Fashion Stylist

A stylist is a person whose job is to arrange and coordinate clothes, hair, makeup and more in a stylish and attractive way, often for special occasions, photo shoots, movie productions and marketing campaigns. Fashion stylists are the stylists who focus on clothing, footwear and accessories — the people who decide not just what is worn, but how it is worn, together, on the day.

What a Wardrobe Stylist Does

A fashion stylist can also be referred to as a wardrobe stylist or celebrity stylist. A wardrobe stylist is a consultant who selects the clothing for published editorial features, print or television advertising campaigns, music videos, concert performances, and any public appearances made by celebrities, models or other public figures. Fashion companies also use stylists for other purposes, from lookbooks to retail presentation.

Stylists are often part of a larger creative team assembled by the client, collaborating with the fashion designer, photographer or director, hair stylist and makeup artist to put together a particular look or theme for the specific project. A prime example of a special event that requires fashion stylists is fashion week, where a single show layers a designer's clothes with styling decisions about hair, makeup, shoes and accessories.

Styling as a Service

Fashion styling is a popular and emerging segment of the apparel industry, and the concept is also helpful for consumers who need style tips. Consumers who need guidance regarding fashion styles may consult fashion consultants and image consultants — the directories of both are linked from this page — while the fashion wardrobe stylists term page gives the occupation's formal definition.

The neighbouring services sit close by: makeup stylists, hair stylists and the combined makeup and hair stylist services are linked here, as are beard style tips for the grooming side of a look. The fashion models and fashion week summaries cover the stylist's two most familiar workplaces, and the concierge of fashion term describes the personal-shopping end of the same profession.

Breaking Into Styling

Styling careers are built by assisting. An established stylist's assistant learns the unglamorous machinery the job runs on: calling in garments from showrooms and designers, logging and insuring them, preparing the rail in running order, steaming and pinning on set, and returning every piece in the condition it arrived — because a stylist's reputation with showrooms is the credit line the whole career borrows against. Portfolio work follows the same trade as photography's test shoots: stylist, photographer, model and makeup artist each contributing time to produce images all four can show. The editorial eye that clients eventually pay for is trained in exactly this period, by seeing hundreds of garments on real bodies under real deadlines. Consumers meet the profession at its friendlier end, through consultants and image consultants, but the route in is identical at every level: be useful on a shoot, be trusted with the clothes, and develop a recognisable hand with them. Fashion week, where this page began, is the profession's public examination — the styled show is the portfolio performed live, once, in front of the industry that hires.