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3-2-1 Contact: Developing relationships with retailers

Posted on 20 July 2010. Tags: How-to, Issue 8, Styling

stylist In the personal styling feature in the current print issue (buy it here!), we spoke to Beth of B. Jones Style (she’s doing big things over at her blog–check it out), who wisely advises aspiring stylists to develop relationships with local boutiques.

Making the right connections and cultivating trust with area retailers can help you create a base of stores from which to pull clothing and accessories for photo shoots, fashion shows, and other opportunities that may arise.

So, what’s the best way to go about doing such a thing? Let’s go over some basic tactics:

Know the shops in your area

Do a good ol’ Google search, ask around, or–really, if you’re into fashion, you probably already know the local hotspots. Subscribe to store’s email list, set up a Google Alert for “(your city) boutique”, or subscribe to the feed of a publication that covers local retailers to stay up to date on sales and events.

Make contact

photographer_camera_amyl Plan a trip! If you have a blog, contact owner ahead of time and let them know you’re interested in writing about their store or covering their event. I ran into trouble at an event when there was a paid professional photographer there who felt threatened when I took photos (even though I’m not a photographer), so make sure it’s okay to take pictures.

This blogging thing is still pretty new for a lot of people, so you may need to explain what you do. Send a link to your site so they can check it out before you arrive.

Take a trip

Dress the part for your visit, and when you arrive be friendly and professional. Bring your camera (or your photographer if you’re lucky enough to have one) as well as plenty of business cards to distribute.

Take pictures of the shop, the merchandise, the owner and employees, or whatever images best fit your site content. When taking pictures of other people, make sure you have their permission to post their photo and be sure write down their names–with the correct spelling!

IMG_0616_2 If they’re not too busy, chat with the people running the shop. Ask when they get shipments in, what services they offer, and if they have any special sales or events coming up. The more interested you are, the better!

Buy a little something if see something you like and you can afford it–people support people who support them.

Blog it

If you had a good experience, post a write-up on your site. Talk about your visit in first person, and make sure the post is attractive–use clear pictures and proper grammar and spelling. If you use a direct quote, make sure it’s accurate.

Easy things to write about include the location, store setup/atmosphere, clothing brands, your favorite finds, good deals, and how you’d style certain pieces. Always write in your own voice and keep it real–your readers are still your first priority.

Follow up

Send a follow-up “great meeting you” email with a link to the published post to the shop owner. It also helps to attach a few pictures if you got any good ones–people love to receive pictures of themselves. I usually email one or two images of the store owner and employees, along with a link to a Flickr set with the pictures taken. If you’re open to it, let them know they’re welcome to use the photos as long as they’re credited to you.

Keep in touch

If the boutique has social media accounts, follow them on Twitter or Like them on Facebook. Send a quick request to link to the shop owner on LinkedIn. If you’re forgetful (welcome to the club!), set up an email group list of all the shops you’ve contacted, and set a reminder on your calendar to contact the list every 4-6 weeks. Sending a quick email to ask if they received anything new or interesting is a simple way to stay in the loop!

Posted in Careers, Styling, Tips & AdviceComments (2)

SSM.com Best of 2009

Posted on 31 December 2009. Tags: editors, Interviews, Issue 1, Monetization, Styling

Just in case you missed ‘em the first time around, here are our picks for the best articles of 2009 on StyleSampleMag.com:

Interview with Rihanna’s stylist Mariel Haenn: Hayley and I met up with Rihanna’s stylist, who gave us advice on everything from getting started in fashion styling to making industry contacts. Great info for future stylists.

Premiere Issue release: If for no other reason than sheer sentimental value, check out the very first issue of Style Sample mag. Remembering this one always makes me smile.

How to Pitch a Story to a Magazine: Aspiring fashion writers, take note.

How to create a Facebook Fan Page for your blog: Actually setting it up is easy; here’s advice on what to post and how to attract fans.

Monetizing with ad networks: This is a new one, but chock-full of extremely useful info about earning money with your blog.

Free Blog Templates and Themes: This is fashion darling, looks are important. Here are some of the best sites for blog templates and themes to make your site sexy.

The Top 3 Online Image Editors: A review of the best (free!) online photo editors so you can easily create collages, add text to photos, enhance your images, and more.

Do you agree with our choices or do you have other favorites?

Posted in Featured, GeneralComments (0)

Setting up a photo shoot: The Secret Garden

Posted on 19 November 2009. Tags: inspiration, Photography, Styling

CJ Johnson, the Executive Director of Fashion Benefiting Youth Artists, walks us through the stages of setting up a photo shoot. Here’s their Secret Garden story:

When I first had the brainchild of an intern-produced monthly photo shoot, the people I initially shared this idea with just nodded their heads and said “Hmmm” with a smile and quickly moved onto the next subject, or asked,“Well, where are you going to post these pics?,” in a very “duh” manner. However, I knew that it would be a viable idea and give young creatives the opportunity to perfect their craft. If anything, we’d just post it on our blog. Heck, that’s publishing isn’t it?

