5 Reasons to Work With a Personal Stylist

I was talking to my dad one day telling him how busy I was at work and he was like- "You are just like Tommy from Martin- you have a job but don't nobody know what you do or where you work!"
After dying from laughter, I thought about it and realized he might be right- people may be aware that I "do fashion", but not sure what that means exactly, especially since I'm not a designer, so this post is about what I do and why you should work with me!

I am a freelance fashion stylist, wardrobe stylist, personal stylist and personal shopper. I also help organize closets, plan fashion and style events and workshops and I write about fashion. For the purpose of this post, I will just talk about fashion styling, wardrobe styling and personal styling/shopping...

Fashion Stylist
As a fashion stylist, I work with models, photographers and fashion brands/designers on styling models for the runway, photo shoots and promotional purposes. Someone may decide to produce a fashion show and want me to style a scene within their show and I create looks for the runway. But when I host my own style shows, it is a combination of fashion and personal styling since I usually use clothes from the models wardrobe and mix them with my pieces. Sometimes there is a theme that I have to stick to, other times I decide on a cohesive look for my models, or I might just freestyle. It depends on the type of show... A model or photographer might contact me to come up with several avant garde (never seen before) looks for an editorial photo shoot or video. In this situation I may have to put on a creative director hat and guide the theme of the shoot and come up with a sartorial story based on the looks that I create. I also work with small fashion brands/designers in a variety of ways- helping them edit collections, styling looks for a lookbook and other marketing materials to help them sell their garments.

Wardrobe Stylist
A wardrobe stylist mainly deals with print or television advertising campaigns, music videos, concert performances, and any public appearances made by celebrities, models or other public figures. So if a local musician had a performance at the House of Blues, an interview at the radio and T.V. station and then wanted me to style them for the cover of their single or a magazine appearance that would be me acting as a wardrobe stylist. I did this earlier in my career and would like to start up again, so if you know any musicians that are looking for a stylist- tell them to hit me up!

Personal Stylist/ Shopper
This is where I work with individual clients who want a new look and need advise on how to make clothes work for them, how to wear trends that fit their body type and how to define their personal style according to their budget and lifestyle. As a personal shopper, I literally shop (in stores or online) and find pieces for clients with their style and budget in mind, saving them time and effort. These services are a bit more intimate since I'm helping to curate a personal image for an individual who may not have the physique of a model or the budget of a musician or brand.

My friend Jasmine Golphin is the perfect example of someone who benefited from a personal styling and shopping session because right before she started (two!) new positions as Outreach Manager for the Cleveland International Film Festival and as Program Manager for CIFF2, a youth program for girls and non binary students of color- she hurt her leg badly and was forced to wear a leg brace and maneuver around in a walker and wheelchair. Instead of getting depressed about her unfortunate situation, Jasmine made the decision to slay everyday and hired me to help.  We did an assessment to figure out her style needs, what she already owned, the look she was going for and her physical restrictions (long and flowy items to fit over her leg brace, avoid low cut tops since she was going to be sitting lower than everybody else, dresses and skirts needed to reach at least the knees for sliding in and out of Uber rides, plus she's working with the public so she needed to look fly as hell).
​We created a budget and a plan and then I went shopping. ​

I shopped at a variety of stores- Citi Trends, Rainbow, Rue 21, the mall and the thrift store- using photos, videos and messaging to go back and forth about certain patterns, fit and styles and once I was done, I took a suitcase stuffed to the capacity and hauled it over to Jasmine's house for a fitting where I made her try on every single piece, mixing and matching new items with pieces in her closet and writing down ideas to fill in the blanks. There were several hits and misses that I returned and exchanged until we got it right and at the start of the festival Jasmine was ready to style on 'em!

Jasmine really had a no frills type of wardrobe and she surprised me by trusting me enough to nudge her to try new things and play around with a more feminine but strong style- florals, stripes, layering, voluminous sleeves, body hugging and curve skimming fabrics and bright colors and patterns- and she ended up looking amazing and confident every day that I saw her! She stayed ready for a pic like....

via GIPHY

Some people think a personal stylist is only for certain people- celebrities, rich, skinny folks and the like but that is not true at all! I can help make your life easier by helping you worry less about something you have to do everyday- getting dressed. Having a personal stylist is no different from having a hairstylist or a personal trainer at the gym- in fact we all have the same goal- to help you look and feel your absolute best! Fashion may be exclusive- but style is for everybody and that's why I have services starting at $35, because you don't need lots of money to look expensive... 

So now that you know exactly what I do, how can I help you?  Email me for a free minute consultation and let's talk about it!