touches it, then I'll play in it. Almost all of my shirts are either from Sid Mashburn or Husbands. Then it’s either a blazer from Sid’s or Husbands and a Levi's trucker jacket. I have a bunch of vintage Ralph ties that I source from eBay and other places. The uniform has been really helpful in the promotion of the film, it’s been really helpful with being on set. When I worked at Sid Mashburn which is this clothing store in Atlanta, I discovered something special about a size 15 ½ collar shirt with a tie on. There's a stiffness to it, it just feels like my posture is just a little straighter. I wear Levi's 501s every single day of my life, it's tough to have a day that goes by when I don't wear them. I want to wear something that’s comfortable, but also I respect the art of filmmaking and I wanted to make sure that I dressed for the occasion. I wanted to dress in a way that when I look back at the photos it wouldn't date me because I was into this one designer who made this one collection or that I was in this avant garde thing or whatever. When I interned at GQ I dressed up every day. I won't say I was the best dressed person in that office, but I was in a suit and tie. There's a seriousness that comes when you wear a tie. You just look like a million bucks. On set, I felt like I was reintroducing myself and I'm not the intern this time around, but there's a lot of crew that are older than me. One of the leads in my films is John Malkovich, he's 71 years old. So there's a confidence that I think you can signal with your clothes which I learned at a very young age. I haven't thought about any of this until this conversation, but I think subconsciously that's probably what I was going for. 

Hagop Kourounian: You were the go to style guy for advice at GQ. You’ve answered thousands of questions about the way people should dress… so I wanna ask you - How should a director dress? There are a lot of young aspiring filmmakers that follow Director Fits, what advice would you give them?

Mark Anthony Green: You gotta dress for the weather. There was a point in time where I did not have clothes for how cold it was gonna be in New Mexico. I had to go buy snow pants and shit. All the cold weather gear I got, I put on over the thing I wanted to wear. I want to feel that collar on my neck and I want to wear that uniform and feel confident in that. I think that everybody has to do what feels the most comfortable but also the most them. Look at somebody like Christopher Nolan who dresses up but it's not particularly stylish. It's formal and that presents one thing. Somebody like Wes Anderson is also wearing a suit and a tie but it’s stylish. It has a flair to it. I just think that for them, there's a comfort in it. Probably the hardest creative endeavor is making a film and as a director everything that can go wrong will go wrong 50 times over… So control the things you can control. I think you just have to listen to yourself and know yourself. The only thing that I would be anti is if you are too slovenly. Remember you're the leader of this set, you set a tone. That doesn't mean you have to wear a suit by any stretch of the imagination. But if you are so relaxed in the way you're dressing I do think that it's a very small signal, but it can signal maybe the thing you don't want it to. I would just be mindful of that. You will be surprised at the things that give you comfort when you're put in such an uncomfortable situation. I had no idea that a 15 ½ collar with a tie would feel like an ankle brace when you're playing basketball or something like that. I was just so tired. I would go two or three days without sleeping at all. If I put on a hoodie and sweatpants and I'm that tired I would just kind of melt. The rigidness of the 501s just gave me a structure, which was really cool. 

Hagop Kourounian: Are there any sartorial parallels between Ariel and MAG? I know you’ve said that any connection between the two of you was inadvertently done and from my perspective her style compared to yours is not exactly 1:1 but her knit vests, cardigans, etc definitely seemed inspired by your own personal style.

Mark Anthony Green: There's one cool thing that I don't know that I've talked about in an interview yet, this is a perfect place to do it. When you meet Ariel she’s sartorially in her bag. She looks really cool. Then she goes on this big assignment and the first outfit that we see her wear she looks just like her boss who's played by Murray Bartlett. That's the thing that happens at magazines where there's kind of a hive mind taste thing going right. At GQ a funny thing that would happen is we would go on these yearly retreats and we would get gifted a sweater or a chambray shirt and then everyone would be wearing the same thing. So I kind of wanted to just nod at that, she's on this big assignment, there is this kind of a simulation of like “oh, this is what I think I'm supposed to wear and how I’m supposed to talk.” But before that we see her and she has her own style and then at the end of the film she's back to her own taste. The clothes tell a really big part of this story. I can't imagine making a film and the clothes do not tell a big part of the story. 

