Los Angeles Is More Stylish Than You Think
Style“Let’s just stop this conversation that LA doesn’t have style,” says author Jasmine Benjamin, whose new photo book City of Angels features fresh portraits of iconic Angelenos like Vince Staples, Lauren Halsey, and Cali DeWitt.By Tyler WatamanukMay 16, 2025Portraits courtesy of Damiani Books; Photograph: Getty Images; Collage: Gabe ConteSave this storySaveSave this storySaveAll products featured on GQ are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links.When Jasmine Benjamin showed up at YG’s compound to shoot the ultra-stylish LA rapper for City of Angels, her new photo book on Los Angeles style, he was hosing down the concrete floor in his carport. YG wanted to make sure the ground looked pristine for the photo. “It was great just to see everyone I shot have so much pride about being in this project,” recalled Benjamin. After the hip-hop star finished with the hose, he went inside to change and returned in a leather vest with the gloves to match, a perfectly faded pair of black jeans, and glossy hard-bottomed dress shoes. YG clearly understood the assignment.City of Angels: A Book About LA Style by Jasmine Benjamin “YG wasn’t someone I had to try to convince to do this. He was, like, ‘Oh yeah, there should have been a book about LA style.’ We took the photos, and then we went into the studio, and he gave him an interview where he was so enthusiastic about LA style,” recalled Benjamin. “Specifically gang culture and how the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s inspire him. Out of today’s LA rappers, he’s so quintessential to me. He just embodies those references.”Benjamin spent three years working on the project, driving across the far-flung and lesser-known corners of the city with her camera. Along the way, she photographed everyone from Fear of God designer Jerry Lorenzo and multitalented musician Thundercat to actress Lauren London and contemporary artist Lauren Halsey. Plus, a book’s worth of well-dressed locals ranging from a filmmaker in West Adams to a Hawthorne-based stylist to a curator from South Central. Impressively, Benjamin taught herself photography along the way. By trade, she is a professional stylist and costume designer; over the years, she's dressed the likes of Donald Glover, OutKast, Anderson .Paak, and Miguel. (Remember Miguel’s pivot into a masterful mix of sharp tailoring with a rock ‘n roll edge during his “Kaleidoscope Dream” era? That was all Benjamin.) City of Angels captures the oft-overlooked style of Los Angeles, a robust collection of individuals and fashions that manages to do the near-impossible task of synthesizing the multicultural style of a sprawling metropolis.Benjamin chatted with GQ about the city’s longstanding love of workwear, how she rounded up well-dressed Angelenos from all corners of the city, and what the project taught her about LA style along the way.YG Courtesy of Damiani BooksGQ: It is a daunting task to tackle the style of a city as sprawling as Los Angeles. How did you approach getting people representing all these different pockets of LA style? What did that process look like?Jasmine Benjamin: I just made an Excel sheet and wrote down every person I would love to see in this book. People who I think have great style but also really represent the local Los Angeles community. I wrote down probably 70 names. I would then add more because I wanted to make sure that I had all the diverse types of people and subcultures here. So, I would eliminate or add from that.The only time I did a street casting, I went to Lee [Spielman] from [the clothing brand] Babylon. Lee and Garrett [Stevenson] have a band called Trash Talk. And I was like, “I want to go to a Trash Talk show.” I kept telling Lee, and Lee was like, “Oh, you don’t want to go to this show. People are getting their noses broken and stuff.” And I’m like, “Isn’t there a safe spot for me to go? I want to see the crowd!” He’s like, No, no, no... But I finally went, and two of the kids in my book were from that show.Vince Staples Courtesy of Damiani BooksLauren Halsey Courtesy of Damiani BooksDid you notice any patterns of how different regions dressed within Los Angeles?I did, especially with certain items of clothing. Workwear is a really important essential to Los Angeles. So, for instance, Dickies are worn by people in the hood, you know what I mean? Gang culture. But Dickies are also worn by the Latin community. Dickies are also worn by the skaters. There were so many similarities, and that’s another reason why I wanted to capture all of these different people. To show the differences, but there’s still a throughline of what Los Angeles style is.Denim is obviously popular everywhere, but denim is such a part of LA style. Converse shoes or Vans, depending on what subculture you were in. I mean, those kinds of things. There were definitely throughlines.Did you know what the subjects were going to be wearing when you sh
All products featured on GQ are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links.
When Jasmine Benjamin showed up at YG’s compound to shoot the ultra-stylish LA rapper for City of Angels, her new photo book on Los Angeles style, he was hosing down the concrete floor in his carport. YG wanted to make sure the ground looked pristine for the photo. “It was great just to see everyone I shot have so much pride about being in this project,” recalled Benjamin. After the hip-hop star finished with the hose, he went inside to change and returned in a leather vest with the gloves to match, a perfectly faded pair of black jeans, and glossy hard-bottomed dress shoes. YG clearly understood the assignment.
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“YG wasn’t someone I had to try to convince to do this. He was, like, ‘Oh yeah, there should have been a book about LA style.’ We took the photos, and then we went into the studio, and he gave him an interview where he was so enthusiastic about LA style,” recalled Benjamin. “Specifically gang culture and how the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s inspire him. Out of today’s LA rappers, he’s so quintessential to me. He just embodies those references.”
