He runs his fingers along a rack of secondhand denim at 2nd STREET, a thrift store in Torrance, pausing when a ripped, lightwash jacket catches his eye.
“This is sick,” he thinks, already imagining how it’ll pair with the rest of his vintage look.
With a trunk full of outfits, Maximillian Ryan scouts for aesthetic locations, adjusting his camera settings and focusing on every detail to create the perfect shot.
A content creator with 28,000 Instagram followers and 37,000 on TikTok, the fashion merchandising major at El Camino College has turned his love for fashion and social media into a business.
He models for brands like Kotn and showcases the outfits he puts together with their clothing on social media.
He carefully crafts social media posts of his outfits and records videos about fashion-related topics titled “After Hours with Denim Boy” on his Instagram, @den1m_boy. His work represents much more than a hobby — it’s a product of years of trial and error.
For Ryan, Instagram isn’t just a place to show off outfits – it’s a platform for self-expression.
His unique style and strategic approach to content creation have led him to collaborate with brands like Elwood, a streetwear brand and Kotn, a clothing brand that sources cotton from Egypt. Elwood items are priced between $85 and $220, while Kotn pieces reach up to $198.
“I get close to $1,000 in clothes every time,” Ryan said. “Each piece for these brands is like $200.”
Ryan already has a small taste of the industry.
He once appeared in a YouTube video titled “My Ex-Girlfriend Goes on 100 Dates in 24 Hours” by Brent Rivera, a content creator with over 30 million subscribers. Though it was a brief feature, it gave him a taste of being in front of the camera – something that he hopes to explore further.
While shooting the video, he was approached by one of Rivera’s producers. He pointed out that Ryan had “the look”, even comparing him to actor Jacob Elordi. While he takes it as a compliment, he wants to carve out his own identity in the industry. Impressed, the producer later offered him a role in a short film he was directing.
Before he built his online presence, Ryan was already making moves in fashion by selling denim jeans at school. While a student at South High School in Torrance, he would thrift and resell jeans, primarily to women, flipping pairs for a small profit. He would post the jeans he wanted to sell on Instagram and students would reach out to purchase them. It started as a side hustle, but it quickly became too much to manage.
The process of selling on Depop, a shopping app where users can buy and sell secondhand or vintage clothing was too difficult to learn, he said.
“I had people that would text and be like, ‘Hey, do you sell jeans?’” he said. He’d tell them, “$30 a pair.” They would send him the money or give him cash in exchange for the jeans.
Eventually, he stopped selling denim and decided to shift his focus. His full attention was on styling, networking and building his brand.
His interest in fashion, combined with his passion for self-expression and entrepreneurial spirit, made social media the perfect arena to merge these elements. Over time, he realized that this digital space could offer him the tools to turn his passion into something more substantial, whether through brand collaborations, networking or modeling.
Although he was building a presence online, Ryan was also focused on his collegiate soccer career.
From 2022 to 2023, he attended San Francisco State University as a fashion styling major on a soccer scholarship. But said he lost his scholarship because his running scores were low and he never got enough playing time.
“They never gave me the opportunity to play,” he said, “I bust(ed) my about.php admin-ajax.php admin-footer.php admin-functions.php admin-header.php admin.php admin-post.php async-upload.php authorize-application.php everyday.”
Without the scholarship, staying in San Francisco became too expensive. He decided to transfer to ECC and switch his major to fashion merchandising.
The move wasn’t just about school – it was also about his identity.
In San Francisco, Ryan felt free to wear whatever he wanted without judgment. Coming back home meant adjusting back to his old lifestyle. He wore adventurous outfits of layered, patterned shirts and worn-out jackets filled with different patterns to school and he thought wearing those outfits at ECC would cause judgment from other students.
Unlike the fashion-forward environment he experienced in San Francisco, the atmosphere at El Camino felt more traditional and low-key, where standing out too much could invite stares or silent criticism. He felt people might view his style as “trying too hard” or not fitting in with the casual, laid-back vibe of the campus.
In SF, he decided to embrace his name: Maximillian.
While in high school, he went by “Max” because his classmates struggled to pronounce his full name. But in this new chapter of his life, Ryan felt more aligned with his personal and professional goals.
“Up in the city, I was able to really be who I wanted to be,” he said. “It sounds more professional. That’s my name, my actual name.”
That meant experimenting with his style, attending fashion events and immersing himself in a creative community where self-expression was encouraged.
He went to runway shows, networked with designers and even modeled for his fellow classmates when they needed models for projects. Being in the city gave him the confidence to push boundaries with his wardrobe, something he didn’t feel comfortable doing back home.
After losing his scholarship and moving back home, leaving that fashionable life behind wasn’t easy.