Hagop Kourounian: Well, that's a perfect segue for the next question. What was it like working with the legend Shirley Kurata? 

Mark Anthony Green: LEGEND. Shirley's great. She's so thoughtful and so talented. She has great taste and is so patient. I had so many thoughts on the clothes and we had so little money and she's just really delivered, constantly over delivered. It was funny because when I interviewed Shirley, I was like I don't need to interview anyone else we need to figure it out with Shirley. That was one of the most prudent decisions that I made throughout making this film. If you love clothes, I really do think that this film provides a really special experience. 

Hagop Kourounian: I’m a huge fan of movie promotional swag, production company gear, crew gift items, etc. I know you are as well, I saw that you have some original 40 Acres and a Mule merch and I’ve heard you praise Spike Lee for being a pioneer with his pop-up shops and inventive production company merchandise long before anybody was doing anything like that. Tell me about the OPUS crew merch, I saw you posted some insane custom items like Nike ACG fleece, Nike ACG shoes, Levi’s truckers, Champion hoodies, etc. Were you dreaming about this aspect of the production process before making the movie? How did this all come about?

Mark Anthony Green: A film starts off with one person. I had this idea for this movie and before I pitched it to anybody, before I wrote it, it was just me tormented by this idea. Then it snowballs into this thing and you get on set and now there are hundreds of people all super talented working to actualize this thing that was in your head that started with you. I am so deeply overwhelmed by how wonderful my crew was, how collaborative my actors were, how trusting and committed everyone was to making the very best film. My love language is merch, you know what I mean? It's easy for me to be like wow I need to thank 50 people, I need to thank 200 people, I need to thank 500 people. My thought was always that I'm going to make them something. I'm gonna call the homies at Nike and we're gonna do something special. That is my love language and I think that as a garmento, a human being that just loves clothes, that's just the love language. Opus is a small budget film and if you go into battle with me on a film I just think that comes with it because it's part of my love language. I'm hoping that the collaborations, the gifts, they just get bigger and better and weirder and cooler. But I had some really great people at Levi's and Nike who really came through and let me make some really great things. We did this really cool jacket with Vuori for Sundance. All of the stuff that we did, I designed. I wanted to make something that looked dope, you know, I passed on 15 fleeces to get to the 16th fleece because that was the perfect one. I'm just deeply deeply appreciative of anybody that goes on this journey with me and it's just a way to show my appreciation. 

Hagop Kourounian: There are some big names in the special thanks portion of the end credits… Spike Lee, Prada, Bode, Issey Miyake, Todd Snyder, John Elliott, Ralph Lauren, etc. Can you tell me more about their roles in helping Opus come to life?

Mark Anthony Green: Every black filmmaker should have Spike Lee's name in the special thanks. Spike has never seen Opus. He didn't read a single page of the script. As far as I know I don't think that he knows that the film exists but he fought for me to make this film, to show up to set as the boss, and not suppress my blackness. He fought to do that before I was on the planet, he should be there. A lot of those fashion brands like John Elliott are people that I've known and people that I have relationships with, that Shirley has relationships with, etc. Again we’re a small movie, so they had to really believe in me, believe in this film, and send us stuff. They let me be really picky and choosy but also send us multiple versions of things because we're gonna put blood on one or rip holes in one. There was just no friction from the fashion world, they really supported me in this film. I know the designers and the people that work in the houses and the brands so that was just cool that they said, “oh man, you've been talking about this film, what do you need?” I'm so so so excited that we're screening the film at the Prada Foundation. That is such a dream come true to me and I'm Miuccia’s biggest fan but also of that space. It's one of my favorite theaters in the world. I would miss fashion shows because there would be screenings there for things and I’d sneak away and get in trouble when I was at GQ. I just love that room and to screen a film there, it's just a big deal for me. 