Here’s how everything was put together:
Early September 2009: Post on our website that we are seeking a Fashion Editor Intern, responsible for creating and executing a monthly photo shoot for organization’s blog.

Late September 2009: Haley Githens is selected to be our Fashion Editor Intern. She comes to her interview with a story board that painted a vivid picture of her ideal photo shoot and the aesthetic. I was stoked and equally impressed!

Late September 2009: Begin marketing a model casting call.

Late September 2009: Began pitching this endeavor to local boutiques to agree for them to loan clothes from the shoot. We got many “Are you nuts?” facial expressions, fake smiles, and “Who are you again?” responses.

October 10, 2009: Casting Call held at my dear friend’s vintage boutique, Parkerhawn Vintage. The casting call was attended by Haley, our marketing interns, and student make-up artist. We had over 15 real models attend and we were only looking for two! After the casting call, Haley selected her top three.

October 13, 2009: Selected models were notified. They were thrilled, to say the least!

Mid October 2009: Began mini-marketing campaign to announce the upcoming “The Secret Garden” intern produced photo shoot on Facebook, Twitter, and in our monthly newsletter.
Mid October 2009: After more explanation, several gracious boutiques agreed to provide clothes on loan for the shoot!

Mid October 2009: I visited and scouted a wonderful area of our local nature park for the site. An awesome photographer agrees to shoot “The Secret Garden” for free!

October 22, 2009: Starting early, I drove all over town to pick up the loaned apparel from participating boutiques. Then Haley, the models, our student make-up artist, myself, and my PR firm’s staff met at Parkerhawn Vintage for a styling session to curate the “looks” for the models and do fittings.

That experience was thrilling and complete mayhem! We were not as organized as we thought we were. We found that when you are styling three models and have so much to choose from, it can be really time consuming. We only had an hour and a half for this session. Talk about a time crunch!

October 24, 2009: I am making mad dashes and looking through my mother’s garage for props we can use for the shoot.

October 25, 2009: Shoot Day! Models and their wonderful mothers and our crew assemble to make this a reality.
We were a little more organized and had an intern or staff member responsible for each different model. The models had to change outside; their only privacy was held-up blankets! Haley dressed/styled each model for her first look, then the model sat for her hair and make-up, then she shot her set with the photographer, and that was our rotation for three sets for each model.

Post production was tough! The photographer took over 840 shots, so it took a while to clean up the photos and for Haley to select our top 20!
So, to anyone looking to organize their own photo shoot (which you should), here’s my advice: Be prepared, have alternatives, be organized, have fun, and most importantly, believe in your vision!

Posted in Careers, Featured, Photography, StylingComments (1)

New Fashion Tool: Editorial Spreads with Shmotter

Posted on 05 November 2009. Tags: Blogging Tools, Styling, technology

Dear fellow fashion techies,

There’s another new DIY editorial layout tool to play with! Currently in Beta, Shmotter makes it simple to create outfits using clothing from online retailers, similar to Polyvore and Looklet.

What makes Shmotter different is the option to upload items from your own wardrobe and put together outfits using your clothes. This could come in handy, especially if you have the patience to photograph your wardrobe piece-by-piece and are interested in setting up a Cher-in-Clueless style high-tech outfit chooser.

It sounded like a good idea, but I ran into issues trying to upload items from my own closet as images can’t be larger than 2MB (all of the photos my Sony digital camera takes are at least 2.3MB).

It was fun putting together different looks, but if you’re not able to upload photos of your own items, you might as well stick with what you know.

~Tamia

Posted in Blogging Tools, Styling, TechnologyComments (3)

Interview with Rihanna’s Stylist, Mariel Haenn

Posted on 02 October 2009. Tags: careers, Interviews, Styling

You’ve seen her nails, now find out what we discovered when we picked the brain of one of the best celebrity stylists in the industry today, Mariel Haenn. She was gracious enough to dish on everything from how to get started as a stylist to working with high profile clients like Rihanna and Ciara. Keep reading for the scoop…

Starting Out
The fabulous Mariel Haenn officially began her journey in fashion at the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale. Despite her interest in fashion design, she knew she wanted to be in styling before she even knew that that could be a legitimate career option. She knew she wanted to be the person who picked out clothing for music videos, but kept being told it was costume design, even though she knew that wasn’t quite it.

“I had no idea what I was doing.”

She got lucky and met a music video producer, who introduced her to a stylist, and from then on she knew that was what she wanted to do. She first worked as a freelance assistant, then for MTV, and was then appointed fashion editor at The Source magazine, where she claims, “I had no idea what I was doing.” She was responsible for filling 14 pages every month–which included not only styling, but coming up with ideas and concepts, coordinating shoots, contacting photographers, casting models, pulling pieces, etc.

To Be a Stylist
According to Mariel, these are the top 5 attributes stylists need:

1. Passion: It’s hard work, long hours, lots of stress, so if you’re going to continue you have to really love what you do.

2. Persistence: Keep at it-Mariel’s been in the industry for 9 years and it has grown a lot more competitive because it’s now recognized as a legitimate career.

