Six citizens of The City Different (Santa Fe) gathered at Lena Street’s Living Threads. They brought favorites from their own closets, layered them with clothes, jewelry, and accessories from Santa Fe shops and boutiques, and allowed TABLE to capture their style for our 2025 Spring Design Issue. A major theme emerged in this facet of our discussion of Santa Fe style: just be yourself.
Fashion Your Santa Fe Style with Local Shopping
Tracee Stanley-Rinzler
Writer and Author of Radiant Rest and The Luminous Self
The Tibi dress gets a totally different look thanks to a mud silk Chuba coat from Living Threads, rings by Annie Hackett at Living Threads, and Daniela Gregis espadrilles from Santa Fe Dry Goods.
“I feel like my style has always been a mixture of Obi-Wan Kenobi meets Grace Jones, meets Japanese Samurai warrior, monk-type vibe,” says Tracee. She practices yoga, Qigong and loves to dance. “So, all of those things need to be incorporated into how my wardrobe fits me. And it’s not about what the label is, it’s really about how it feels on my body.” Tracee likes to shop from designers she knows, like her friend Myrah Penaloza.
“I try to look for people that I know who make clothing so I know where it comes from and I know the intention behind it.” Her clothing also reflects her close connection to place and her rootedness in Santa Fe. “I want to feel like I’m part of the environment, and that the environment is part of me. It’s not like I’m looking to make myself stand out,” she says. “I’m more trying to make myself blend in, in a way.”
Matt Campos
Shamanic Practitioner
Matt is wearing a Jerry Kaye with Jimmy Dean Horn-design t-shirt from J Justice, vintage Peyote Bird Designs squash blossom necklace, Living Threads pomegranate skin-dyed shirt jacket, an undyed, handknit wool sweater, and pants from Living Threads. The shoes and hat are Matt’s own, decked out with pompoms from Living Threads.
If you’re looking for Matt, he’s probably in his home studio, doing beadwork, walking his dog Cooper or sipping a margarita at Bishop’s Lodge. Think Santa Fe style and many people think Southwest but visit the International Folk Art Market and you’ll see just how international it is, he says. “Santa Fe style is eclectic,” he says simply. His own style? “I’m all over the place. I can be very utilitarian. Sometimes, I’m just wearing things to survive the brutal weather. Sometimes I just like to be bold, which is something I never was when I was living in L.A.” (His go-to L.A. uniform was a favorite cut of jeans, a black t-shirt and maybe a leather jacket.)
“Here it’s a little more varied. Here, we have all four seasons. Maybe that has something to do with it. I feel like you’re more allowed to do whatever the hell you want here.” With more people moving to Santa Fe, he hopes this free spirit will continue. “I hope more people embrace their inner weirdo.”
Tira Howard
Photographer and TABLE Contributing Editor
Tira wears a cochineal-dyed silk tunic by Kaval from Workshop and pants from Santa Fe Dry Goods, a necklace from Golden Eye, with her own shoes.
You’re more likely to find TABLE Contributing Editor Tira Howard behind the camera, but for this issue we persuaded her to don some fabulous clothes and step out in front of the lens. She says this about Santa Fe style: “I think it’s really a blend of cultures and that anything goes. There’s a mix of casual and dressy and it’s almost like casual becomes dressy, and dressy becomes casual in certain environments.” Personally, she likes to take something old-fashioned and make it modern.
“I’ll have a character in mind and then take that hopefully in a slightly modern direction. Some days it’s cowgirl and some days it’s milkmaid, some days it’s a mime. Definitely I like dressing up. Dressing up is fun.” Asked to describe her style in three words, it’s pretty, soft and textured. When it comes to shopping, she’s looking for things that last and loves to shop vintage, including local favorite Santa Fe Vintage.
Sara Moffat
Artist, Co-owner La Mama, and Owner L’Ecole Des Beaux Arts
Black and white patterned tunic dress from Amrich at TOKo with Sara’s own boots.
Ask Sara to define her style in three words and there’s not much hesitation. “Artist, work-wear and well-made.” As an artist who divides her time between La Mama and art shop extraordinaire L’Ecole Des Beaux Arts, practicality, comfort, and functionality are key. “I have always tended towards work-wear and identified male clothing,” she says. “I do wear dresses, but it’s more layers and natural clothing and things that are functional and that you can paint in but also look sharp.”
Shopping finds are pieces from her own shop, Living Threads, Spirit of the Earth, La Boheme, Folklore, and 4KINSHIP. Sara says there is an elegance and fearlessness about Santa Fe style – that people are “…not afraid to put things together.” If she’s not at LDBA, La Mama, or home, you’ll find her in the desert, walking in the arroyo, or in Italy or France where she goes twice a year to collect pigments for her art store.
Aaron Payne
Art Dealer, Gallerist, and Founder of Aaron Payne Fine Art
Aaron wears a J Justice white shirt with indigo joggers from Living Threads and 3Sixteen jacket from W Department with his own boots.
When he’s not at work, you’ll likely find Aaron relaxing at home, in the mountains hiking with his dog Bear, or shopping and visiting museums downtown. He’s noticed a change in Santa Fe style since he first lived here in 1996. “It’s more international, reflecting how the town has changed. Definitely comfortable clothing, definitely versatile, not fancy or dressy,” he says. For Aaron, that means clothes that he could wear hiking or to work at his gallery.
“I also like to wear clothes that would translate to places like Los Angeles or New York.” He describes his own style as classic, with subtle tones, and always comfortable. Favorite shopping haunts include Paul Smith, Agnes B. Rag & Bone in LA, and Living Threads and Spirit of Santa Fe, closer to home. And what’s the future of Santa Fe style? “I think it’s just more of an international style versus a Southwestern style, and I see it evolving that way.”
Chloe Garcia Ponce
Healer
Chloe is wearing her own Injiri dress from Santa Fe Dry Goods and vintage Yves Saint Laurent suede boots, with a 11.11 silk duster from Living Threads.
“I’ve been very blessed to have lived in very beautiful cosmopolitan cities,” says Chloe who splits her time between Santa Fe and Europe. “Coming here in this stage of my life is really connecting with silence, and nature, and the power of this land.” How would she describe her Santa Fe style? “It’s eclectic. It’s different. I don’t really follow any type of trend. I’m drawn to color – it’s like a painting for me.”
Her favorite places to shop reflect that personal style. “I go to flea markets. I love different Italian designers who work with indigenous communities, in India or Africa. When I’m here, I love La Boheme, I love Living Threads, and I do Santa Fe Dry Goods a lot.” What makes today’s Santa Fe style special? “What I love is that it’s very understated, it’s not pretentious. It’s not about a trend, it’s not about feeling or looking like they have to belong. Everyone’s very independent.”
Story by Julia Platt Leonard
Photography by Ashley Lynn
Styling by Teresa Robinson
Shot on Location at Living Threads
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