We all are mesmerised when we spot our favourite celebrities in some fashionable looks that work for them and make them look amazingly put together all the time. It might be as basic as a pair of denims and a white t-shirt, but the way they accessorise the look is what makes it so good. To us, it might look like they do all of that by themselves, which almost feels impossible to achieve with their day-to-day lives. The fact is that they have a whole team that works to make them look the way they do! Isn’t that fascinating? This is where makeup artists, hairdressers, fashion stylists and fitness coaches come into play. Months of planning and brain-storming goes into delivering that one statement red carpet look of a celebrity. A fashion stylist has the most important role to play in this. We took it upon ourselves to breakdown and present to you the world of fashion styling in all its glory.
What is Fashion Styling?
Fashion styling is about putting together a whole aesthetic/look for an individual with respect to current trends, personal style, occasion and event.
A Fashion Stylist is a professional who curates relevant looks for magazines, photoshoots, celebrity appearances, media interactions, social media and movies. They work closely with celebrities, models, actors and public figures to decide the looks for their upcoming appearances.
Stylists are responsible for everything that goes into designing a celebrity’s personal wardrobe and style quotient. It might look like all fun and games on the outside but being a fashion stylist means erratic timings, countless hours of work and constantly coming up with trend setting looks.
How To Become A Fashion Stylist
- Join a professional styling course that doesn’t just hone your skills but also gives you some practical experience. Hamstech offers a styling course which will help you with a career in Fashion styling.
- Gain some relevant styling experience in the fashion industry by taking up internships and working for fashion designers, Image consultants, Fashion stylists and Fashion brands. Hands on experience is the best way to learn and explore fashion styling at its best.
- Take up freelance styling projects no matter how big or small and work on building your styling portfolio.
- Build your social media presence by constantly posting about your fashion styling work and expanding your network. When people can visually see your work, they will be more interested to have you on board.
- Always be ready to pitch yourself and your work when you meet professionals you would like to work for in the fashion industry.
Now that you know how to become a fashion stylist let’s look at the responsibilities that come with being a fashion stylist.
Responsibilities of A Fashion Stylist
As a fashion stylist for a celebrity or a public figure, you are expected to always be buzzing with styling ideas and putting together relevant and trendy looks. To be able to do that, you will have to do a lot of background homework on a daily basis like following trend forecasts, keeping up with new runway collections every fashion season, knowing where to source from and work based on an individual’s personal tastes and image. So let’s look at all the things that a Fashion Stylist is responsible for, to get a better idea about their work life.
Also Read: Now Study Fashion Styling and Build An Amazing Career
Knowing The History of Fashion Styling
Fashion is a cycle and so is everything that’s associated or affected by it. Fashion styling has changed and evolved over the years. If you notice there are new trends & styles that come up every fashion season and fade to make space for something new. We have seen different styling seasons over the years. They all have a defining look that’s iconic and is talked about for years to come. So it’s important as a stylist to read and know about the styling over the years in order to be able to predict and come up with new looks. Something that was trending in the 90’s might be seen on the runway for 2021’s fashion season. It’s all about bringing together different elements based on what people might love to flaunt. So pull up your stockings and dive into those magazines from the 90’s and 2000’s, you might find something that works well for our current times!
Staying Updated with the Fashion Styling Trends
For a fashion stylist, knowing what’s trending in fashion should be of utmost importance. At the end of the day, it’s all about putting together looks that are relevant and one can do that only when they know all the new tricks and trends that are gracing the fashion industry. Fashion stylists are the sources through which fashion trends reach the common people. Fashion shows are places where trends are born, but runway looks can’t be worn outside. As a stylist, it’s on you to make those trends work otherwise and serve some looks on the platter for common people to know and follow.
Sourcing
You could be one of those stylists who has an impeccable sense of style but if you don’t know where to find the things that you want to style a look, then it’s of no use! So yes, get digging and go window shopping, hop from one brand to another and be a regular at these stores. Be the first person to check out clothing collections by talking up and building relationships with the designers, store managers, photographers, makeup artists and other stylists. You might not always be available to place orders and source things in person, that’s when all these sources come in handy. So the next time you step out for coffee, don’t forget to check out all the fashion outlets nearby!
