Name: MCBAISE aka mcbess
Nationality: French
Occupation: Producer, musician, illustrator
Current release: MCBAISE's new single “Alice” is out via Dirty Melody. There is also a MCBaise designed collection of summer clothes available via The Dudes.
Fashion Recommendations: Motocross long sleeve tee shirts and jean shorts.
About his own fashion brand: I own a brand of clothing called The Dudes, it’s a streetwear brand, I run it with some friends and my brother. It’s not the easiest business, but it’s a lot of fun when it works. I don’t think we’re ground breaking in terms of fashion, but what we output is a true reflection of our personality.

If you enjoyed this MCBAISE interview and would like to stay up to date with his music, visit the official websites of MCBAISE and mcbess. He is also on Instagram, and Facebook.



Do you think that some of your earliest musical experiences planted a seed for your interest in fashion as well?

It’s possible, although the way I got into fashion was through illustrations, and this was always intricately link with music.

I’ve never been able to dissociate music from a visual or mood.

Fashion and music are often closely related to one's identity. Can you please tell us a bit about your own sense of identity – and how it concretely influences your creativity?

I do have a “flexible” type of style, without playing dress up. I do like to switch things up, I get very bored of wearing the same style or the same colours. Seasons and activities obviously influences massively what you wear.

Overall I like to wear simple apparel, that won’t prevent me from doing whatever crossed my mind that day, but still with some kind of bold statement.

I’m writing this in my very comfy Lidl sweatpants, but those are for special occasions.

According to scientific studies, we make our deepest and most incisive musical experiences between the ages of 13-16. What did music mean to you at that age and what role did fashion play for you at the time?

Around that age, the music I was listening to was part of the skateboarding and snowboarding culture,  it never really left me, I still like that kind of laid back jeans and big tee shirts.

At the time music meant everything, I spent all my time playing drum and guitar, and you try to look the part. I guess I was listening to way harder stuff than I am now but I always had a sweet spot for groovy stuff like Jamiroquai.

[Read our Jamiroquai's Stuart Zender interview]

Describe your personal style, please, and how your choice of fashion allows you to express it. Which fashion brands or style icons do you personally find inspiring - and why?

Maybe a fusion of current and nostalgia, especially since right now the 90s are back in trend, so that hits home hard.

I’ve adopted the oversized tee and boxy hoody thing, and I love wearing the nike 90s infrared. Most days I wouldn’t stand out in the crowd I reckon.

Brands like Brain Dead I find really inspiring, because they manage to create a whole world around the products, feels detailed and complete.

Fashion can embody ideals that extend far beyond aesthetics, reaching into ecology, politics and social issues. Does this apply to you as well, and if so, in which way?

Well I’m lucky I can afford buying things from smaller type of labels. So I’m happy not to be helping the big machine that pollutes by creating billions of shitty products every year. But that’s as far as I’m involved.

What do fashion and design add to your perception of music?

I like album art and visuals, it helps build a little world.

Same with clothes — they give texture to the atmosphere.

What can fashion express that music cannot?

I guess fashion can have an understated narrative that music would have a harder time to convey.

The spectrum of possibilities with fashion really ranges from “I’m not trying”, “I have a problem” to “ I’ve created this because this moment is special.” Hope that makes sense.

It seems obvious that fashion and music are closely linked, but just how that influence works hasn't always been clear. Would you say that music leads fashion? Is it the other way round? Or are they inseparable in some ways?

Most music scenes are attached to a culture, or a place, and these carry their own fashions. I don’t think you can dissociate them, and even if you did, you’d end up creating something new.

A black metal band playing in suits with ties would in of itself be a statement.

Fashion and music can be expressions or celebration of identity, but they can also be an effort to establish new ones or break free from them. How would you describe your own approach in this regard?

I mostly like the understated look, the street on stage type of way of being.

I remember as a kid seeing people go on stage and wearing black shirts with vest and it always made me cringe. I like to see artist that carry the way they are in real life onto the art.

Does what you wear change your personality – and thus the music you create or the way you perform?

Of course, even in the slightest of details.

A tracksuit will make you behave differently than a pair of jeans. It all ends up informing what you create. It’s the same with different shapes and colors of guitars - it does change what you write, it’s silly but it’s true.

I have rarely heard of actors, authors, or even painters design a piece of clothing – but it is quite a regular feat for musicians. Why do you think this is?

Not sure, maybe because it compliments itself so well.

Actors don’t usually choose what they wear, and you usually don’t see authors and painters.

Fashion extends to the artwork of releases and promotional photography as well. Could you talk about your approach in this regard and what some considerations were for some of your most recent cover designs and images?

I enjoyed working with my close friends to make the artwork for Mcbaise. Ugo Gattoni did the cover for my last album TUBES, and I’m so incredibly proud of it.



For the rest, I try to get a distillate the mood of a track to its essence and then make it into an images of music video.

For “Alice,” I really felt that those old red puffer jacket for mountaineering where what I wanted to base most of the vibe.

Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you personally feel as though designing a fashion item or even putting together a great outfit for yourself is inherently different from something like composing a piece of music?

I think some people to bring this discipline to high levels, comparable to creating a piece of art.

Yes, I’m not in that category. I do sometime feel proud after putting together a nice outfit, but it never brings me the pride and joy of making something like a song.