Quad Style: Santi Ruiz
Meet Santi Ruiz, a third year Political Science major and Human Rights minor. On campus he's active in URock Climbing Club, plays soccer on the club team, and writes occasionally for The Maroon and The Gate. Off campus, he likes to coach soccer for South Side Fire FC (catch him yelling at little kids on the Midway!).
How would you describe your personal style?
In the fall and winter I definitely skew more towards a collegiate, professor-y look, but most of my warm weather stuff is vaguely preppy. Since I'm coaching or playing soccer most days I also like finding ways of dressing up the athletic stuff I wear. I'm a big sweater guy.
I'm wearing desert boots I thrifted, black jeans from Pacsun, a The War On Drugs t-shirt I grabbed from their concert last month, a jean jacket I thrifted, and a leather jacket from my dad.
Where do you find style inspiration?
I don't know if there's any one place I look to, although recently I'm following a lot of soccer players and how they dress off the pitch.
Where do you like to shop?
I don't do a ton of shopping, but the Urban Outfitters outlet and Uniqlo are definitely my go-tos. The St. Pius Parish Store is an underrated gold-mine of a thrift store, and the Village Discount is great too. Encore is also a great Hyde Park thrift store that could use more UChicago love!
Do you have any fashion regrets?
I was way too preppy for way too long. Also, I wore these yellow boots pretty much every day my first winter here. They're insanely ugly.
What is your relationship to fashion? Has it changed over time?
I got interested in fashion in high school, I think mostly as a reaction to having to wear a uniform. I grew up just outside DC, which fashion-wise is an extremely conservative city, so it wasn't really until I got to college that I saw how much one can do with fashion.
Why is fashion important to you?
For me, fashion is this neat exercise in playing with expectations. Because there aren't really any stakes, you get to try all kinds of stuff and experiment with how people see you.
Here I'm wearing sneakers from Boohooman (cheap but really versatile), Adidas joggers, and an original 1985 Maccabi Games zip-up I thrifted in Philadelphia.
All images courtesy of Kiran Misra. Check out her photography portfolio here.