Attending Runway Shows
Popular fashion stylists in the industry get personal invites from their fashion designer friends and other designers alike for all their upcoming runway shows. In the beginning of your styling career you have to attend fashion shows on your own to keep up with all the new releases in the fashion industry. Fashion shows are the perfect places for stylists to do their trend research, meet and connect with fashion designers & models, checkout and book designer clothing even before it reaches the market. Make sure to be present at all of the known runway shows in the country!
Getting to Know The Brand
Whether you are working for a fashion house or a celebrity, it’s really important to know about their taste, personal preferences, image and level of comfort. There are chances, especially when you are freelancing as a fashion stylist, you might work with more than one celebrity at a time. This is when your relationship with the brand or celebrity comes in handy! Knowing them will help you in putting together an outfit for them so that eventually, the chances of two looks turning out to be the same comes down. As you are curating a celebrity’s or brand’s personal style, as a stylist it’s on you to know everything that’s relevant about them.
Being a fashion stylist involves round the clock work. It’s really important that you network and make people see the kind of work you do. Your experience as a fashion stylist speaks for itself, so make sure to keep yourself updated and stay relevant by working on projects from time to time. There are quite a few popular celebrity stylists who have worked their way up to become one of the most sought after stylists in the fashion industry. We are going to talk about some of them here so that you can see their styling work and get inspired!
Also Read: CHALLENGES EVERY FASHION STYLIST FACES
Top Celebrity Stylists to Follow in Tollywood
Neeraja Kona
At one point, Celebrity stylist Neeraja Kona was simultaneously styling all the big names in Tollywood. Her ethnic looks are simple, elegant and very relatable. She has dressed up famous Tollywood actors like Akkineni Samantha, Kajal Aggarwal, Jr NTR, Nitin, to name a few. She started her fashion styling career as an assistant stylist for telugu movie Baadshah. After that she went to work as a costume designer for many movies in both tamil and telugu. Stylist Neeraja Kona does traditional and western looks alike. Her styling keeps the focus on beautiful pieces of clothing from various designer labels with statement jewellery that accentuates the garment. She recently started her own designer label called ‘KALUVA’ that specializes in block printing on soft mul and cotton fabrics in all pastel and dusty tones.
Preetham Jukalker
Celebrity Stylist Preetham Jukalker is best known for his styling work on popular actress Samantha Akkineni. He keeps his styling chic and trendy for western looks and prefers looks that are heavy on jewellery for traditional ones. Preetham also loves to incorporate colour blocking in his styling and interesting, edgy silhouettes. Some of his summer looks are super playful and bursting with colours and prints. He has worked with many actresses & models in the Tollywood industry and has delivered some amazing looks.
Shravya Varma
Stylist Shravya Varma is known for her unconventional experiment style. She has worked as a costume designer in different Tollywood movies and shot to fame as a stylist! Her styling work with actor Vijay Devarakonda is much talked about for the super cool looks and edgy fashion. Shravya Varma is well known for her menswear styling and she has styled many actors from Tollywood. Her style keeps changing based on the person she is working with.
There are many other stylists who have also done some notable work and contributed in a big way to the fashion industry. Other than being a celebrity stylist, there are many other career options for a fashion stylist. Let us show you some of those!
Also Read: TOP 5 FASHION STYLISTS OF INDIA
Careers in Fashion Styling
Personal Shopper
As a personal shopper, you will be helping customers who come for shopping with style suggestions that are personalised to their needs. Retail brands like Shoppers Stop, Lifestyle, hire personal shoppers to provide a good shopping experience for their customers. You will be constantly interacting with customers and suggest suitable clothing from the brand’s collection.
Image Consultant
An Image consultant works on building, mentoring, grooming and educating individuals on improving their appearances, dressing style, body language and interpersonal skills. Many young aspiring models and actors get trained by Image consultants before being launched in the industry. If you love transforming people, then image consulting is perfect for you!
Costume Designer
As a Costume Designer, you will be employed in the film industry under different production houses and are responsible for curating looks for the cast of the movie. You are required to put together wardrobes based on the character being portrayed by actors and crew members alike.
Freelance Fashion Stylist
A freelance fashion stylist works on a project basis and is free to work on as many fashion styling projects as they like. They can take up fashion photoshoots for designer labels, magazine styling, personal styling for celebrities and other such opportunities.
Now you have all the information that you need to know about the life of a fashion stylist! If you really love and enjoy styling, start by honing your skills with a professional fashion styling course like the one offered by Hamstech. Get some relevant fashion styling experience and build your styling game! Enroll and Join this Styling course by Hamstech.