dress/code with Ryan & Rachel Adams
"The heart wants what the heart wants."
Part II of this interview is a dive into personal style, where Ryan & Rachel talk about their dress codes changing over time, share their signature style pieces, and explain how comfort yields confidence.
Interview and portraits by Georgia Dixon | Blind Tiger Portland, March 14, 2025
I write about getting dressed, and how it plays into our self expression. But getting dressed means different things to different people. There’s a great profile on designer Aaron Levine, and in it he makes this acknowledgment which goes:
“Everyone is wearing clothes, all of us need to get dressed and some people use them the same way I do [as a creative outlet], some are purely utilitarian, some don’t care at all and all of it is okay.”
With that sentiment of “all of us need to get dressed”, I asked you both to come dressed in your own personal dress code today.
Can you describe what you chose to wear? And what makes it your personal dress code.
“I’m dressing like my dad now, but there's still a little bit of that rap nerd there.”
Ryan: I think mine is probably workwear — which as a style has become really popular. But we’ve been about this life since the 90s, in Portland, all right?! It's kind of great that the trends are steering towards what my father has been dressing me like since I was a child. But yeah, obviously I've gone through many different style eras.
(to Rachel) When I first met you, I was in a weird spot and I remember I was transitioning to being more grown up.
Rachel: I think when we first started dating, I actually made him a Pinterest board.
Ryan: I had asked for help though! The thing is, growing up I was very much a little hip hop kid. So it was Ralph Lauren, Polo — egregious colors — like, just obnoxious —and that, to me, was the coolest thing, because it wasn't made for us.
But the people that were in the culture that I was in, the people that looked like me from other cities, were wearing it. We were taking it and making it ours.
So, yeah, I was a very big Lo-head. And you know, I’ve still got my collection.
Rachel: Everything's there.
Ryan: But when I met Rachel, I was at this point where I had just turned 30 and I was like, “Damn, I'm a grown up now. I can't walk around like this. Like, I need help.” (laughs)
I used to work corporate, so I had that whole monkey suit that had to happen. But then there was this whole other creative side, which ended up taking over and being my life. That’s when the transition back to workwear started.
My dad was a union pipe fitter, so he's always dressed essentially like how I am today. It’s the same in painting; you wear Carhartt stuff. You wear double knee pants. You're on the ground moving around. It helps to have multiple pockets.
I was wearing a lot of Carhartt and hoodies — you know, stuff that was utilitarian and made sense for what I was doing. I basically just got clean versions of those and didn't get them messy. And that's where I am today.
But I'm still a low key sneakerhead.
Even these bad boys right here, they look like regular hiking boots, but if you’re a nerd, you would know they are actually the Beef and Broccoli Air Max 1s. So even though I’m dressing like my dad now, there's still a little bit of that rap nerd there.
And I'm a hat guy. I've always worn a hat. Ever since I was a kid, even with a full head of hair, I always wore a hat.
So I have my collections; it’s hats and sneakers for me.
So in terms of a signature You piece, it sounds like hats are it?
Ryan: Hats for sure. Hats for sure.
Rachel: I think it’s sneakers now, too. If we go to an event or something, people always look down now to see what sneakers you're wearing. I think people kind of expect it from you now. It’s always a topic of conversation.
Ryan: Yeah. I'm definitely a known sneakerhead to a certain extent. I'm not, like, crazy.. but I have my display cases. I have a wall, with all of my good ones.
Rachel: Yeah, Ryan will look at my closet and he’s just appalled that my sneakers are not [on display].
Ryan: I can't. She’s got no respect.
But yeah, I have some real freshies. Like the other day I busted out these really rare Air Maxes for a shoot that I was in. They were an homage to Jackie Robinson. So yeah, pairs like that I'll bring to an event, do the thing, and then I touch them up and put them back.
What’s your secret for getting these rare release sneakers?
Ryan: So I’m on a couple apps. Like the Nike app will have drops before the shoes are available on their main site. There’s only a certain amount they release, and you have to wait in line, punch a ticket, and see if you get it.
It’s a whole song and dance, but it's worth it. It's my thing. I had a friend come over and I was like, “you know, it kind of looks like a waste of money.” My friend was like, “nah, dude, this is like somebody's wine collection. It's the same thing. It's just your thing, you know?”
The heart wants what the heart wants.
Rachel — can you talk about your personal dress code.
“I love having a story to tie to the clothes.”
So for me, I think that I have two or three zones when it comes to clothes. Being on site [painting], I had to figure out what I was most comfortable in. Not only is there the labor side of it, but you also get photographed when you're painting. So I had to figure out what I felt comfortable being photographed in, that also performs.
