Introducing Santana

28-year-old Santana [who some people also know as “Paul”] admits to still being a proud Tumblr user. Sitting in his San Francisco home surrounded by plants and books [but noticeably no TV], in his minimalist space with its vintage earth tone driven aesthetic – where a lot of US military pieces sit alongside an old draftsman table - he talks us through his job as a designer, working for Gap, Apple and Levis at various points in his life. A lot of his work is about designing landing pages, directing photo shoots, and digital campaigns. Anything from passion projects such as designing shoes, bucket hats or t-shirts, or creating magazines, photobooks and even modelling here and there.

In his spare time he does a lot of reading [“self help books, geography or a little fiction”], taking photos, going to galleries, drinking natural wine, watching and breaking down foreign films and collecting Japanese magazines, which he uses as a point of reference when it comes to designing his campaigns. Santana admits to being “quiet with little moments of energy”, but we were lucky enough to catch him on one of his more talkative days.

And how would you explain your personal style to me?

I would call it minimal, yet expressive. There’s a few people have stopped me and said that too. It’s very basic, I shop at Uniqlo or Muji, so very minimal pieces. Japanese or korean clothes so they’re very oversized, shoes, birkenstocks, Puma or Salomon and then I might have a bucket hat, but it's kind of uniform. Very basic aesthetics, not showing stitching or many pockets, but still pops.

Would your friends describe your style any differently do you think?

They would say minimalist, I’ve got the same clothes on rotation. 

And then, continuing to think about your friends, what’s your ‘style/fashion role’ in the group? Do you lead? Do you inspire?

I would say I lead but we all have different styles, friends will ask me questions if they’re looking for something. One of my friends is really good at thrifting so he wears second hand all the time, he has a really good style. So we’ll go back and forth and ask each other things about clothing.

Who inspires you style-wise?

Probably the owners of Engineered Garments, Needles. Christophe Lemaire, who does Uniqlo U, his stuff are really clean, great cuts and timeless pieces you can just throw on. Other than that I just study different celebrities from the 90’s and how they dress, leaning to that minimal oversized approach. From that time, Denzel Washington, Julia Roberts, Joaquin Phoenix.

If you could ‘steal’ one person [in the public eye’s] closet, whose closet would you steal and why?

Probably Keanu Reeves, he has a really good style. It’s very just him, his clothing matches his personality too. When I watch his films or listen to his interviews he’s very chilled and relaxed. Just wears basic minimal things and still comes off looking really good.

Where are the other places you’re getting style/fashion influence from?

Fudge magazine, which is a Japanese based magazine. It’s all minimal, people even make Gap look good. They did this spread in March 2020 I think and one of my friends was in it. They shot ‘World snap in Europe’ and they went to various cities and snapped the style, and captured everyone's look and it was so minimal but inspiring. Shows you don’t have to buy luxurious pieces to look good.

When it comes to Streetwear right now, what’s the exciting stuff happening in the culture?

I think the biggest thing for me that’s inspiring is seeing all these bigger brands bringing in different people to work. For example, Kanye with GAP, Jerry Lorenzo with Adidas, Brendan at Supreme who started NOAH with his wife and now he’s the creative director for menswear at J Crew, which is awesome. They’re taking these brands and uplifting them. Teddy Santis from Aime Leon Dore and he works for New Balance now. I think it’s a cool direction to go into, it’s inspiring me and helped me reach out for new opportunities with brands because it was cool to see brands picking up these people that you see on the internet.

What are the things happening that frustrate you or cause friction?

I think Supreme being bought by VF Corporation, that owns VANS and stuff, made me think Supreme is probably going to be placed in everyday stores. Just seems weird to me for them to get picked up by a corporation like that. It makes me a little bit nervous because VF is usually distributing things across various stores. It makes me think about what will they do with the product and the name. I find the hypebeast type trend cringe, I think the kids I see at the train stations or art galleries are loud and annoying, rude at moments. They hang around the popular streets and areas spending their parents money on clothes and pizza or whatever.

Where are your three favorite stores to shop in for clothing/apparel?

Uniqlo - my basics

Garmentory - online store is a hub for various boutiques and I can easily find stuff

Muji - they have nice minimal stuff

What is it about these stores that make them your favorite/preferred place to shop?

Uniqlo is for the basics, super simple and easy to shop, same for Muji. Garmentory I can find everything there, their filter system is awesome.

Does the experience of those stores matter to you too?

The simplicity.

What other stores/spaces are you shopping in and why?

I go to some independent stores that sell candles and scents. I just love candles and incense, I’m always burning something.I’ll look at what they have, their samples, and I study layout sometimes. I like the staff to acknowledge I’m there but I’ll let them know if I need their help. I’m going there for a purpose so I’m in and out.

Going a little more specific, what are your top five favorite brands?

Uniqlo U - their tops and tees, long sleeves and jackets/coats. The cut and quality. It’s affordable which is good because I want to stop spending so much money on clothes.

Engineered Garments/Needles - for pants, I really like their oversized trousers, and their stitching and quality is really good

Workwear HK - really cool, I like their trousers, decent on price

Caputo & Co - they make really great sterling silver bracelets and necklaces, with different gems and stones and I like how they utilize silver because I don’t see that too often. A lot of people wear gold which is fine but it doesn’t match my personal aesthetic.

Birkenstocks - super easy, I customize a few myself for me. They’re super comfy

What are your top priorities when it comes to buying new items of clothing?

When I’m buying something now I think, do I really need it? What makes it different? Is it the color, the tone, does the cut match my other cuts, how would I wear this, do I have something that's similar?

I was going to buy a pullover the other day, it was on sale, but I kept looking at it and it was too busy, too many pockets and I don’t like the idea of pulling a shirt over me. I prefer to zip it or button it up.

How many pairs of shoes, any shoes, do you own?

Probably 20 Birkenstocks, I have a lot. For trainers probably 10.

What type of shoe would we typically find you in, if you there is a ‘typical shoe’ for you?

Probably a Birkenstock to be honest.

What are the most important things for you when it comes to buying your favorite kind of shoe?

If I had to choose, probably something super minimal. I really liked Salomons but they got too hyped. I bought some exclusive sneakers from them but the lace broke, and they didn’t make replacement laces for that model, so I was pretty pissed off and sold all my pairs of Salomons. I like vintage sneakers, Puma running shoes. Something minimal.

Okay, now what about your favorite brands for shoes? Who do you always end up going to?

Birkenstocks, New Balance are really leaning into that minimal look I’m into, and isn’t overly hyped, they’re in the middle.

What about your favorite show stores and what makes them your favorite stores?

I like GOAT, the online store for shoes or various things. StockX is really good too, Sneakersnstuff is pretty cool.