These Up-and-Coming Voices Also Grew Up Here

Santa Barbara has bred a plethora of creatives, from photographers to artists and fashion designers, who have found inspiration through the community and scenery they have grown up around. This group of young, local fashion designers are currently launching their own brands and discussing their experiences and how Santa Barbara’s thriving community and culture have inspired them.

Baja Montecito

When Montecito local Wayne Siemens desired a product that authentically represented his hometown, he went to his 21-year-old grandson, Blake, for help. Blake, along with his longtime friends Andreas Schuetz, 20, and Luke Stimson, 23, created Baja Montecito, a luxury boutique brand that merges “the old and the new. We want to create the brand that is representative of Montecito,” according to Stimson. Baja Montecito currently sells their cotton ‘Montecito Cap’ in navy blue and has a wool version of the cap coming soon, as well as apparel and other accessories in the making. The caps include an embroidered outline of the Montecito mountains with the word ‘Montecito’ underneath. 

When brainstorming their design, Siemens, Schuetz, and Stimson compiled mood boards, pulling inspiration from the landscape of the town. In their research process, the designers noticed that a common feature of the Montecito inspiration they drew was the Santa Ynez Mountains that, in effect, stand in the town’s foreground. “The mountains of Montecito have been there forever, and it’s one of the most prominent features of the town,” says Stimson. Terry Pillow, owner of the Coast Village boutique Homer Maker and someone the designers consider their ‘mentor,’ advised them to focus on creating a constant brand identity. The designers explained that they wanted to make a product that is “wearable for everybody… we have a new young crowd in Montecito; people are moving in as years go by and fashion’s changing.” 

Siemens and Schuetz, who have grown up in Montecito, have noticed a shift in the type of fashion that Montecito residents gravitate towards, such as the current ‘quiet luxury’ aesthetic, which Forbes defines as the “shift toward a more exclusive, intimate and personalized experience with less visible branding.” For Baja Montecito, their take on quiet luxury is to brand their pieces with just the word ‘Montecito’ as a way to represent the community rather than the brand: “We think there’s sort of a void in the fashion scene here for a brand that represents Montecito as a whole.” 

While the designers are very familiar with their hometown, they welcome advice from their friends and family. “We have a whole network…in the local community that are suggesting things. It’s been great for feedback.” As for advice to their peers who are also starting out, the Baja Montecito designers say, “don’t settle for the first solution you find.” They explained that it took months to create their product, accompanied by many trials and errors. In order to fully represent the Montecito community, Baja Montecito is donating a portion of its profits to the Santa Barbara Bucket Brigade. “We know a lot of people who were personally deeply touched by [the brigade’s] efforts. They are an organization that is near and dear to our hearts.” 

Baja Montecito is available for purchase at Homer Maker and on their online store at Bajamontecito.co. Follow their Instagram @BajaMontecito for updates and more information.

Indi Fields

From Santa Barbara to New York City, Steven Fields has unified his love of fashion and design with his hometown roots to create his brand, Indi Fields. The 20-year-old designer started making his own clothes in freshman year of high school and has recently started working on his own line, Indi Fields, in New York. He explains the brand as “ready-to-wear mixed in with couture fashion” and has taken inspiration from “Santa Barbara as a whole. A mix of surf, skate, and Chicano culture… It’s an ode to my lifestyle growing up here. I want it to be a unique representation of myself,” Fields says. 

Indi Fields is an homage to Fields’s hometown as he believes that “as a designer, the best thing you can do for yourself is to go back to your roots because that history is only yours and nobody else’s. If you are able to execute that perfectly, you’ll get something really unique that people haven’t seen yet… people will be attracted to it.” Fields sees his brand as a mix of both accessible ready-to-wear clothing with an emphasis on denim, as well as high-end couture pieces where Fields can “really [make his] art.” His goal for the future is to move back home and open his own flagship store in Santa Barbara. 

However, Fields has faced many challenges throughout the process of starting his own fashion line. Fields explains that problems ensued when he tried to start his brand too early and that he felt he needed more experience before diving all the way in. Field gives advice to other young designers hoping to create their own business. “I think people get caught up in how easy it looks. If you want longevity, the most valuable thing you can do for yourself is to be able to find something that’s unique to you and really work the business side of it once you get to the point where you have your audience.” 