I've found that overalls are usually what I'll wear. I'm also starting to wear more coveralls. It’s one garment and it's as utilitarian as it gets. It’s a weird thing to have to think about, but you know, every install some photo is always going to be put out there — which is ultimately how we get more jobs.
I've started to wear some of that workwear to art events too, because I think that the number one styling thing for me is comfort. And sometimes I'm not mentally in a place to go ‘perform’, as in, putting on the tights and lipstick.
“What feels comfortable is my uniform. And when you're having these social interactions that could potentially lead to your next opportunity, that level of comfort is super important.”
For everyday wear, over the last couple of years I’ve tried to obliterate fast fashion from my closet. I've really leaned into more sustainable brands. And with that, I'm finding that once I find the thing, then I don't need more.
I really like the classics, but with a slight twist. So even with this shirt, I love that it's a button up, but it's also got this embroidery on it. It’s from a company that supports women weavers in India. I love having a story to tie to the clothes. Just knowing more about it makes you treat it differently. It doesn't feel as disposable.
My body changed significantly after having kids. So I was doing a lot of R&D to figure that out. When I used to go on my crazy online shopping spurts, I think it was partly just to figure out, what am I comfortable in? Now I’ve found the things that I like and I have a system of knowing what works. Like when I feel bloated, or when I'm having a skinny day, I just have my go-to things to match what I'm feeling.
Also before kids I was a size 11 in shoes, and after kids, I'm more like a size 12. I've always had to wear gender neutral shoes, and would have to base my version of dressing up around the footwear. I was never able to wear heels or ultra feminine shoes. I’d wear my Red Wings with a dress or sneakers with a dress.
“The things I tie to femininity have always been different.”
So yeah, I've always had to compensate for the footwear situation, especially when I was in my 20s. All of my girlfriends would be wearing heels and I’d have to be like “Well, I’ll just be wearing these Vans with my bodycon dress.” (laughs)
And I'm six feet tall, so the things I tie to femininity have always been different. I’m not a total tomboy, but it just kind of makes me evaluate clothes on a different level.
Ryan and I have clothes that could be interchangeable between the two of us because we're both wearing double knee jeans and button ups and whatever. What I'm figuring out now, and helping Ryan with too, is like, when there's an event that feels like you're supposed to be dressy, I'll just look at him and be like, what are you actually comfortable in right now?
Ryan: Yeah, because when you're comfortable in what you're wearing the whole day is better, the whole experience is better. Fortunately enough for what we do now, we're artists so we can just do that — wear what we want. We both worked corporate before where we couldn’t do that. Now it's like, lean in. If I'm feeling like wearing sweatshorts to this, sweatshorts it is. And I feel great.
Rachel: Yeah, and I kind of got the sneaker bug as well.
Ryan: Yeah, she’s got a little tinge. Like the ones you're wearing right now, is there a story behind these?
I feel like I'm sensing there is a story…
Rachel: Ok do you want to tell it? I don’t even know if I’ll get it right.
Ryan: Alright, so, we had been planning a visit to one of my good friends in Madrid; but then it was peak COVID, so it didn't happen. He's a professional skater, and Nike dropped these shoes in collaboration with the skate shop that he pretty much lives at. So I was like, dude, getting these in the States is kind of crazy, can you grab some for me?
So he did, he put a box aside — this was years ago. We just went to Madrid in December, and he had kept them!
They say, ‘Welcome Madrid’, they have a houndstooth interior and, I was like, damn, these are Rachel steez. So, yes, I surprised her with those as soon as we arrived. They had been on ice for like a year and a half!
So Rachel, how many sneakers do you think you have now?
Rachel: I probably have a quarter of what Ryan has.
Ryan: Yeah…I’ve got a lot.
Rachel: But also, I really am a same-shoe-every-day kind of person. My favorite pair of Nikes I wear every day. They are so trashed that I got a second pair that are just fresh in the closet, because I know at some point the other ones will be so destroyed I can't wear them anymore.
Even as a kid my mom would have to throw shoes away because once I got something I liked, that's just what I would wear.
That’s smart to have a backup!
Rachel: Yeah. Only because they're all white, and I know the day is going to come when they wear out. And I was, like, you know what, I love these, and I wear them every day, which is more than I can say about other things in my closet.
Alright, so, what would you say, then, is your signature piece?
Rachel: That's a good question.
Ryan: Whimsy.
Rachel: That's not a thing! I don’t know…jeans?
Ryan: Nah.
Rachel: I wear jeans like every day..
Ryan: I have the evidence that suggests otherwise..
Rachel: Yeah…I also love a sweater pant. But yeah, I don't know what my signature thing is!
Could it be the overalls? That you've been wearing to shows?
Rachel: Yeah, probably overalls.
