Elliot Aronow, minor genius

💭 Thoughts on DFA’s early catalog, J Crew Penny Loafers, and carrying subtle confidence into your work.

My name is Elliot Aronow and I am a Spiritual Creative Director™. I help people get paid to be themselves I’ve been an entrepreneur and artist for my whole life and I’ve done a lot of  time in the underground culture scene as a TV host, GQ columnist, men’s coach, fashion editor, accessories designer, creative director, record store clerk, copywriter, men’s group leader, vintage clothing dealer, startup founder, CEO coach, A&R consultant, and gourmet doorman. 

While some people might call what I do a combination of uber high level creative direction, spiritual leadership, and tactical business support, what I really love more than anything is helping creators get paid to themselves. I’m a Libra born in Staten Island and my favorite Beastie Boy is MCA. I love POLO. 

🎯 Current focus 

This is a bit of a personal plug but I’m super excited to be working on a full-size minor genius print magazine with a few friends and collaborators. I’m been doing zines my whole life and so this felt like a great next step. I’m very into the idea of liberating the sorts of things you might see in a “self help” book like spirituality or entrepreneurship and surrounding them with fashion, dinosaurs, and other assorted cultural artifacts. It feels good to get physical and create something that can really live in the world.  And, I can expense all the cool art mags I’ve been gobbling up for “research.” 

🤝 Intentional, outsider communities

I came up in the hardcore scene in the late 90s and so I’ve always been drawn to intentional, outsider communities. I like spaces where 99.9% of the “outside world” would be put off or repelled by what’s going on - which means that anyone who is IN is really IN. I’ve been seeing this across so many pockets of culture like my jiu jitsu studio (shout out to Clockwork BJJ!) or a recent grief retreat I attended in the woods of North Carolina. It’s super inspiring. I think the internet over-indexes us towards bland commonality aka being “very online” and so it feels kind of cool to be part of a “secret society.” Even when anyone can join, it’s still pretty self-selecting on account of who is drawn to that kind of scene. So yeah, less loneliness, more weirdos getting together! 

🎶 DFA’s early catalog

Been revisiting the group Metro Area as well as the very early DFA catalog lately.  I remember finding all that stuff at a time in my life when I was desperate to escape the scene policing and conformity of the hardcore scene. I wanted to be around people with slightly better haircuts. I had seen Black Dice and the Rapture many many times before they were on DFA and so I felt comfortable moving from hardcore shows to APT - there was a common thread of muscularity there. Also, the drums are just INSANE on all those records. Highly recommend revisiting Metro Area - they are super underrated IMO and really helped kick off the dance/punk-ish thing without receiving any real credit. 

😏 Carrying subtle confidence into your work

Glenn O’Brien has always been a big wayshower for me. I’ve always admired how he was able to have a strong point of view without being a total jerk about it. It’s a delicate line to thread. Most people admire him for a professional cool guy who rolled with Warhol and wrote for GQ and all that, but I’ve always been more interested in how he used his taste and voice to engage with culture. As things hyper optimize towards loud, stupid, and shallow, his ability to be nuanced and understated really shines through. It can be hard to find that self belief that whatever you are currently working on is the coolest shit going and Glenn always seemed to exude that energy.  I try to carry that subtle confidence into my work, as it attracts folks who are also on a creative path. 

👞 J Crew Penny Loafers 

I’m a really big fan of dressing up - but not too, too nice. It’s a delicate balance between dressy and messy. I find that loafers are the perfect match for any outfit I’m wearing, whether it is a patch pocket suit, or jeans and an INFEST t-shirt. I tend to switch things up between a classic penny loafer (J. Crew is doing some good ones but they are brutal to break in) and something with a bit more chunk and funk to it, like a lug sole Weejun or something from Blackstock & Weber.  

⛷️ Hard Pack Magazine

This is 100% a client shout out but HARD PACK magazine - an avant ski magazine edited by Zach Seely - is doing big things. They’ve only been around for less than two years and they are about to launch a big gallery show with arc'teryx. I’m a sucker for brands and projects that are “uncommercial” in nature that wind up really taking off because they are so idiosyncratic and funky. I also like things that are the vision of one person. There’s so much design by committee these days so it’s great to see a return to the “auteur” model. 

💡 Shifting your perspective and energies

As a function of  supporting creative and entrepreneurs as a spiritual leader of sorts I’ve spent the better part of the last 12+ years deeply studying shadow work and metaphysics. So I’ll need to try and limit myself to just one here lol. The biggest game changer for me has been to notice my own victim mindset - the whole “success is for other people” thing. I’ve had a complicated relationship with a lot of my friends being very visible and getting paid a lot of money to be themselves. I was kind of sour grapes about it for a long time if I’m being honest. Being able to recognize that and then switch from victim to creator was a big deal. After frittering away what felt like a decade of my life, I started to engage with culture again and put myself out there, instead of just sitting around being sad that no one would recognize me. I think victim consciousness kills way more dreams than lack of funding or bad business deals and so being able to transmute those energies and turn them into writings and offerings has been really healthy. Highly recommend! 

🍸 Polo Bar

I’m looking forward to going to the Polo Bar for my birthday! Ralph is my hero so I’m very much looking forward to that. I love universe builders so I’m psyched to see what his version of a bistro looks and feels like. 

Follow Elliot on Instagram & Linkedin, read his Substack, and check out his company here.

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