A fashion stylist gets to live with the joy of seeing his/her style creation on living display, with the credit to his/her name.
Dressing up celebrities, influencers, and prominent individuals alike while getting paid and getting lots of credit seems like the perfect job in the whole world. But then hold up one bit. There is a lot involved when it comes to being a fashion stylist and carving out a name for yourself in the fashion industry as a stylist.
Fashion stylists coordinate outfits from an array of clothing and accessories. They may dress mannequins for retail store displays or photoshoots and assist store customers with choosing clothing and accessories to complement their body type and lifestyle. The work environment is often fast-paced with travel possibly required or even relocation to major cities for work opportunities. Stylists must keep up with frequently changing fashion trends and may need to put in extra hours to meet deadlines.
Many aspiring fashion stylists look forward to this experience, but there are a lot of things to be learned before that dream can be actualized. We’ve decided to make the process simpler by giving you a picture of the basics. So aspiring fashion stylists, you would want to pay attention to this.
What does it mean to be a Fashion Stylist?
First off, we would like to establish basics. Who really is a fashion stylist?
A fashion stylist is a creative position who usually collaborates with the clients or other creatives such as a photographer, art director, makeup artist to come up with the visual concept of a project or the visual appearance of a person.
It’s their job to make the people and also the clothing and accessories look their very best in the shot.
Fashion stylists work across a range of places; on runways shows to help select the best brands from a range of brands on display, for models to help style them better for runway shows and shoots, on TV shows and even with prominent individuals to craft the best visual look
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What Does a Fashion Stylist Do Exactly?
The kind of work a fashion stylist performs depends on, among other things, the nature of the photography; the needs of the photographer, studio, and art director; and the requests of the client. Because these factors vary from one situation to another, it is impossible to list all the aspects of a fashion stylist’s job.
The duties and responsibilities of a fashion stylist will usually involve:
- Follow, spot, predict and set fashion trends and create an ensemble by combining different garments and materials
- Suggest clothes for celebrities for any photoshoot, event, magazine spread, movies, music videos etc. This may include personal shopping and serving in the role of a personal stylist
- Travel to different places to locate the right kind of garments, the latest styles and select the right clothes and accessories
- Work for styling agencies or on their own and also select the ensemble for assignments in a fashion magazine
- Assisting clothing buyers for major retail chains
What a stylist does on the job depends largely upon his or her unique talents and abilities. Fashion stylists with the most experience and creative resources will make the greatest contribution to a project. As a premier stylist, that contribution extends beyond the set to society as a whole: shaping its tastes, making its images, and creating art that defines the era.
Where Do Fashion Stylists Work?
Fashion Stylists can work on/for all of the following;
- Developing a personal style For individuals
- fashion houses and clothing brands.
- professional photoshoots
- Set of print advertisements and televised commercials
- Set of music videos
- political campaign, maintaining the candidate’s appearance
- TV newsroom
- Advising a costume designer preparing for a movie or television show (in this role, they are often known as a “wardrobe stylist”)
What skills do you need to be a fashion stylist?
The skills and specifications that are required of a fashion stylist include but not limited:
- Must be fashion conscious and follow the latest fashion trends
- Should have very good networking and communication skills
- Visual accuracy
- Must be very creativity
- Strong attention to details
- Very good spoken and written communication skills
- Has to be great at time management
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5 tips to succeed as a fashion stylist
Get a degree in fashion merchandising.
While this isn’t usually the most important factor to consider when starting and owning a fashion styling career, it definitely is still an important factor.
Getting a bachelor’s degree or formal education in fashion merchandising (at least) will help you make connections, score internships and, ultimately, get hired. As a fashion merchandising major, you’ll learn about design trends, product development, marketing, manufacturing and more.
It’s a deep dive into the fashion industry that will open doors to becoming a celebrity stylist.
Develop close personal and professional relationships.
You can easily win over new clients through good personal relationships. Some fashion stylists may gain notice because a client appeared on a red carpet or in prominent fashion magazines. However, most businesses will come from friends and colleagues of existing clients.
To succeed, you can’t shy away from a little self-promotion. Try to get invited to parties or lunches, and don’t hesitate to ask for referrals as you build your own business. Stylists must develop a client base, network with designers and industry professionals, and attend numerous industry events.
If you fall behind, it will be hard to catch up—fashion is a notably cutthroat industry.
Stay up to date
If you’re passionate about aesthetics, up to date on fashion trends, confident in your sense of style, have strong communication skills, and are willing to put in long hours for occasionally thankless work, a career as a fashion stylist may be ideal.’
This is because you have to know the ins and outs of the fashion business like the back of your latest-manicure-craze hand. Go to fashion shows, keep up with the latest trends, and study different celebrities and their individual looks.
Knowing your audience is a key component for success, and the foundation is truly understanding what’s going on in the ‘biz.
Experience Beats Education
In terms of education, some fashion stylists possess a bachelor’s degree or even a master’s degree. However, when it comes to getting a fashion styling gig, years of experience in the industry will open more doors than a particular diploma.
This is why you need to intern as much as you can at the beginning. If you want to be a celebrity stylist for example, an internship at a fashion house or agency is a good place to start as a lot of the fashion industry works by recommendations.
Intern for a stylist, become their assistant. The key is to develop a relationship with these stylists so they can recommend you.
Another important part of being an intern is that it gives you the opportunity to learn and practice on the job skills that you wouldn’t have gotten anywhere else. Skills you just can’t pick up by studying alone.
Get ready to hustle
Sure, being a fashion stylist seems like an amazing job to have. But it also involves you putting a lot of hard work into a lot of things.
A typical day for a fashion stylist could include anything from running around town preparing for red carpets events to working on press tours and magazine shoots, not to mention juggling a couple of celebrity’s clothes and accessories. So in summary lts of long nights await you.
If you truly want to be a celebrity stylist, be ready to work hard for your money and always be ready for the unexpected.
What Is the Difference Between a Fashion Editor and a Fashion Stylist?
These terms can be interchangeable, but that isn’t always the case. Take, for example, the different roles of a fashion editor and a stylist in a photoshoot:
- Fashion Editor: Works for a magazine curating looks and spreads for editorial photo shoots. Sometimes synonymous with ‘fashion stylist’ depending on the size of the publication.
- A Fashion stylist – a person who supplies and curates the clothing and accessories for all the models on a photoshoot or video. They often borrow clothing from designers and are responsible for the care, pinning to fit, and steaming of the garments. Sometimes they have teams of people work under them.
Source: Masterclass, Teenvogue, Alexander Stylist
Wow this write up really enlightened me
Cause I’ve always wanted to be one of the most used stylist in the world