Danny Trejo: ‘I Think Style Defines Who You Are’

3 min read“That,” Danny Trejo tells me, pointing to a black fedora perched on top of his head and cracking a grin, “is style.” It’s been less than a minute since we connected over Zoom to talk about his role in the campaign for Ugg’s new collaboration with Mexican-American designer Willy Chavarria, and the man who played Machete is already smiling. So, we’re off to a good start.He may occupy a mythical space in the celebrity world thanks to his famous glower and his history on the wrong side of the law—later in our conversation, he’ll tell me about the time he explained to a director who asked about his acting education that he studied in “San Quentin, Folsom, Solidad … every prison in California”—but the Trejo I meet is easygoing, approachable, and genuinely gives a damn about looking good.“I think style defines who you are,” he says. “If I mean, if everybody shows up in a tuxedo and you show up in Levi's, well, you're out of style. I don't care who you are. Some people think that they can just show up to an event any way they want. I'd rather dress to express me, but according to the occasion.”Ugg“Some people think that they can just show up to an event any way they want. I’d rather dress to express me, but according to the occasion.”Trejo is a longtime fan of Chavarria and his “old-school” approach, he explains. And then there’s the cultural connection. Though they’re of different generations, both Trejo and Chavarria are Latinos with roots in Southern California—and they both love a good zoot suit. Chavarria has shown the style on the runway and wore one to the Met Gala last year; Trejo also likes to bust one out for special events.“I'm dead into the Latino culture, you know,” Trejo says. “A long time ago there was a film called Zoot Suit that showed Latino style in the ’30s and ’40s. That stuck with us—the hats, the coats. I’ve still got a couple of zoot suits in my closet that I pull out every time I'm going to something really Latino.”Ugg“I’ve still got a couple of zoot suits in my closet that I pull out every time I’m going to something really Latino.”The rest of the time, there’s a good chance you’ll find Trejo in a pair of jeans with a sharp crease ironed down the center of the legs. “Everybody laughs at me because I put pleats in my Levi's,” he says. “But I’ve been doing that since I was young. We kind of going along with the culture, and that’s what the culture’s doing. I’m still pressing my Levi’s.”This is, of course, as long as there’s no one wearing a tux in close proximity. Maybe when he’s doing something that involves a little horsepower. Which brings us back to the Ugg collab. It’s a quintet of styles, all done up in smooth black leather. There are slides and clogs, but the real standouts are the boots, which range from a riff on the Classic Short to a couple of taller, beefier designs that are well suited to life on two wheels.Ugg“I always wore Uggs in the house because, for me, they were more like a slipper. But now I could ride my motorcycle with them.”“I always wore Uggs in the house because, for me, they were more like a slipper,” Trejo says. He holds his arms up, like he’s gripping the handlebars of a chopper. “But now I could ride my motorcycle with them.”Unlike many motorcycle boots, Trejo tells me, the Uggs are also comfortable. He could wear them all day. That’s handy, because even 82 years old, he’s still busy as hell. He’s got his show, Mysteries Unearthed with Danny Trejo, on the History Channel. (“On the same channel with William Shatner! Nicest guy in the world.”) He just finished work on the movie Another Ice Cream Man. And then there’s The Year of the Devil, an upcoming five-part graphic novel that he co-created with Keith Arem and Chris Yates, which releases in September.“I would be bored to death if I wasn't working,” he says. “You can only mow the lawn so many times. And everybody wants me to keep working. Because every time I'm not working, I go buy a vintage car.”