Benjamin spent three years working on the project, driving across the far-flung and lesser-known corners of the city with her camera. Along the way, she photographed everyone from Fear of God designer Jerry Lorenzo and multitalented musician Thundercat to actress Lauren London and contemporary artist Lauren Halsey. Plus, a book’s worth of well-dressed locals ranging from a filmmaker in West Adams to a Hawthorne-based stylist to a curator from South Central. Impressively, Benjamin taught herself photography along the way. By trade, she is a professional stylist and costume designer; over the years, she's dressed the likes of Donald Glover, OutKast, Anderson .Paak, and Miguel. (Remember Miguel’s pivot into a masterful mix of sharp tailoring with a rock ‘n roll edge during his “Kaleidoscope Dream” era? That was all Benjamin.) City of Angels captures the oft-overlooked style of Los Angeles, a robust collection of individuals and fashions that manages to do the near-impossible task of synthesizing the multicultural style of a sprawling metropolis.
Benjamin chatted with GQ about the city’s longstanding love of workwear, how she rounded up well-dressed Angelenos from all corners of the city, and what the project taught her about LA style along the way.
Jasmine Benjamin: I just made an Excel sheet and wrote down every person I would love to see in this book. People who I think have great style but also really represent the local Los Angeles community. I wrote down probably 70 names. I would then add more because I wanted to make sure that I had all the diverse types of people and subcultures here. So, I would eliminate or add from that.
The only time I did a street casting, I went to Lee [Spielman] from [the clothing brand] Babylon. Lee and Garrett [Stevenson] have a band called Trash Talk. And I was like, “I want to go to a Trash Talk show.” I kept telling Lee, and Lee was like, “Oh, you don’t want to go to this show. People are getting their noses broken and stuff.” And I’m like, “Isn’t there a safe spot for me to go? I want to see the crowd!” He’s like, No, no, no... But I finally went, and two of the kids in my book were from that show.
I did, especially with certain items of clothing. Workwear is a really important essential to Los Angeles. So, for instance, Dickies are worn by people in the hood, you know what I mean? Gang culture. But Dickies are also worn by the Latin community. Dickies are also worn by the skaters. There were so many similarities, and that’s another reason why I wanted to capture all of these different people. To show the differences, but there’s still a throughline of what Los Angeles style is.
Denim is obviously popular everywhere, but denim is such a part of LA style. Converse shoes or Vans, depending on what subculture you were in. I mean, those kinds of things. There were definitely throughlines.
I did not, and I didn’t style anyone. Some people would ask, “What should I wear?” And I’m like, “What would you usually wear?” Sometimes, I might have scrolled through their Instagram and suggested, “Wear something like this,” but a lot of the subjects came dressed as they usually do. The goal was for them to dress in the style they're known for.
Cali DeWitt. The coolest guy ever. When I see him out, I see him in a white T-shirt and basketball shorts and he looks amazing with his mouth of metal and all his tattoos. When I was going to take his photo, I thought he would show up like that, which I was very into. And I’m like, “Wow, you got fully decked out for me.” [Editor’s note: DeWitt showed up dressed to the nines in a suit.] And I loved it because it’s still very Cali. He’s an icon, so he’s on his own level.
Yeah, I did. I had to think about this a lot, right? One of the big reasons is the red carpet style and Hollywood dressing. It takes over all of the attention. Of course it would because we’re dealing with huge movie stars. When you are not from here, [the idea of] Los Angeles is focused on Hollywood red carpets and maybe a little corner of town called WeHo [West Hollywood]. If you’re just in WeHo and you're just paying attention to the industry, then maybe LA doesn’t have great style. And this is not to say that isn't style, because it has its own value, but the overall image becomes leggings and Uggs and the Erewhon smoothie, and movie stars on the red carpet. LA style just becomes all about that. And so then the local scene gets completely disregarded.
That was a big driving force of why I wanted to do this book because the locals are amazing. I hate that when LA is being represented, no matter what the topic is, they’re completely forgotten and taken out of the story every time. There are people here who have spent their entire lives here who are not connected to the industry. The industry is important. I’m not trying to diss it; I work in it, but that’s not where I live. That’s not what inspires me. It takes over the style conversation. Even some of my friends from New York, they’ll have their [negative] opinions too. And I’m like, “Yeah, but where did you go and spend time?” You have to go behind the 10 freeway, you have to go to the other parts of LA. But you have to drive there and it takes effort and you have to know where to go.
It’s still very regional, which I love. With social media, there’s more information about what people are wearing in Paris and New York, but I think LA is very much about the classics. Sure, there may be more modern [fashion] pieces showing up now, but I think the classics just always remain. The other thing that makes it great in this moment of time is that it is just frozen with these classics. I’m not really into tons of change with a lot of things. I like that no matter what the style is anywhere else, Los Angeles still keeps its identity. Even though there might be new subcultures popping up and things like that, LA still keeps its identity because every different subculture relies on the same similar classics interpreted in a different way.
I hope they admit that LA has style. And that we’re constantly poached by people around the world and around the country for style. In the book’s intro, you can read all of that because it’s true! And I just hope that everyone sees it. LA is such a rich place of culture and style, but I think it’s so easy to disregard it when you don’t see it together. It’s easier to kind of say LA doesn’t have [style] if you’re just looking into one pocket, but when you see them all together, it becomes clear. Workwear. Surf culture. Skaters. The rock scene. Gang culture. I’m glad that I took the long road of making it so that people can see everything together and hopefully it clicks. Let’s just stop this conversation that LA doesn’t have style.
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