Spotted in: The Mission, SF
Occupation: Fashion Stylist
What's your occupation?
I'm a fashion stylist for a corporate fast fashion company.
What are you up to today?
I'm working on a product photo shoot, and I'm also styling out a presentation for an upcoming photo shoot next month.
How long have you been doing what you do?
I've been doing it for almost five years now.
How did you start?
I've loved fashion since I was a kid because I've always loved the transformational properties of what it means to express yourself through your wardrobe. I didn't really get into it until after I worked in the film industry for a bit and realized that my love was with fashion more than it was with film. So I had friends that worked in the business and I started helping out on photo shoots and that led to one thing, and then another and another.
So what finally hooked you in, what part of the transformational process did you like?
I think it can go one of two ways—I feel like once you know yourself, you understand your tastes and what your style is and you're able to express yourself accordingly, people get it within their first perception of you. But then alternately I think it's also a great way to disguise who you are internally. So that's why sometimes I question anyone who is too flamboyant in the way that they dress or style. I think it can be an overcompensation for what they're lacking in substance. Whereas the people who I think really understand themselves know how to express themselves creatively in their wardrobe, especially through detail. I like to be a purist and think that people are accurately expressing themselves.
How would you describe your personal style?
I've thought about this and I'd like to think that if Stockholm street style were to have a baby with a desert bohemian fox, that's what I'd want myself to be. Clearly I've thought about this! [laughs]
What do you like to do when you're not styling or working?
I like eating, going to live music shows, playing music, making art, painting, drawing, hanging out with my homies. Did I say eating? Because that takes up a lot of my time.
What are your go-tos in terms of eating?
I like eating in different places but I clearly have my go-to's based on my neighborhood. So of course I go to La Taqueria a lot because it's right around the corner. Mission Pie, Rosamunde, Beretta and those kind of places. It's all largely in the Mission. Ideally I'd like to branch out, but . . . in due time.
Have you always been way into food?
Yeah. I grew up in a culinary family. My dad used to be a chef, and my mom has a Thai restaurant in Sonoma. I've always been around it, and a lot of our family friends our chefs in the city and have opened up restaurants.
Do you experiment with cooking yourself?
I bake. I have like maybe five things I can make in terms of preparing meals, and that's it.
What's something that's been on your mind lately?
I'm really into glorified tech stereotypes in San Francisco. I just like hearing people talking about these pre-conceived notions they have about tech people and how they engage with San Francisco.
What's a good example of something that you've heard recently?
Just people blaming the tech world for a lot of the misgivings about living in San Francisco, when I think in actuality it's not entirely their fault. It's almost like they're being used as a scapegoat. Also, when I go out, watching certain interactions take place. You can tell there's this huge segregation that's happening in San Francisco right now between "tech bros" and then everyone else, more or less. Just that local battle is really interesting. I've never experienced this anywhere else.
Have you gotten any good advice lately?
There's this really great quote that I read by Friedrich Nietzsche and it's: "One must still have chaos in one, to give birth to a dancing star." It's basically stating that internal turmoil can aid you into becoming a better person.
Read anything good recently?
Yeah, a Haruki Murakami novel called The Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage. It was so good. It's basically about this kid who gets kicked out of his group of close friends in high school and never resolved his psychological trauma of that experience. So in his adulthood he has to revisit all the possibilities about why that happened. Even though the topic is super mundane, the way that it unfolds is suspenseful.
So tell me about your outfit today and how did it come about?
I'm channeling Margot Tenenbaum. The coat is Mango, the top is The Reformation, skirt is Topshop, and the boots are Sam Edelman.
And what inspired the braids?
I'm just lazy and didn't want to do my hair.
