Elliot Soriano is a freelance fashion stylist and costume designer based in Los Angeles. Elliot counts many a celebrity amongst their clients, including the one and only Lady Gaga.
Find an archive of Elliot's work on their website. Follow their Instagram for style inspiration and celebrity snaps.
Meet Elliot Soriano
What shaped your appreciation of fashion?
The one constant throughout my entire life is my love of cowboy boots. If you look at photos of me as a child, it didn't matter what I was wearing, there was always a cowboy boot. There are photos of me in superman pyjamas with cowboy boots on!
For college, I went to an art school in Portland. There I revived my love of cowboy boots with a few pairs I found at a thrift store near my dorm. My current pair (as pictured above) are red satin with a steel toe—they're a runway sample from when Raf Simons was at Calvin Klein.
Where do you look for inspiration?
I spend a lot of time on Instagram bookmarking inspiration. Films are also a great source of inspiration. My favourite film account to follow is Cinespia. They screen classic movies here in LA at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery and have the best taste for cult classics.
What has been your career highlight to date?
I'm most proud of my work assisting Brandon Maxwell in dressing Lady Gaga. I spent a lot of time researching and calling in students and young emerging designers from around the world for her to wear. Giving those emerging talents the same opportunity to be seen as a major LVMH brand—especially on someone like Lady Gaga—has proven to be very helpful in launching their brands.
We asked Elliot to share their 'bucket list concept'—the creative vision that they hope to one day bring to life...
Family holiday, but make it make fashion
My Bucket List concept looks like something you might see in Dazed Magazine.
I'd love to take a week-long trip to Mexico City with my four best friends. These four friends are my Queer Family and we love working together. During the middle of lockdown, after 3 months of not seeing each other in person, we took a trip to Joshua Tree. The photos from that trip are amongst my favourites ever.
I'd love to shoot throughout Mexico City but the one place I'd absolutely need to shoot at would be Casa Luis Barragán. I took a few courses on architecture in college and visiting this Luis Barragán masterpiece has always been at the top of my bucket list.
Styling would be pretty straightforward—I'd want to highlight each of my friend's individual styles. For authenticity, I'd let them do their own hair but to add a bit of twist to the photos I would like to bring on one of my favourite make-up artists on board, lesgubrious—who just so happens to be based in Mexico City. For the clothing, I'd love to feature Latino designers like Roberto Sanchez and my friend Ivana's dad, Cesar Arellanes, who makes almost all of the clothing she and her wife Brooke wear. I was introduced to Brooke and Ivana through my friend Derek and was just naturally drawn to them by their unique style and energy.
What I love about my Queer Family is that we are all creatives, so collaborating on a shoot would be a dream. They are also very good sports when it comes to my ideas... For our Joshua Tree trip, I insisted that we had a wig party in the desert! Derek and Ivana are both incredibly talented graphic designers and have a really great eye for steering the poses and creative direction. Matt and Brooke are both photographers and always capture great candid photos of our little family.
My idea mostly stems from our desire to travel together. Last year we went to Mérida in Mexico for Brooke and Ivana's wedding and it is one of my most cherished memories of our time together.
