The São Paulo creator on mixing minimalism with maximalism and never choosing between them.
Image credits: Carla Santandrea on Instagram (@clarasantandrea)
Clara Santandrea keeps Saint Laurent and Zara in the same closet, along with Renner, Miu Miu, Alaïa and a run of Brazilian labels that have grown up over the past few years. She does not rank them. Her style, she says, is guided by the moment.
“Fashion is exactly that freedom to translate my identity through what I am wearing, or the version of myself I want to put across that day.”
Wearing @ciamaritimabeachwear (via Instagram)
She has been doing this full-time only since February 2025; before that, she worked in production engineering, then spent six years in finance.
The part she likes best is the assembling: combinations, layering, accessories, proportion.
“Often it is not the piece itself that interests me, it is the way it is worn.”
Wearing @tigoficial (via Instagram)
Brazilian names come up first: Cris Barros, NV, Mixed, New Match, Gallerist, Almost Vintage, Le Shay, TIG.
“I love this new generation of Brazilian labels that manages to bring personality, design and real fashion information in a way that is entirely their own.”,
Saint Laurent, before any other international house, for a strong, sexy, and timeless aesthetic. Miu Miu, Alaïa, Courrèges, The Attico… Then Zara and Renner, which she likes putting next to something rarer.
Wearing @hering_oficial (via Instagram)
“In the end my wardrobe is really about high low. It does not matter that much where a piece comes from, but how it talks to the rest of the look and how I can bring my identity to it.”
Dua Lipa is the international reference, less for the clothes than for everything around them.
Wearing @argi_clothing (via Instagram)
“Not just for the style, but for the whole universe she puts across: the travelling, the places, the way she mixes fashion and lifestyle and, above all, the freedom with which she experiments with different aesthetics.”
Wearing @____leshay____ (via Instagram)
Travelling comes first among her favourite things. São Paulo, the trips, the cultures and places she passes through all enter her repertoire and turn up in what she wears. What she carries is short: sunglasses, a good bag, jewellery she can wear every day, perfume, and a lip she has down to a formula, a good lip liner with cherry shine on top and a freckle pen.
Wearing @colccioficial (via Instagram)
“I like to think of fashion as an extension of what I am living”, she says, “without many rules, but always with identity.”
Wearing @triya_brasil (via Instagram)
“Often it is not the piece itself that interests me, it is the way it is worn.”
Wearing @carolinaneves_ (via Instagram)