Hagop Kourounian: I have this half baked theory that certain directors want to be fashion designers and certain fashion designers want to be directors… Anthony Vaccarello, Tom Ford, Wim Wenders, Sofia Coppola are a few that come to mind. What do you think about that? Do you see any connections between these two artistic mediums? They’re both storytellers with different mediums after all…

Mark Anthony Green: So many fashion shows were on boards of mine when I was meeting with my production designer. Great designers are world builders, great directors are world builders. Tom Ford is probably the most accomplished designer director. I'm sure they are two sides of the same coin, I think that your theory isn’t half-baked, I think it's a fully baked theory. As a producer Anthony Vacarello is killing it. He's absolutely killing it and as a designer he is on fire, I love what he's doing with Saint Laurent. I would love to see the Hedi Slimane film. I would love to see the Haider Ackermann film. I would love to see the Wes Anderson clothing line. I would love to see the Spike Jonze clothing line. That would be sick, if I were like a dictator I would make them do it, you know what I mean? I'd be like Spike Jonze here's two million dollars. You have to stop what you're doing and focus on this, I think it would be so sick.

Hagop Kourounian: I gotta tell you, I'd live under that dictatorship! Aside from GQ of course, what are some of your favorite magazines?

Mark Anthony Green: Great question, I really love old Esquire. This is not a shot at current Esquire. I just grew up collecting old Esquire, like James Baldwin wrote for Esquire. George Lois who was the art director made some of the absolute best covers. So like if I think of the glory days of magazines I just think it's that. I really like A Rabbit’s Foot, which is this film magazine out of the UK, they’re really sick right now. Willa Bennett has Cosmo, breathing new life into it and she's killing it. My homie Nikki Ogunnaike at Marie Claire. I've never picked up a Marie Claire magazine till she got there, but I think she's killing it. My homie Sarah Ball at Wall Street Journal magazine is incredible and has such a high standard of excellence. But I will say respectfully William Francis Welch (Will Welch, GQ) is the goat and that is the best magazine on the planet still to this day. That's just my goat. That's my humble opinion and it's a biased opinion, but he is the goat for me. 

Hagop Kourounian: Where do you like to shop for clothes? You said that during the making of this film it felt like you’ve been under a rock but are there any brands or stores you think are worth shining a light on right now?

Mark Anthony Green: I'm really into Ralph right now like I think Ralph is killing it, obviously you can't go wrong with Ralph Lauren, the new stuff is really great. They got a young designer, James Jeter, who I really like. I thought Haider Ackermann’s Tom Ford was sick. I need to see it in person but I'm excited for that. I love Alessandro Michele and his Valentino I think is really elegant and that's really cool to me. Oh, you know, shout out to Husbands I just think it's just a really sexy cool suit and I feel really great when I'm in their suits. I like what Tyler The Creator's doing. I think Le Fleur is really dope and I have a few pieces. It's made really really well and it has a point of view. The cardigans are really sick. I've been wearing one and I kind of live in it. The last time I drove to a store was to Jacques Marie Mage, the store in LA is beautiful. The sunglasses are incredible. I own way too many pairs and I buy a new pair for no reason but I just think they're like pieces of art. I think everyone should own a pair of Jacques Marie Mage sunglasses. 

Hagop Kourounian: Lastly, who do you think are some of the best dressed directors?

Mark Anthony Green: I'm gonna go with Wes Anderson, Robert Altman, Park Chan-wook, Melina Matsoukas, Gordon Parks, Melvin van Peebles, and John Ford. 

Hagop Kourounian: Hell yeah, amazing list. Thank you, MAG!

Mark Anthony Green: Bro likewise, thank you so much man.