Unpublished Gucci Spring Summer 2004 campaign image. Photographed by Mario Testino, and styled by Carine Roitfeld.
I recently heard about a new school that opened up in London, called The London College of Style, which offers a fashion styling course. I remember several years ago, when “styling” became a recognized job in the fashion industry, my friends and I always used to be shocked that there were courses about styling. “How can you teach styling?” was the question we would ask. It is like trying to teach someone style. Has any of the well-known stylists, taken a course in styling? I don’t think so.
Today, a lot of fashion students want to be stylists (maybe they are starting to get turned off being a buyer, because you have to have math skills), but I am not sure an education in styling alone is going to get you anywhere. Sure, you could learn how to call in clothes, organize a photoshoot, how a fashion show works, etc…, but can you teach someone the ability to put a look together, beautifully? That involved creativity and taste, which aren’t usually on the agenda at a styling school.
Vogue Italia shoot by Steven Meisel, styled by Edward Enninful, one of the top fashion stylists of our day.
I’ve worked with a lot of crappy stylists in my time, and a few very good ones. In my opinion, being a good photo stylist involves the ability to understand the purpose of the shoot (are we selling clothes, are we making pretty pictures, are we previewing the fall collections, are we trying to sell the collection to US buyers?) and come up with a creative concept that results in beautiful images that fulfill the purpose. So it requires a bit of marketing savvy and a lot of creativity, which is why it is usually people trained in fashion design end up being stylists. That’s not to say you need to have a degree in fashion design to be a stylists, but some creative training will help. Like design, coming up with a styling concept requires research and development (yes, newsflash people, fashion designers do not just have “ideas in their head”) and it helps to a creative background.
My concern about all of these styling courses (aside from the fact that the London College of Style doesn’t have enough well-recognized people on their team, compared to the short styling courses at Central Saint Martins) is that there aren’t really very many styling jobs. Thanks to Rachel Zoe and Patricia Field, the job has been glamorized, but really it isn’t all that. Sure, it can be great, if you are excellent at what you can do. But it takes a lot to get there, and part 1 involves working for free. For a very long time.
My friend Julia (Von Boehm) is a fairly successful stylist, working between Paris and New York, mostly for Vogue Paris, Teen Vogue, Vogue Nippon, and Vogue China. She studied fashion design at school, and was offered an internship with a well-known stylist at the time, Carine Roitfeld. Here is where luck came into play, Julia had an apartment in Paris that her parents owned, so she didn’t have to pay rent, she had enough money to work for free for 2 years, and it was pure luck that the first assistant was also German. Two years later, and she landed a job at Vogue Paris (when Carine became editor), and ten years later, she is doing very well, working for a lot of the great brands and publications. Had she not had the means to work for free for two years, she would have had to work much harder to get where she is (that’s not to say she isn’t a great stylist, that helped too.)
Demi Moore on the cover of Vogue Paris
So all of you aspiring stylists out there, think twice before you assume it is all about buying clothes for Carrie Bradshaw or dressing Demi Moore for the cover of Vogue. And if you are determined, my best suggestion is to get some unpaid assisting work with a great stylist so you have on-the-job experience, rather than attending a styling school.
Julia, if you are reading this, have a fantastic wedding this weekend and I am sorry I can’t be in Germany to share this special day with you.
And sorry for the repeat of content, but for those of you who didn’t read my A Fashionable Attitude post last week:
I am considering putting together a little guide for students, prospective students, and anyone trying to get into the fashion industry. It will include some of the following sections:
- A couple of rules and tips about behaviour (like the above, but in more detail)
- Tips on fashion portfolios and the type of experience fashion employers are looking for
- A directory of some fashion schools in Europe and North America
- A directory of most key fashion brands and other fashion-related businesses
- A list of the brands that offer good graduate training programs
- How to prepare and behave during an internship or first fashion job
- Recruitment agencies and where to find good fashion job listings
- Tips from industry insiders
I’d like to hear from my readers whether this is something you’d be interested in, and whether you’d be willing to pay $10-$15 USD for this, as an ebook. Also, if you have any other suggestions for the ebook, feel free to send them over.
If you think you are interested, and want to be on the mailing list for updates about the ebook (that’s it, you won’t be on any other mailing lists), then send me an email to searching4style@gmail.com with the subject line “interested.” If you have any feedback, leave it as a comment or email it to me.
Gucci campaign image from The Fashion Spot.
Vogue Italia image source.
