GQ: Let’s talk about the dress code. It’s a pretty audacious move to tell a room full of millionaires what to do.

Steve Cohen: One time I had a fellow come to my show who was wearing—no joke—shorts and a tank top. You can’t say to people, “Sorry. Everyone else is dressed for a show, and you look like you’re going to play beach volleyball.”

GQ: So you need a sartorial bouncer?

Steve Cohen: Well, I just realized that during the show people look at each other. And in my show particularly, people stand up; they move around, they observe each other. I especially watch the ladies’ eyes; they’re watching all the other ladies to see how they dressed. It happens every time. So I thought, “If we make a dress code, it calls back the elegance of going to the theater that people used to subscribe to way back when.” I think men wearing fedoras and women wearing stoles—I love that age.

GQ: Tell us some designers and brands that you like.

Steve Cohen: I can go top to bottom, actually. The glasses I wear — I have several pairs of glasses from Morgenthal Frederics. These are antique frames from the 1920s. I usually wear Domenico Vacca shirts and neckties. I have custom-made suits that I usually wear, that are custom-made in Mississippi. This jacket I’m wearing is from Gieves and Hawkes in London. They make my morning coat and my trousers. The vests, or they call them waistcoats, are made by a company called Buckleigh’s of London. The shoes I like to wear are John Lobbs.

GQ: Did they do it custom for you?

Steve Cohen: They modified this one, I needed extra pockets because of the magic.

GQ: Rabbits and—

Steve Cohen: Oh yeah, of course, all the livestock in there.

GQ: Who, if anyone, inspires your style?

Steve Cohen: The first time I saw this morning coat it was actually on the British princes, Harry and William. I thought to myself, “Here are modern, young fellows wearing a well-tailored suit.” I used to wear Armani Black Label, but I looked like I was going to my Bar Mitzvah. I looked like a businessman. I met Steve Martin once and the first thing he said to me, because I was wearing a suit, was “You don’t look like a magician.” And I was like, “Yeah, that’s my first trick.”

GQ: Being a magician is like being the ultimate showman. Does this translate off stage?

Steve Cohen: Yes, I really feel that you need to look the part all the time. I’ve done this show over 3,000 times, and I get stopped daily by people on the street who say, “Hey, you’re the magician! Steve Cohen! I saw you at the Waldorf!” And if I’m dressed in a tank top and shorts and flip-flops, they’re going to say, “Well, that doesn’t match up with the image I have of this guy. I think that you have to be consistent with your style, and that consistency helps your personal brand.

And for me, it’s not hard to dress like this because that’s all I own. And so people often say, “How do you decide to dress like that?” And it’s easy, because when I open up the closet, it’s all that’s there. I’ve got like 12 suits, so I’ll pull out a suit.

GQ: You have to commit.

Steve Cohen: Yeah. It’s a total commitment.

GQ: Your son is only 11. Does he dress like a gent-in-training?

Steve Cohen: No. He likes to wear soccer T-shirts and shorts. When he comes to perform with me, he dresses up. My daughter—she’s six-and-a-half—is a fashion mogul.

GQ: You lived in Japan for a period. Has Japanese fashion inspired you any?

Steve Cohen: Not really. I used to go shopping at kind of a hip, young clothing shop, when I was young. I’m 40 now, so it doesn’t make sense for me to be wearing, like, hipster clothes. I never really wore hipster—

GQ: No skinny jeans?

Steve Cohen: Nah, nah. That’s not me.