E. Ryan
Santamaria
Fashion Styling, Marketing
San Francisco, California
I build the look, then I build
the reason it travels.
the reason it travels.
Fashion Styling, Marketing
San Francisco, California
My range of work. The rest sits below, by medium, and in full in the archive.
Composed images, meant to be stopped on.
None of this came from being hired. It started with putting myself in the room, going to fashion community events and meeting people working on the same things I was. I kept those friendships instead of filing them away as contacts, and I learned to speak up for what I wanted to make rather than wait to be asked. Most of what is in this section exists because I went and asked for it.
Chameleon Vintage is where that shows clearest. They curate Japanese archival pieces alongside other designer labels, and the relationship I built with them gave me somewhere to keep working. I get to experiment with styling, and eventually with creative direction, using pieces I would not otherwise have my hands on. It has turned into multiple editorials that promote the shop. That is the arrangement I look for: real work for the business, real room for me to push what I can do.
Looks drift past, the way they would from a seat. Grab and drag to move at your own speed.
Runway is where the styling started, and everything else I do came out of it.
Across four shows, three of them as Head Stylist, I coordinated 125+ models and worked with 12+ designers, turning their collections into one presentation rather than a parade of separate ideas. Mood boards and styling concepts first, then garment and accessory selection, fittings, wardrobe coordination, and getting models ready on the day.
None of it had a budget. These were university productions, so the clothes came from wherever they could: some shows from the designers, some from the models’ own closets, and some out of mine. Half the job was communication, going back and forth with models about what they owned, what they could bring, and whether it would hold up next to the look walking in front of it.
It taught me to take the initiative instead of waiting for a brief. That is what got me styling editorials for businesses, and gave me the confidence to start styling people’s wardrobes one to one.
Styling a figure that cannot move, for someone reading it at twenty feet.
Dressed for the match, and for each other.
Harajuku rules. No restraint.
Heritage Americana, rebuilt from resale.
Opposite corners, same fight.
(Winter) survival of the fittest.
Despicable Me villain, revamped.
Handle bear with care.
Regency at a picnic.
Working at 2nd Street USA put me in front of the product every day, and that is where the real education happened. Handling pieces constantly taught me to read fabric, recognize brands and designers, and understand how a garment is built and what it was made to do. The job also gave me access to style with all of it, including wearing things the way they were never meant to be worn. A head scarf becomes a cravat, a vest becomes a collar, a crochet top becomes a shawl.
From there I set myself a challenge on every installation. Start from a theme, then build it out until the mannequins are not an arrangement that looks good from the sidewalk but figures who have walked into a world. Seasons, holidays, special occasions, whatever was happening locally or nationally that week.
Thirty three of these across the year, all of them on a clock. That restriction is what sharpened my decision making. There was never time to deliberate, so I learned to commit to a direction and build it out before second-guessing could start. It carried straight into editorial work, especially the spontaneous shoots where everything has to come together in hours.
Personal styling for people changing how they dress.
Every engagement runs through these four steps, but the shape changes with the person. Some want a full reset, some want to fix one part of how they dress. Pricing depends on scope, so the consultation comes first.
A conversation about what you wear now, what you want to be wearing, and what is getting in the way. No charge, no commitment.
A reference board for the direction, and a written guide you keep: silhouette, proportion, the pieces that carry a look and the ones that support them. Built to be usable by someone who is not a stylist.
We go through what you already own, now with a direction to measure it against. What works and should be worn more, what nearly works and needs something around it, and what is taking up space.
We shop together, so you learn what to look for rather than just leaving with a bag. Fit, fabric, what is worth the money and what is not.
Recaps, interviews, fit checks. Shot and cut by me.
This is the marketing half of what I do, pointed at the fashion half. Short form is how a look, a collection, or an opening reaches anyone who was not in the room.
Most of it started with a conversation rather than a brief. I pitched the SJSU Fashion Creatives partnership myself, wrote the questions, and interviewed designers and models backstage. The rest came from being at district openings and shows with a camera already out. The work depends on staying close to the people in it, designers, stylists, models, creative directors, photographers and videographers, and that community is as much the job as the edit is.
Marketing work. Fewer pictures, more structure.
The campaign. Union Square in Bloom is one of the two annual campaigns the Union Square Alliance runs, spanning months of events and activations across the district. Tulip Day drew roughly 110,000 people across the district, with 45,000 along the event route and 9,000 through the Tulip Garden itself. The Mother’s Day Fashion Show drew 2,500 attendees. During the Blooms and Bubbles Bar Crawl, multiple participating bars reported sales around 50% above a normal Saturday night.
What I owned. Business outreach, both monthly newsletters, and content production. I contacted over 100 district businesses a month, door to door and by email, and over 40 took part in the campaign. The newsletters reached about 1,800 recipients across two separate monthly sends, one to the B.I.D. member community and one to consumers, at a 43% average open rate.
The approach. Two audiences, two newsletters, every month, rather than one list serving both. Recruitment ran door to door as well as by email, monthly, for the length of the campaign. I produced, shot, or assisted on 19 videos for Bloom, across Instagram and TikTok for Union Square Alliance.
Self-initiated concept. A launch strategy and creative concept for a Kith flagship in San Francisco, written as a full pitch deck. Not commissioned by Kith and not affiliated with the brand.
The idea inverts a line people keep using about this city. The grass is always greener somewhere else. San Francisco has pulled people chasing what comes next since the Gold Rush, through technology, into the creative community working here now, and what they came for never left. The grass was always golden. Kith does not need to make that culture. It needs to join it.
What I owned. Concept, campaign strategy, and art direction.
The approach. Four pillars carry the event: an in-store installation of Bay Area culture, SF exclusive product, entertainment during the queue, and a collectible for enthusiasts. A three-part content system runs around it, from anticipation to opening to community. Iconic local partners carry the rest, to bring it all together.
My background and expertise.
Stylist and marketer, in equal measure.
Based in San Francisco. I work across editorial, runway, and wardrobe, with recent work including a series of editorials for Chameleon Vintage and multiple San Jose State University fashion runway shows. I also work one to one with individuals to build on their personal style, shaped around how they live and what is already in their closet rather than a template. As a fashion buyer and stylist at 2nd Street USA I decided what came into the store and how it was shown, which is where much of my product knowledge comes from: labels, eras, construction, what is worth bringing in and what will actually move.
I hold a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing from San Jose State University, and I have held marketing roles inside and outside of fashion. That shapes how I approach a project: the look comes first, and then the reason it reaches anyone. I also produce short form video, from show recaps to interviews to fit checks.
As Marketing Intern at Union Square Alliance I produced marketing and content for openings, promotions and events across the district, for brands including Gucci, Levi Strauss & Co., GAP Inc., Macy's and The RealReal, and on openings and moments at the scale of the Super Bowl and the launch of The Eighth Rule, Stephen Curry’s speakeasy. The work ran from business outreach, door to door and by email, through both district newsletters, to activations on the ground at events and the content that came out of them. The role also put me alongside the Mayor’s Office and a state senator on events, communications, sponsorships and district policy.
The complete record.
Let's work