The stories behind a style with Justin Holiwell

Sometimes opening your dad’s closet is all it takes for inspiration to strike.

For Justin Holiwell—a local physician assistant, DJ, and community event organizer—inheriting his dad’s vintage tweed blazers and well-worn fisherman sandals inspired a fascination with fashion, heritage, and identity.

It was the first step in building his personal style philosophy, which has seamlessly fed into his growing online following as one of Santa Barbara's most thoughtful voices on menswear and personal style (@justin.lammar).

We recently chatted about it all, from the ways Santa Barbara has shaped him to his belief that clothes carry more meaning than you think, and the process of learning how to dress like yourself.

What really stuck with me? How Justin approaches clothing with the same curiosity he brings to medicine: by asking where things came from, why they matter, and what stories they tell.

I’m California born and raised, mostly LA and Bakersfield. In college, I came to Santa Barbara to visit a friend and reconnected with someone from high school. I graduated and moved here for her, and we eventually got married. Then we left for grad school and came back in 2020. So I’ve been in town on and off for over 10 years.

Santa Barbara is where I became an adult, essentially. It’s where I first found fashion, music, and inspiration. Even when we left for grad school in the Bay Area, my wife and I felt this pull back here. It’s that feeling of going to Trader Joe’s and bumping into people every time…you don’t get that in a big city. That’s one of the things I love about Santa Barbara. You go to your local coffee shop and run into people you know.

I’m currently a physician assistant working in cardiology and emergency medicine. I started my medical career in the middle of one of the worst times in history: November 2020. My first two years in healthcare felt like I worked 10. It allowed me to grow a lot in a short amount of time.

Growing up in a traditional household, success looked like certain types of jobs, and healthcare was always my main career drive. But through all that, I kind of realized it wasn’t my passion. I’m definitely interested in it and I love connecting with patients, but I’ve always had creative passions that, for better or worse, I pushed aside through my 20s.

When I finally got the PA role, I looked up and thought: This is great. But what truly brings me joy day to day? That’s when I picked up all the side projects I now consider a deep part of my identity—music, fashion, and community building—and I’m trying to figure out how they all intermingle and create one whole person.

My life is full and it takes a lot of reassessing and vigorous time blocking of my days to keep up. Aside from being a PA, I’m also a DJ and a community event organizer. I used to be a yoga teacher, which actually led into DJing. More than the yoga itself, I really loved that feeling of losing yourself in the music.

There were always pieces of me reaching out, trying to grab onto something creative. It just took a while to find the things I could really hold onto and really value. Yoga was one of those things. Then I started organizing events, and eventually posting about fashion and style.

Fashion had always kind of been in the background for me. I always cared about how people presented themselves publicly and wanted to take part in that. In the beginning it was more superficial—following trends or seeing celebrities wear something and trying to mimic it.

That changed around 2021. A friend gave me Black Ivy, which goes through the history of Ivy style and how it became ingrained with Black culture through the Civil Rights movement and figures like Miles Davis.

Around that same time, I was going through my dad’s closet and found a bunch of older vintage tweed blazers. I remember thinking: these are amazing. 100% wool, really interesting patterns, multiple colors. I asked if I could have them, and suddenly I had this tangible thing in my hand to go alongside the learning and history of everything. My dad is smaller than me, but somehow the jackets fit just enough to usher me into this new chapter.

Another thing I got from my dad was his old fisherman’s sandals. They were half falling apart and they had this patina to them, you could tell they had been worn. I’m obsessed with them, so they popped into my head recently and then i was like what pants go with them and then build form there.

Around that time, I started posting on Instagram about fashion, and people would ask where I got the blazer. I’d jokingly say, “Oh, this vintage spot called ‘Dad’s Closet.’”

For me, fashion isn’t just the clothes we put on day to day. A lot of times it’s me looking at a piece or brand holistically, getting the whole story behind it. I take the same approach with my [medical] patients. I have to see the whole picture—family history, what got them sitting in my office, and how I’m going to get them to a better place. Those details are vital.

So, I look at fashion brands the same way. Why did this person create this? What does it mean to the people wearing it? It usually means different things to different people, the same way disease or health means different things to different people.

Oftentimes your favorite pieces have an emotional tie. I started researching brands and understanding why I liked things. I became interested in vintage and sustainability and started asking: where do these brands start? I found myself looking into Abercrombie and discovering it wasn’t just shirtless models at the mall.

I did the same thing with workwear pieces and brands, like OshKosh. I found this workwear striped jacket online by them and learned they used to make denim coats and pants for mechanics. Both brands had this whole history I never knew about.

