Strutting confidently down the runway at the Metropolitan Fashion Week and the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, senior Diana Santiago brings her Hispanic culture to life through modeling.
With intricate floral designs and bold strokes of color painted on her face, senior Diana Santiago is a living embodiment of art.
The allure of the runway has never failed to mesmerize Santiago. Each costume she modeled is unique; she takes on an entirely different persona every time she steps on stage. Whether she’s celebrating Frida Kahlo or Día de los Muertos, it’s Santiago’s Hispanic heritage that ties all her looks together.
When she was younger, Santiago was not the outgoing woman she is today. Shy and insecure, she slouched to avoid drawing attention to her notable height. But when she was invited to her friend’s fashion show in middle school, her eyes were opened to a new world where her height was something to be proud of. With that image in her mind, she signed up for modeling classes. Be yourself, she was told.
“I want to be myself, and I’m a different person [when I model],” Santiago said.
It was a life-changing moment in Santiago’s career when designer Richard Soltero asked her to model his Hispanic creations at the Metropolitan Fashion Week. Wearing a dress decorated with a portrait of Frida Kahlo, the revolutionary female Mexican painter, Santiago adopted the strength and passion that Kahlo herself was famous for.
Despite her countless photoshoots, none have impacted her more than the annual Día de Los Muertos festival, a Latin American cultural celebration of deceased loved ones, held at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles. There, the flowery designs of her skull face paint connected her to others at the cemetery, reminding her of her culture that has been passed down for centuries.
“[Modeling] helps me understand my culture better,” Santiago said.
She had become one with her culture—one with the art.
“Life is short, and I think everyone should take the opportunities given to them,” Santiago said. “Modeling definitely shaped who I am today.”