So you want to become a stylist, but you are worrying that you have no degree in the fashion
field and it will be difficult to start working as a stylist.
While, since I have worked as a stylist for the past 15 years and I style top celebrities
like Selena Gomez, Sarah Hyland, Ione Skye and many, many more, I will tell you how to
become a stylist with no degree from a fashion school.
Hi, my name is Basia Richard and I help many inspiring stylists into my stylist academy
program.
Now, if you want to become a stylist, schedule a free discovery call with me.
And I will link the application in the description below.
Also don't forget to subscribe and hit the bell to get notified when I post a new video,
which is every Monday.
Now in this video, we'll talk about how to become a stylist and start a fashion career
with no degree.
So let's get started.
So first of all, and let's get it out of the way, you don't need to have a degree from
one of the fashion schools in order to become a stylist.
And that goes for a fashion stylist and also for a personal status.
Now, if you don't know what is the difference between those two career choices, you're going
to watch this video and I will link it in the description below.
Now, many stylists who are super successful and are making a lot of money, they didn't
really graduate from a fashion school.
And they have a degree in a completely different field.
So if you're thinking about styling career and you want to spend a lot of money studying
costume design or maybe a fashion merchandise, just to become a stylist while you can honestly
skip it.
Now, just to be clear, I'm all for studying and graduating, but studying merchandise,
as much as it's going to be very valuable, it won't help you and won't really make that
whole process of becoming a stylist any faster.
So now, if you want to become a stylist, the first thing, what do you want to do is to
pick one career direction.
So that's why we're going to start with the step number one, which is which styling career
you want to proceed.
Now, if you want to work as a fashion stylist, you'll be styling models for editorial jobs,
commercials, advertising.
So in order to proceed that career, you should be in New York City.
Obviously, if you live in US.
Now, some of you might be wondering, "Why I can't become a fashion stylist, if I live
in, let's say San Diego or Austin?"
Well, you can, but the reality is that you will have very hard time making a living.
So you have to think about if there's enough, a fashion scene, if there is a fashion scene
where you live.
If there is any local fashion magazines and there's enough work that can support all your
expenses.
Well, if there are not, well, then you should think about a personal stylist career.
Now, if you want to work as a personal stylist, first of all, you don't need to be in New
York City, since you'll be styling just regular people.
You can live in any small, medium city population, just like Austin, San Diego, Seattle, et cetera.
So your main job will be to help upgrade your client's current wardrobe, help put looks
together for them, do a closet detox, et cetera.
So in order to become a personal stylist, you don't really have to worry about if there's
enough fashion scene where you live.
As long as you live in a medium to large city population or maybe outside of a major city,
you will find enough people who will be interested in hiring you.
Tip number two, get more familiar with trends and fashion news.
Now, as a stylist, you have to be on top of the latest fashion news and trends.
So no matter what your career choice and what career choice you pick, you should educate
yourself.
So, first of all, you can grab my free cheat sheet with tons of magazine blogs, fashion
terminologies, and vocabulary.
So you can always be on top of the latest news and I will link it in the description
below.
Now, the next step would be to get in the habit of checking fashion news daily.
I literally, I literally, every day, I wake up in the morning and I start reading the
latest fashion news.
So let me give you a few titles.
So start with WWD, which is Women's Wear Daily.
This is literally, should be your first step every morning, checking those websites.
So WWD provides a lot of information about fashion, business of fashion trends, collaborations,
and everything you need to know about the fashion industry.
Now, another title, a little bit more casual lifestyle title, is Refinery29.
Now, to Refinery29 provides a lot of info on fashion, entertainment industry, health
trends, fashion tips.
And it's a little bit more lifestyle oriented.
Now, if you're looking for, let's say a style inspiration, check out The Sartorialist.
It's one of my favorite blogs.
It documents street-style looks from different cities and countries, and it's a great source
of inspiration.
Tip number three, grab a few books.
Now, in order to start working as a stylist, you should learn more about this career choice.
And I have few books in front of me here and this one is for fashion stylists.
And so, if you want to work on set and style models for the [inaudible 00:05:15] jobs,
commercials, and advertising, it's great book.
So it's called Fashion Stylist Handbook and it's really explains everything.
Exactly where to find clothes, how to request them from designers and brands, how to work
on set, to do the paperwork, find clients, and et cetera.
It's super valuable.
And if this is obviously your career choice.
Now, if you are thinking about a personal stylist, I have these [inaudible 00:05:39]
books.
So How To Dress and How Not To Wear Black.
These are two great books.
And now, and I talked about them also on this channel before.
Now, as a personal stylist, you need to be more familiar with body shapes, colors, measurements,
but also how to style clients, conduct a closet detox, have a strategy on how to shop with
your clients, et cetera.
So this is a great read and you will understand exactly how to build a wearable wardrobe for
your client and how to proceed as a personal stylist.
Tip number four, get internships as a fashion stylist and practice styling your friends
and family as a personal stylist.
Now, since you already have chosen a styling career, now next step will be to get your
foot in the door and gain some experience.
Now, as a fashion stylist, you want to get an internships with a stylist.
Now, there are many stylists who will hire interns with no previous experience.
And that is the best way really to get your foot in the door.
Now, imagine that internships are free school for your life.
So you will not only learn everything about the fashion styling career, but you will also
get so much experience under your belt.
So now, interning as stylist will also allow you to get a feel for that career.
You will also learn how all those jobs come together.
Where is stylist get the clothes from.
You will understand how to work on set, et cetera.
So that's how I started my fashion stylist career as well.
And I learned pretty much everything during my internship.
So now in order to start a personal stylist career, you want to start styling clients
immediately to get the comfortable and gain more hands on experience.
So now a personal stylist will help clients discover their new image, how put looks together,
shop with their clients.
So you don't to really intern with a stylist in order to learn that.
What you need to do instead, is to start styling your friends and family.
That's the easiest way to really gain experience by starting to style your closest friends
and family.
So you want to get that on- hands experience as soon as possible.
Experiment, take them shopping, look in their closet, start putting looks together.
You need that experience to feel comfortable so you can start getting your real clients.
Tip number five, build a portfolio.
Now, a portfolio will look a little bit different from a fashion stylist and a personal stylist.
Now, since a fashion stylists will work on set, we will have a lot of images from the
shoot that they can put in their portfolio.
Now, fashion stylist portfolio is like their resume.
By styling different types of jobs, fashion stylists can send their portfolio and then
a client can hire them based on their body of work.
Now, when you're just starting, what you want to do is to do a test shoot.
Now, test shoots are super popular and all stylists are working on them.
So essentially you will collaborate with a makeup artist, a hairstylist, a model, and
a photographer.
Where for free, you will style a model in order to get those images in your portfolio.
That's how you can start building your fashion book.
And eventually, you can get your first paid client.
Now, as a personal stylist, what you want to do is to take a photograph of everyone
you styled and it really it doesn't matter if you styled a sister, you styled your mom,
your styled a friend.
You want to show your talent and who you are as a stylist.
So obviously, you want to make sure that you always keep your client's personality and
style in mind while styling them.
So then you can use those images in your portfolio of happy clients.
And that way you can start building your personal stylist career.
So now you know exactly how to become a stylist, if you don't have a degree from a fashion
school.
Let me know in a comment below which tip was your favorite.
Also, don't forget to subscribe and hit the bell to get notified when I post a new video,
which is every Monday.
Thanks so much for watching and I will see you next week.