I said that I would be doing this fashion insider series every week, so here I am! Back again, after shamelessly missing a week after only my first post, for which I can only blame on bad holiday wifi.

Anyhoo, I’m back again! That’s all that matters, right? If you didn’t catch the first post, this series is all about sharing some ‘insider’ information, essentially from an outsider (as such). When I finished my months internship in London, I realised that even though I thought I knew a lot about how the industry worked, nothing is as valuable as experience. So if you are interested in getting into the fashion industry, then I would absolutely recommend getting an internship. I hope this post will be helpful for those of you who want to get an internship but aren’t sure which role you want to assist with, or even a little peak into the industry for those of you who are interested!

For starters, what is a stylist? Well, seen as though I can be a bit long winded with my words, I thought I’d turn to google dictionary. Google says, a stylist is: ‘a person whose job is to arrange and coordinate food, clothes, etc. in a stylish and attractive way in photographs or films’. In this case, we are talking about the arrangement of clothes and for photographs, specifically magazines.

Now there is a slight difference between a freelance stylist and a stylist who works full time for a magazine. Of course, there is a chance that you could both if you are willing to sacrifice a lot of your free time and holiday allowance for the freelance work, but it is definitely do able. I won’t go into a long list of the differences, the jobs are essentially the same, there are just advantages and disadvantages to both.

So, lets return to the situation at hand here. The role of a magazine stylist, is essentially, to call in items for a shoot, arrange looks, style the outfits on shoots and ensure they are all credited correctly. Of course there are the meetings beforehand to plan what editorials are going to be featured in each weeks/months magazine and if it’s a cover shoot, then waiting upon confirmation of who the cover star is going to be. So, let’s just assume that all that is in place and the next stage of preparations of the shoot are about to take place.

 

1. Moodboard

It is the job of a stylist to create a moodboard that encapsulates the concept of the ‘look’ that they are trying to achieve. This can then be shared with other members of the team. If it is a celebrity cover shoot, then it’s likely that the moodboard will be shared with the celebrities PR, to check that the looks are alright with them.

2. Call In

The stylist will then do a call in for items that they want for the shoot. This can be done in two ways:

1) An email sent out to PRs asking for specific items to be brought in e.g. mesh, black etc.

2) Arrange a showroom meeting with a brand to pick out specific items for a shoot.

Normally the latter is most ideal, to get specific items that you want for the shoot so that you don’t get dumped with a tonne of clothes that you might not necessarily have chosen yourself.

The perks of already working for a magazine, is that they will have a lot of contacts within the industry. So access to borrowing items of clothing should be far more easier, unless the magazine has gotten themselves a bad rep with a brand, in which case a previous stylist’s error may put you at a disadvantage. You’ll also find that some brands won’t want to associate themselves with a particular magazine and likewise, a magazine might have certain price cap on clothing items, especially if they mainly feature high street clothing.

3. Styling Outfits

It’s important for a stylist to have an idea of the looks like they would like to shoot before they arrive on set. It makes sense for practical reasons such as time efficiency when on set, but I also think it’s something that a stylist should enjoy doing! After all, that is your job, to style the clothes.

It’s likely that the outfits chosen and styled with be the ones used when doing a fashion editorial spread, but when it comes to working with a celebrity, don’t be surprised if none of the original outfits you chose are used at all. That’s why it’s important to take more clothes than needed as extra’s, even on main editorials.

4. Shoot day!

Okay, so we’ve made it to the day of the shoot. You’ll have been given a Call Sheet which tells you the location, times and details of other members. There will also be a schedule too. Depending on whether you have an assistant helping you or not (most magazines will have interns they will take on shoots), then on arrival the suitcases of clothes will be unpacked, hung and steamed ready to go.

As the shoot is in full swing, you’ll be required to technically be on ‘stand by’ and check the computer screen for what needs fixing a the photographs are being taken, so make sure that you have lots of bulldog clips on hand!

 

So there you have it guys! I hope that you have found this post helpful or even perhaps just insightful. I could have gone into a lot more detail, but let’s not try to make this post any longer than it needs!

What would you like to see next in the ‘Insider’ series? Would you be interested in seeing some Blogging Tips? Because I’d love to share some of my tips with you! I know it’s hard to find out the gritty details of how to run a blog, especially when you are starting out and don’t have that blogger community around you.

Let me know in the comments below if that’s something you’d like to see!