In his early days of content creation, he was hesitant to post on social media too frequently. He worried about how others would perceive him, especially as a man in a space dominated by women.
After he started posting every day, Ryan noticed his follower count slipping.
Familiar names from high school, people he used to sit next to in class or pass by in the halls, quietly disappeared from his notifications. Initially, it was difficult to accept. But as he scrolled through his new content calendar, tweaking captions and planning outfits, a different feeling took over.
Excitement.
He realized he wasn’t posting for old classmates anymore. He was building something bigger — a brand that felt entirely his own.
The drop in followers only motivated him to keep going and reach an audience that actually cared about fashion and content creation.
It took Ryan two years to build the following that he has now. His growth has been gradual but impactful. He’s not just posting pictures for fun; he’s building a brand, making connections with designers and photographers, and working with fashion brands.
These collaborations have led to paid partnerships where Ryan now charges up to $2,000 for working with brands.
He posts pictures and Instagram stories, temporary photos or videos that disappear after 24 hours, of the brand’s clothing or items that the company wants to advertise.
“The main thing that a good influencer does is make their lives aspirational,” Megan Paet said, an assistant manager of social media at T3 Micro, a California-based company specializing in high-end hair styling tools, and a content creator herself.
“This makes viewers want to have a similar lifestyle or look or dress a certain way. This also makes them marketable to brands because they would want to be associated with a certain lifestyle or look that the influencer has,” Paet said.
His drive to become a content creator is rooted in his ability to push past any embarrassment or self-doubt, a quality that his twin brother Quinn Ryan, a history student at San Diego State University, credits to his success.
“He’s the type of person who understands that there is some sort of embarrassment associated with what he does,” Quinn said. “But he’s able to look past it and that makes him driven and confident.”
Ryan lives at home in Torrance with his family, who has supported him on his journey. His father noticed his hard work and advised that he should make sure he gets paid, somehow.
This unwavering confidence is what allows Ryan to pursue his passion for fashion and content creation.
At a campus where hoodies and jeans are the norm, his carefully styled outfits — layered shirts, clean silhouettes and bold textures — sometimes stand out.
To some, it might seem like he’s trying too hard. But to Ryan, it’s simply a reflection of who he is – someone who finds joy in the details.
He has learned the ins and outs of engagement, experimenting with timing, hashtags and captions. He asks himself, “What time do I look at my phone every day?” He uses that to figure out the perfect time to post for the most engagement.
“It’s not Instagram’s job to put your posts where they’re supposed to,” he said. “That’s what the hashtags are for.”
When it comes to his style, he is unapologetically himself.
His maximalist approach to fashion is about mixing a bit of everything.
Americana (traditional American fashion and culture), formal streetwear, coastal grandpa and Western influences. He’s a thrifting enthusiast, hunting for gems at Goodwill or 2nd Street.
He styles outfits that suit his audience and himself, posting outfits for his viewers’ outfit inspiration.
His secret? He shops in the women’s section, where he finds better cuts that suit his body type.
“I just like the cut better. I like a tight top,” he said.
Ryan’s love for thrifting is a passion that is reflected in his online presence. His fashion isn’t just about looking good – it’s about creating a unique look that aligns with his values of individuality.
He’s so invested in building his brand that he keeps a notebook that tracks his engagement.
“Instagram’s my game,” he said.
Social media isn’t a pastime for Ryan.
It’s a full-time strategy. Every post, story, or interaction is part of a broader mission to cultivate his brand and express who he is.
But behind the lens and aesthetic feed is a kid from Torrance who grew up not really understanding what fashion was about.
His mom, a project manager who always wore business casual, and his dad, a mechanical estimator who often came home with blueprints tucked under his arm and dust on his work boots, his collared shirts always half-unbuttoned after a long day bouncing between job sites and spreadsheets.
Now 21 years old, Ryan goes out on weekends to find the perfect backdrop to film and take photos and videos of himself. His goal is to do styling for wardrobe and costume for movies or television.
His plan after college is to style for movies and television, bringing characters to life through wardrobe choices. The 21-year-old wants to do all kinds of things, including modeling and acting.
He envisions himself not just behind the scenes but on a fashion runway as well.
“That would be a dream,” he said.
On any given afternoon, you might find him styling three outfits in the back of his car, parked near a wall in Santa Monica facing the sunset. He balances his phone on a tripod, angles it just right, then darts into frame with a confident pose, his silver jewelry catching the sunlight.
It’s not about chasing trends, but about making each shot feel like a piece of who he is.
“It’s my Instagram, I do whatever I want,” he said.
This story was originally published on El Camino College Union on May 16, 2025.
