Sage Elsesser isn't famous, but he's popular among the right kinds of people, a group that includes the likes of James Jebbia (founder of Supreme), Jason Dill (skateboarding legend/style icon), and even Frank Ocean (no explanation required). Elsesser is known to this ahead-of-the-curve set as a gifted professional skateboarder, Supreme's go-to lookbook model (a position secured thanks to his skateboarding skills), Earl Sweatshirt's roommate, and "Frank Ocean's collaborator," even if it's a mischaracterization (Elsesser's voice appears on the last song of Ocean's 2016 album, Blonde). He's also just a 20-year-old college student who, on the day of our shoot, was skipping class at the Pratt Institute, where he's studying fine art.

Elsesser checks all the requisite boxes of a cool kid who would have the inside track on the freshest streetwear, sneakers, and, fittingly, all things Supreme. But he's also refreshingly unaware of the industry he's increasingly considered to be part of. If anything, he's just an influential outsider; the kind of guy who rocks a tucked-in T-shirt and Dickies pants for years before the same styles start popping up in lookbooks and on big-name designer runways. There's a reason the fashion world has turned its attention to skateboarding for inspiration of late, and it's hard to ignore a guy like Elsesser and his ilk as a crucial part of that attraction.

You could dismiss that fact if Elsesser's personal style weren't in lockstep with how a lot of guys want to dress today. It's evident in the photos you see here—in his artfully baggy sweats, his logo-heavy Gucci scarf, and those minimally stylish new Converse One Star Court Classic Pro sneakers that feature a premium leather upper (washed suede on the navy blue pair) and hardly any Converse branding. We spoke with the soon-to-be-everywhere Sage Elsesser about the new kicks he helped design, how he got so stylish, and what he thinks about his employer's high-profile collaboration with Louis Vuitton.

Are you sick of people saying you contributed to Frank Ocean's album?

Yeah, like, guys asking me, "So explain what having credits on Frank Ocean's album is like?" Like, I didn't do anything. Like, sure, I'm down, I'm a Frank Ocean collaborator. One time I told someone I wrote "Solo." I told them I wrote that for him, and they were like, "Wow! No way!"

What do you think of the Supreme x Louis Vuitton collaboration?

It's cool, fuck yeah, Louis Vuitton. It's another cool collaboration for Supreme, but I just don't really care. There's gonna be another one next year kids are gonna flip on.