We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Astrid Montalvo a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Astrid, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?
When you first start off as an artist, you are taking that risk and hoping you are good enough. I was working as a personal stylist and sometimes I get the pleasure to style a musician and that is when the fun would really start for me. I got to really branch out and create a more interesting look and call it my own. I then pursued fashion stylist for editorial shoots, creative artist and companies that wanted a more out of the box eye. I then got picked up by multiple brands to jump on board as a on set stylist. I had a huge health problem hit me and then it hit me. Even if I tried to do something different, fashion would always pull me back in. I decided to start creating my own creations from scratch. Now I own my own runway company, my own brand clothing, a rental store and still make time to make outfits for my clients. It is a lot of work but my calling is exactly this and nothing else. I will continue to push until the whole world sees me.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
Hello everyone, My name is Astrid Montalvo. I am a Cali girl for life. I absolutely enjoy styling creative artist waiting to take their careers to the next level. My elevated over the top sexy wardrobe as seen on my IG ( @styledby_astrid) is all sex appeal but with a avant garde energy. I am known as Reina De Rock N Roll. Bringing out the sexy side to everyone around me. Need a top SD wardrobe styist/ designer or event creative director- I am your girl. I am here to spread the word about my craft to everyone in need of my help. Everyone that thinks they do not need a stylist at a shoot, clearly has never had me on set. The full Astrid Effect isn’t complete until you’ve done a photo shoot with me. Now as a new venture Electric Sole Runways is a new upcoming runway company by blending my 2 brands Re-Claim Sole// Electric Kitty.
I call in all SD models to come to casting- just follow @electricsolerunways
Now that you know a bit more about me, make sure to follow me for more exciting adventures and events coming up.
2022 is my year to shine and I want everyone to know my name,
ASTRID
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
In my view, the San Diego community is far from what it should be. There are major fashion capitals that have many resources for upcoming artists but for those cities that aren’t on the map for fashion get pushed aside. San Diego in my opinion is a growing fashion capital and needs more recognition. If society gave more opportunities to local artist and we helped eachother like a supporting community, we’d have more major artist rising. As a San Diego born and raised Cali girl, I am here to put San DIego on the map. The goal for my runways is to bring in the entire art community, & in hopes for all of us to come up together and show off how much talent is kept in one city. I am here to bring awareness to all those small upcoming designers, struggling fashion stylist, working off commission photographers and underpaid makeup & hair stylist. Let me bring light into our dark shady cloud. We are at the point where we don’t take each other seriously if they are coming from LA or NYC. We are dripping in talent because it is not a norm to compliment each other and give each other positive criticism. I want to create a thriving new creative venture for all accentric artists. I welcome you.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
The perfect example to show how I rose up from this crazy pademic and how it affected all artists including myself. I had 4 fully covered traveling contracts with major runway companies and international brands. I put my 3o days in at work and my apartment in LA in hopes to start my traveling path to all my favorite places I had dreamed of going to. Once we went into lockdown and the pademic was for everyone around the world, all the major fashion capitals were shut down. All the contracts I had got canceled and were not making anymore clothing for me to come style on runways. I went into deep depression and did not know what to do with myself from then on. I had no jobs coming my way and had no work from any shops for absolutely anything. I went into shutdown mode for about 6 months, gained over 50 lbs and did not want to talk to anyone. I finally hit a point where I felt like I was letting myself down and needed to do something about it. I then taught myself how to build websites and marketing to help small businesses that needed to adapt. I build my own website as well as 3 others for small businesses in San Diego. I also then decided to start designing and creating my own designs. Used my website to get the word out and promote my new collections; which then turned into building new runway events. I now am a part time designer, part time marketing ex to rental shop, and full time creative director for Electric Sole Runways; where I showcase my new collections on a interactive themed runway in the heart of San Diego. I rose from a trait I thought was my last chance at happiness and proved myself to be a lot more than I ever imagined.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.re-claimsole.com
- Instagram: @styledby_astrid
- Facebook: Astrid Montalvo