Santa Barbara’s own Catherine Gee has mentored Fields, bringing him along to tradeshows and showrooms and introducing him to the business side of starting a fashion brand: “I am grateful to have her in my circle… She’s always down to help; it feels good to have somebody doing the same thing behind you. She’s the boss,” Fields shares. Fields emphasizes how building a “good community at home” in order to stay grounded and have support is necessary for working in the fashion world. He explains that he is just one of a ‘whole crew’ of Santa Barbarians studying in New York and that they ‘cherish’ their shared connection to Santa Barbara. Fields is working on his first summer collection, which he is set to have coming out in two months. 

Follow their Instagram @Indi.Fields for updates and more information.

Cold Call

A fusion of skateboarding, punk music, and street art, 25-year-old Wyatt Lynch’s brand Cold Call is what he likes to call ‘unorthodox.’ Inspired by his time skateboarding with Shorty’s Skateboards and the now-closed skateboard shop Church of Skatan, Lynch created his own skateboarding attire company, Cold Call. Lynch sells casual skateboarding apparel with screen-printed graphics. He works with artists from Thailand and New York, many of whom “work in street art and listen to hardcore punk music.” Lynch’s screen printer, Jon Donaghy at the creative production studio Mind Garden Research, and Santa Barbara local artist DJ Javier have both inspired Lynch’s image for Cold Call. 

Lynch explains that his goals for his brand are to see Cold Call featured in magazines and to broaden the number of skate shops that carry his clothes. He also hopes to build a team of skateboarders for Cold Call to sponsor. Lynch shares that Shorty’s Skateboards originally solidified the skate apparel market in Santa Barbara: “When thinking about skate clothing brands in Santa Barbara, Shorty’s [Skateboards] stands out to me and the movement/culture it provided. I want to be able to continue the passion of Santa Barbara skateboarding and clothes for the world to enjoy.” Cold Call has collaborated with the jewelry brand Luna Delphine as well as the plant-based eatery Rascal’s Vegan. 

Cold Call is available for purchase at Lighthouse Skate Shop, Solvang Skate Shop, and at their online store at coldcallbrand.com. Follow their Instagram @ColdCallBrand for updates and more information.

Moseley X Designs

From doodling designs in class and airbrushing on hoodies to screen printing her original designs on lounge and swimwear, 20-year-old Marissa Moseley has transformed her brand, Moseley X Designs, from a hobby into her own business. Growing up in a family of entrepreneurs, Moseley was exposed to creativity from a young age: “I started dancing when I was three years old at my grandma’s studio, Montecito School of Ballet. Seeing her make a whole business because she found beauty in dance and… art within music and movement, I was always really inspired by her. I realized there are so many different ways to express yourself.” Moseley began her company by airbrushing her drawings onto her clothes instead of the canvases she was using prior. “I had so many canvases piling up in my room. It was fun for me to use a different outlet other than canvas.” Once she began selling her pieces, Moseley switched to screen printing in order to keep up with her demand. 

Moseley shares that her proximity to the ocean, from growing up in Santa Barbara to now attending UCSB, inspired her to create her own swimwear. Moseley prides herself on her brand being entirely slow fashion and made from recycled fabric. “I realized, if I want to do this, I want it to be authentic… and done ethically.” When asked about sustaining a business in a small town, Moseley says, “I’ve heard people say it’s hard to make it big in a small town, but I think in a way it’s the opposite. You have all these people around supporting you, and Santa Barbara itself is so beautiful. I think it brings peace being able to create things in a simple environment.” Moseley views any challenge she faces as a learning experience to improve in her company. 

As for advice for her peers who are also starting out, Moseley says to “never stop. Even if you think that it’s not going anywhere and you lose some action, that’s when something big is coming. I think it’s important to stay consistent with yourself no matter what people say or think.” She goes on to explain that her best-selling pieces are usually those made when she’s “just goofing off… people see it’s authentic and that I’m not trying really hard to be something I’m not.” Moseley is working on her next bikini line, which will be dropping within the
next two months. 

Moseley X Designs is available for purchase at moseleyxdesigns.com. Follow their Instagram
@MoseleyXDesigns for updates and more information.