Ryan: Yeah, you rep the overalls. You’ve had multiple colorways, too.
Rachel: Yeah, and I have my Going Out overalls.
Wait a minute! Tuxedo overalls?!
Ryan: That shows how much we go out.
Do you have favorite makers / resellers / retailers in the Portland area that are your go-to?
Ryan: I'll be honest. On the sneaker front, no. There's a couple spots, but they’re a little younger, for a different crowd.
Clothing wise, it's like, I have my Carhartt pants. I know the ones I like, and I kind of just re-up on new colors every now and then. Now we have a Carhartt store, but before that, it was, you know, Renys.
RacheI: Yeah I don't know what it is, but I think during the pandemic when everything shut down, I ended up figuring out the places I liked online and have just stuck to it. I'm pretty sure both my jeans and shirt are from Daughters in Rockland.
That's a great shop!
Rachel: Yeah, sadly she’s closing, but I think Daughters is probably the Maine store where I have gotten the most things.
Ryan: We’re both fans of a good graphic tee. There are so many makers here in Portland. Sometimes they will drop a t-shirt and that's where I’ll pick up something. Like if Anastasia Inciardi drops a shirt or Ty Williams does an artist collab — I love that sort of thing. That's about as local as it gets for me.
Rachel: I don't have patience to really even go shopping in a store. My mom loved shopping, and I think I have childhood trauma from going shopping with her so much. I just spent way too much time hiding underneath clothing racks as a child. So yeah, I just don’t really like the experience of shopping.
Ryan: Which is so funny because you love acquiring items.
Rachel: I do! And it’s not specific to Maine, even when we travel we don't spend that much time shopping.
Ryan: I was in L.A. a couple times last year, and I had to go to the Flight Club. I had to see all the sneaker spots. But even when I was in there, I was like, it's cool to see some of these sneakers that I've never seen in person before. Like the Virgil Air Max was, like whoa. Very cool. But that was it, I didn’t end up getting anything.
Yeah, sometimes it’s enough to just experience it and be inspired by it.
Rachel: Yeah, exactly.
I'm sort of the same way; I've gotten very tired of shopping standard retail where it's, like 20 of the same shirts just in different sizes. To me, that has become extremely uninspiring. But I am super into vintage. For Portland shopping that’s where I tend to go. I love finding a graphic tee from the 70s or 80s that's perfectly faded and comfy.
Ryan: Yeah there used to be a guy around here called Downeast Plug and he would get old Maine sports clothes. Vintage stuff like a South Portland State Champs ‘87 shirt with the roster on the back. Yeah, that was awesome. I loved that guy's stuff.
Who would you say is your style icon?
Ryan: Growing up it was Raekwon from the Wu-Tang Clan. I didn’t realize it until a couple of years ago, but I was like, damn, this guy was my style icon.
He made the Polo Snow Beach Jacket pullover very famous. Lots of army fatigue pants. The old Tommy Hilfiger block polo.
Then later in the 2000s it was lots of sweatpant wear. But not the velour stuff. It was the stuff you get from the Army Navy store. He was basically taking things that were not supposed to be cool and turning them into something interesting.
Like a shirt that's says yachting, you know? He made it cool somehow.
I think that's the best stuff. Sometimes my friends will be like, “only you could wear that”, and I find that to be the biggest compliment. Like I know they're kind of saying, “I would never buy that, but you're pulling it off.” I can live with that.
Rachel: I think for me, my style icon is my mom, in a roundabout way. It's not necessarily like I would wear exactly what she wears, but she's always had this ability to mix so many influences into what she wears. Kind of in the way that you were saying, I think only she could pull it off.
Almost like Iris Apfel. When we went to Apfel’s exhibit at Peabody Essex, I was like wow, half the stuff in that exhibit was at my house! It was like oh, my mom has that, my mom has that. So yeah, I think my mom's always had this really eclectic eye, especially with jewelry and glasses and those types of things. It definitely trickled to me and I’m in a similar lane as her. It's not as extreme, but we have crossover.
I think that's super accurate, though, of a style icon. As in, I don't necessarily want to wear exactly what they're wearing, but I'm inspired by how they're doing what they're doing.
Rachel: Yeah. And being, like, Black bohemians, too, I never really saw that aesthetic in pop culture. Lisa Bonet was probably one of the earlier people to do that.
But I’m from New England, Black, bohemian.. I also went to prep school, you know, so there’s all of those influences [on my style] that I just never really saw in pop culture.
So yeah, my icon is my mom — she's just always been kind of rad.
This interview has been edited and condensed. IG images courtesy of @rachelgloriaia.
Georgia Dixon writes about getting dressed. For more content like this, follow on Instagram @geo.styled and receive weekly substack edits by becoming a subscriber. xx