Ben Schwartz

FATHER JOHN MISTY (A.K.A. JOSH TILLMAN) IS INDEPENDENT MUSICS SINGER-SONGWRITER-TRICKSTER EXTRAORDINAIRE. HERE HE WEARS SPRING'S SHARPEST SUITS WITH FLAIR FOR SEVERAL YEARS and seven albums there existed J. Tilhnan, a solo singer-songwriter prone to releasing self-serious LPs with titles such as Cancer and Delirium. Then dude ate magic mush­rooms, slept in a tree and concocted a new stage persona. And so it was written that henceforth the former Fleet Foxes drummer would be known as Father John Misty, the wisecracking prophet behind 2012's Fear Fun, breathing equal parts sweat, sex and spiritual-it)' into his folk-indebted music. Earlier this year the suit-donning singer (whom we've dressed in the season's coolest looks) returned with / Lave You, Honexbear, his most magical, absurd and down-ri^^nfectious release to date. Consider us enlightened. A STYLING BY MICHAEL NASH Velvet blazer, $399. by Suit Supply; tuxedo shirt, $765, and tuxedo trousers, $149, by Polo Ralph Lauren. Father John Misty is something of a contrived performance persona. Do you view your stage outfits as costumes? Essentially anything you wear on stage is a costume. It doesn't mailer if you wore it earlier that day, you know? It's all a persona. There's something refreshing about a kind of forthrightness, some acknowledgment of "I'm here to put on a show. I'm here to look good for the gills and sing my ass off." Is there any particular reason you almost exclusively wear suits? I think of a suit as being like a talisman: II you wear il every day and put more performances into it—all hygienic considerations aside—it becomes a powerful object. Everything in rock music is a suit, whether you're putting on flannel and a beard or an oxford shirt and boat shoes or an over­size T-shirt and an ironic baseball cap. Its all a sense of identity. Anything 1 put on is going to become some kind ol costume, so it may as well be a suit. You were raised in a strict evan­gelical Christian household. Was expressing yourself sartorially a challenge? It was a huge, constant light. When I was really young I used to draw all over my£lothfls;J«vould i doodles. T^J form of ejpl-JtsjHr^rw^jreallv into niakrnf KJHe A>1^ Sid cuts all over my clothes. I remember the first lime I ever did my own laundry, I put in bleach instead of laundry detergent, and all my clothes were covered in hlcacM stains. I thought it was theci thing ever. I didn't see it as f lwjd of tragedy, because I w ' a% jnto mutilating and vs ¦King my clothes. In high school I was really into wearing the ugliest combinations. I wore the stupidest things you could imagine. I would gbuy old-man slacks and then wear Tevas witMrool socks. at an experiment to see people treated you when you ssed a certain way? It was just to be a little shit. But it Stretch wool suit jacket, $795. and polo shirt, $95, by Boss Hugo Boss; pocket square, $175, by Tom Ford. Trench coat, $2,990. and shirt, $790, by Saint Laurent; suit, $2,095, by Armani Collezioni. was kind of pointing oul how subjective the whole clothing and identity game was. Let's talk about your beard. It has become your calling card. I think there's a certain anxiety around clean-cut white men^ like if you luck up in some J inane way they're going to v get angry. But with a beard^j you look either like the. River killer or like you tofu ice cream. Some would say your most compelling creative pursuit forming the persona of Fatf John Misty. It's a patently ridiculous name. The Father John Misty thing is an acknowledgment of "Sure, anything on stage is in some ways a curation or in some ways fraudulent," but if you can't accept the distance between this explicitly hon­est music and this ridiculous name, then there's not really much you will understand about it. Is it flattering to be compared to some fantastic musicians, including Harry Nilsson, Neil Young, Townes Van Zandt and Randy Newman? Not really. 1 mean, t*"> «"«¦•» musician imaginabl —lpared to Neil v t once. I'm nev ; those guys. H ik I'm definitely gwriter in a go^ ude the worde You mention ^ the fact that playboy is"" interviewing you. Explain. Because I still remember tl first time I saw a im.wuoy. I was at a friend's house; I m have been nine or 10 years t Pubic hair was a big revela­tion. It was something I didii realize existed—why would I? That was kind of the indel­ible impression it made on me. There's something about published nudity. To me it's representative of a certain varietv of human agency that I Lthe only person who could chicks sound quite that Three-piece suit, $5,_90g,, and boots... $2,000, by Tom Ford; shirt, $445, by Marc Jacobs. GROOMING BY SYLVIA WHEELER AT ATELIER MANAGEMENT Suit, $3,375, by Dolce & Gabbana; tur-tleneck, $595, by Burberry London; sun­glasses, 5/55, by Ray-Ban; pocket square, $30, by Brooks Brothers; bracelet, $695, by Saint Laurent.