3. Experiment: Try different types of styling projects-celebrity, editorial, commercial, corporate. The more versatile you are, the more successful you will be.

4. Patience: It takes time to build a good portfolio, keep at it.

5. Psychology: Your clients need to trust you, so you have to build a good relationship with them. They’re counting on you to make them look good in the public eye.

“Your tools are your contacts.”

Last but not least: Be resourceful. Use your resources-if you know a boutique owner or designer that will let you use their clothing in a shoot or can call in good models or make-up artists at the last minute, or have a relationship with a good photographer, your contacts can help you get a step ahead. In the styling business, “your tools are your contacts.” Know how to use your tools to everyone’s advantage.

When you’re first starting out

Test.Contact local photographers, models, hair & MUAs and start meeting with them, sharing ideas, coming up with concepts. Even working stylists will test to diversify their portfolio, try unexplored concepts, work with specific models/photographers, etc.

Assist. Assist professional and freelance stylists & designers. Research working stylists and contact them. Mariel gets hundreds of these types of emails every day and has a partner and assistant for screening and responding, but “I read every single one of them.” If they like someone but aren’t able to work with them, they may pass on the information to someone else who can. She also notes that she has different assistants in different cities.

Market yourself. Create a website to show examples of your work, add credibility, and give people a way to contact you. Experienced stylists do this, too.

Constantly keep building your portfolio with updated work.

Resources
Online lookbooks like Style.com are great tools for marrying what you want to do with how you are going to do it. This is a way of simplifying your final creation so that looks from the runway correspond to looks in the showroom, ie. jacket from Look #1, shoes from Look #4, etc.

Tabloids and celebrity gossip websites almost instantly post photos, so you can see who wore what immediately. This is vital when pulling pieces for celebrity clients, though the designer’s showroom/PR should also know (and inform the stylist) when pieces have been worn by other celebs.

Insider info
As a celebrity stylist in a competitive market, Mariel’s design background gives her an edge because of her ability to alter pieces and create truly one-of-a-kind looks for her clients. Everyone has instant access to what’s out there, so it’s her job to make it original for “her girls.”

Rihanna has a West Indian flair and likes her clothing to reflect that. Ciara’s body is sick–and since she’s such a strong dancer, they like to show off her body so you can see her movement. For the Love Sex Magic video with JT, Mariel chose a tight leopard bodysuit that Ciara was a little wary of at first, but in videos it’s okay to go a little over the top.

Know your client

In order for her to get a feel for each client’s personal sense of style, Mariel has to do a little research of her own. From listening to an artist’s music, to referencing old pictures, this research acts as a tool to help her get a deeper understanding of who her client is and what they will be drawn to in terms of fashion. Also, artists will often reference certain genres or specific inspiration for the way they envision their image. For example, Ciara might tell her that she wants a look reminiscent of Control-era Janet Jackson, or Rihanna might reference early-80′s Grace Jones, etc.

But what if…
Sometimes things just don’t work out. If for whatever reason a client doesn’t like a particular outfit, Mariel simply finds another. However, she will encourage or direct an artist to a particular piece if she feels really strongly about them wearing it.

The Rules
From a stylist’s perspective, here’s a loose set of “rules” for dressing: Lighter colors for morning TV shows, over-the-top outfits for tours and music videos (you have to consider movement as well), bold colors and strong silhouettes (but not so bold as to be misunderstood by general public) for red carpet events.

The Process: Creating the “a-ha!” moment

The process of styling is a creative but stressful one. It usually starts with the establishment of an event, and Mariel has to collaborate with the other creative contributors involved (the photographer, director, etc.), so that everyone involved is creating the same vision.

Next, she will make a list of what she needs and which designers she’d like to incorporate into her styling.

Then comes the massive amounts of phone calls and emails, deciphering the details, and keeping the lines of communication open. The best part is saved for last–getting out “in the field” as she calls it, which is better known as SHOPPING! She’ll buy items from stores like Saks (Mariel styled us with the hottest trends from the Saks Fifth Avenue Fall Want It! Collection presented by MasterCard)or contact designer’s press reps directly depending on the event.

Instant gratification

The absolute best part of the job? Mariel loves the instant response from the world, but even more so when the client really loves their outfit and feels like it’s them.

Now that’s what we call a dream job.

Posted in Careers, Interviews, StylingComments (6)

New Fashion Tool: Looklet

Posted on 09 July 2009. Tags: Blogging Tools, Styling, technology

According to their website, “Looklet is a brand new styling studio where you can combine every piece in our fashion collection to mix, match and create your personal looks. All clothes are real, selected by stylists, from real designers.”

What that really means is you get to play fashion stylist with a virtual model on a virtual set using real clothing, and will probably spend precious hours playing around with different combinations of all of the above. It’s sort of like your own private episode of Stylista, minus the faux-bitchy boss.

There aren’t as many clothing and accessory items to choose from compared to similar applications like Polyvore and the “model’s” pose gets a bit repetitive, but keep in mind that it’s still in beta and is being further developed every day. Check it out and see what you create!