With so many quirky and unorthodox fashions trends in Austin, street fashion blog Saint Citizen hopes to chronicle the various styles and personalities on the streets.
UT alumnus Adam Brandenburg and journalism senior Kayla Galang, the co-founders of Saint Citizen, said they plan to take portraits that aren’t just focused on thrift and vintage styles.
“Mostly, when you see Austin blogs, it’s like, ‘Oh, we thrifted this or that,’” Galang said. “Although I love that crowd, there’s more diversity than that.”
The pair launched the site early last month and made the design interface simplistic and direct. Each entry features a full-length portrait, the subjects’ name, profession and where the photo was taken. Saint Citizen is looking to expand the variety of the site, adding different types of shots and videos, Brandenburg said.
“We are definitely thinking about branching out,” Brandenburg said. “Right now, it’s entirely posed portraits.”
Brandenburg graduated from UT last December with a radio-television-film degree and started Double Knot Pictures, a photography and video company
operating in Austin. Brandenburg said Austin is a special community that embraces creativity without being overly commercialized.
“There are huge amounts of talented people here,” Brandenburg said. “The Austin community realized it isn’t a zero-sum game [and] that they need to go help each other succeed.”
Galang will shoot photos for the blog at weekend two of Austin City Limits Music Festival. She said shooting for the site has helped her overcome her fear of taking photos of strangers — she once followed someone in a friend’s car just to take their photo because they caught her eye.
“This happened when I was overcoming a shyness about shooting people,” Galang said. “I just wandered out of the car and asked if they would mind if I took their photo.”
The confidence of an individual often attracts Galang, who tries to keep her camera on her at all times, to their fashion.
“I see people wearing plenty of trendy things, but the combination of accessories and clothes — I really look for the way they carry it,” Galang said.
According to Brandenburg, style encompasses personal identity.
“It’s supposed to be more of an exemplification of their personality rather than, ‘Look how cute their clothes are,’” Brandenburg said.
Brandenburg said the popularity of the site is exciting for the duo.
“We wanted to give a voice to the diverse styles here in Austin,” Brandenburg said. “There is so much going on and we wanted to provide a platform.”
