Tanner Dean – Since then we have kept in touch through social media, as we all usually do. But there’s that kind of strange familiarity with a person that comes with following them online. Tanner and I come from the hardcore music scene; We came up photographing shows and finding a place in a community full of weirdos and nerds.
Of course, he also posts outfits and clothes, and I’ve been a fan of his personal style since I met him. So I was doubly happy to chat about life and style with Tanner, who currently works at Celine, in her neighborhood over coffee. We talked about her West Coast roots (she grew up in Southern California before moving to Eugene, Oregon, and eventually New York), and her love of specialized Japanese fashion.
In a world of men’s fashion where those kinds of subcultures tend to create isolated groups of personalities, it was an interesting point of connection.
My musical taste and upbringing mix a little bit with my style, where I gravitate towards Celine, Saint Laurent, Dior and Hedi Slimane because he’s someone who likes Malibu surf rock, but also alternative punk from the Kingdom United, but also Berlin. house music and New York indie sleaze. I also took four years of Japanese at an international high school. I was learning the language and then that mixed with my taste for second-hand clothes and fashion.
Tanner Dean
I learned about Comme des Garçons, and then that took off into Yohji Yamamoto and Undercover. I loved Undercover by Jun Takahashi and his love for music, rock, and indie. Storytelling is very, very important to me in clothing and fashion. If you’re making clothes that don’t have any statement or vision, then why are you making them? It just doesn’t make sense to me. I tend to like smaller brands because they tell the stories best.
Yes, she was wearing Ann Demeulemeester tall boots with a cropped sweater from Raf Simmons in Eugene, Oregon. At the time I was going to a coffee shop and people were probably looking at me like I was a complete weirdo. But I also really liked Thom Browne, and I like wearing Thom Browne skirts and subverting traditions. Tanner Dean
I was also part of that 2010s Portland hipster thing. That was my introduction to fashion. Being a surfer from Southern California and then moving to hippie Eugene, Oregon, I’ve always been a fan of laid-back, bohemian, scruffy prep. Something that’s buttoned up and pretty clean, but you tweak it a little bit and make it a little scruffy or a little worn. Another big fashion thing for me was that I wore a lot of black because I was going to photograph intense shows. I always wore Doc Martens, Carhartt double-knee boots, and a vintage t-shirt.
I started posting outfits because I wanted a catalog of all my personal styles. People started following me. I started talking to the camera more. Since I was in Oregon, I would go to a thrift store and find a bunch of Carhartt double knees. I would buy them because they cost ten or twenty dollars. I went on TikTok and was like, “This is what I bought at the thrift store.” People said, “This is satire, right?”
From there, people started to realize that I liked something more than the Carhartt double knees, like the niche Japanese brands. I would wear Ann Demeulemeester, Undercover, Raf Simmons, Hedi Slimane. From there I entered Bode. It was definitely a big change for me in terms of color palette.Tanner Dean
Clothing is almost non-verbal communication. So it’s just a question of what conversation you want to have each day with the things you wear and who you want to have a conversation with as well. What band T-shirt do you want to wear? What signage do you want to do? How do you want to feel? Do I want to feel relaxed? Do I want to feel like I have a task to do? Wearing something that is out of your comfort zone is always difficult.Tanner Dean
Because they think all these things are worth a lot of money because in a resale market mentality, all those pants cost between a hundred and two hundred dollars at Grailed.Tanner Dean
Hedi had boys in bow blouses, skinny jeans, and higher heels. Bode makes ballet flats that have bows. I don’t necessarily like traditional masculinity within fashion. I like clothes that are sometimes more feminine. It’s always fun to have something with a bow on it with a boot like a lumberjack would, doing something bold, mixed with something softer. I like that conversation.Tanner Dean
My entire fashion comes from really enjoying a TV show, book, or movie. Like, “That looks great. “I want to try to implement that.” It’s good to have interests outside of fashion, like music.Tanner Dean The best place to find personal style is to look inward, but it must be found within yourself and rooted in the community. If you have neither, then you follow what others do or you spiral inside yourself.Tanner Dean