To me, researching brand origins really tie back to medicine. When you see a patient, you investigate what brought them there and why. Fashion, for me, became pulling on these little threads: what’s the story behind this piece, why was it created, and what does it mean to somebody?

While I do have big box brands in my closet, I’m getting into this rhythm of getting to know smaller brands. I recently learned of this guy who made a brand based off his fisherman dad and he wanted to create that traditional fair isle vest his dad used to wear. I’d much rather bring a piece like that into my wardrobe knowing his reasoning and the story behind it.

Having a tailor is great, but not everybody has access to one. It’s more about self knowledge. Knowing how things fit you. Knowing your environment. Knowing your intention.

I think the moment things clicked for me in terms of my own personal style was when I hit that sweet spot of being totally comfortable and not really caring whether somebody else liked something.

For example, I like oversized Oxfords with jeans and loafers. Once I found that comfort and uniform, that’s when people responded. People can tell when you’re putting on a costume versus something that actually reflects your style.

There’s this Italian word I like, sprezzatura. It’s that graceful effortlessness, this laissez faire way of dressing that’s still totally intentional. I try to embody that. I don’t want to look like I just got out of bed, but I also don’t want to look like I spent hours on an outfit.

What you wear is the language you speak the minute you walk into a room. It’s deeper than the clothes. It’s how you feel in those clothes. That nonverbal conversation starts immediately.

It’s also about being present with what phase of life you’re in. Maybe you have a bunch of kids and they're a little messy and you don’t have time to be spot treating all your nice shirts or pants. In that case, you're probably going to go for materials that are darker and more hearty, that can withstand a lot.

Or maybe you're the guy who is very busy with your job and running around town, but you don’t necessarily want to throw on athleisure every day. So you figure out a uniform or something that works well for you, like chino pants and a button up.

It’s about building out a wardrobe that fits that purpose in your life. You’re understanding the particular circumstance you're in and adapting to that.

When deciding what to wear, the first thing I consider is if I’m going to work or not, but beyond that I tend to always start with a piece I’m gravitating toward, something that has me like, ‘I wanna wear this today.’ Recently its been a lot of stripes.

Then I start building around that. I put something on, stand back and observe and think about what I wanna do next. Maybe I really want a pop of red or another texture. I’m a firm believe in a single juxtaposition type of piece, wearing things that might not necessarily go together or match, but still work. Maybe its a tie or workman boots with a certain type of trouser. It’s fun to wear an outfit where someone might go, ‘Wait a minute—does that work?’ when they see it.

I tried a capsule wardrobe before and it wasn’t for me. I realized I don’t want outfits that are all monotone and or they all match perfectly. I prefer mixing fabrics and textures, like wool with linen or denim with linen or seersucker. I like getting inspo from other guys on social media, but I mostly like to keep myself guessing every single day, not trying to stick to one single niche or genre of clothing.

I’m really into layering right now, whether that layer is a tweed blazer or as it gets warmer it might be a herringbone chore coat or a lightweight jacket. I like a good mid-layer jacket situation. And trousers! I think trousers can be worn in 90% of situations. They are so much flowier and more comfortable than jeans. And I love my selvedge denim, but trousers with a t-shirt or button up or mid-layer jacket has been my bread and butter lately.

One of my favorite brands right now, especially as we head into summer, is Uncle Purl out of LA. Their knit tops and polos are so well constructed. For pants, I’d say Vito’s NY. I love their High ‘n Wide trousers, they’re these chinos that have a 14-inch rise for the front so they sit perfectly at your belly button and they come with a 34-inch inseam, so I get that flowy effect without having to adjust everything.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention my vintage pair of OG 107 trousers—which are these vintage military surplus pants—as some of my favorite things to wear right now. I wear them at least 2-3x a week so they are nicely broken in, soft, and that green color that goes with everything you put on. If I’m ever struggling with what to wear, I usually start with those and go from there.

I think men have historically felt intimidated by fashion. I’ve realized that if you’re a guy who cares about how he looks, you’re often put into a box. It’s easy to overthink it all.

What’s helped me most in my own style journey is looking beyond the famous person media pushes on all of us at any given time. My advice would be to find people who actually resemble your life and body type. Find someone you can actually see yourself in—someone whose style reflects not only how you look, but how you live. And don’t be afraid to copy an outfit. A pair of jeans, a white T-shirt, and a tweed blazer—pull together what you already have in your closet and go from there.

I also don’t think we should ever be too closed off to different trends or ideas. As trends come and go, think about ways to incorporate them into your current style if they fit, but don’t feel like you need to completely reinvent your wardrobe every season.

Getting dressed is like a muscle. It’s something that needs to be flexed and continuously worked on.

Eventually you look up and realize: oh wait — I don’t need the inspiration anymore. I can do this on my own.

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