How I Got Into Fashion Styling

I’m feeling creatively stuck, so I vent honestly about how social media overload affects my ideas and why fashion styling pulls me back into real creativity. I share how I fell into styling, what commercial set styling actually involves, and how you can start building skills, taste, and connections without waiting for a “perfect” break.

• social media burnout and creative frustration
• discovering fashion styling through modeling and photography
• personal style as identity not just trends
• building outfits instead of buying pre-styled looks
• commercial styling basics like color palette planning and avoiding logos
• making wardrobe work with little or no budget
• using your own closet and borrowing pieces to solve problems
• developing a cinematic eye through ads and film costuming
• learning through color theory classes and studying working stylists
• research-driven styling and storytelling through clothing
• networking, styling friends, and getting experience through real people
• choosing clients who share passion and respecting your value
• widening the lens on fashion industry careers beyond modeling and design

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Transcript

Creative Frustration And Social Media

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Welcome back to another episode of That's the Veeam, where we talk about fashion, fashion people, and opportunities in the creative industry. Today's episode is a little hard because I honestly did not know what to talk about. I feel like creatively I've been feeling very frustrated, like uninspired, and I blame it a little bit on social media. I feel like it's been overwhelming. And I do social media marketing for brands. I feel like I'm always consuming so much information. But I did want to talk about something that I've been doing for a while, but I don't really promote it. And I think it's such an interesting career in fashion, and I admire it so much. And I have recently been doing it more professionally for commercial projects, and this career is fashion styling. So styling for not just like events or photo shoots, but for commercial work or even like movies. I feel like that's one of my goals in life to be like a costume designer or style for sets, like movie sets, and what are the actors and actresses wearing when they're playing their characters. I love following films and seeing how in detail the costume designers went according to the era or the colors or like really doing their research. So I got into styling, I guess like accidentally, unevitably, through just following my passion in wanting to do something in the fashion industry. And although everything very much started as a fashion model and doing commercial work here and there, I did get to meet these incredible designers that were on set and they would they would style me. And I always thought they were the coolest people. And as I grew older and started doing more photography work and styling my own shoots and more creatively than anything, but I discovered also, well, I've been like styling myself forever, like one, two or not, I think. Style is definitely a personal taste, but I do try to keep up with the trends and also what fits my body and what is like cool, I guess, for me, because I feel like styling people think it's something that it's very like um superficial, very like what are you wearing, what designer, and very like keeping trendy with things, but styling is also very personal, and I think we forget that following trends is not always gonna be the best style for you, and I discovered through the years that you know I I until now in my life, like in my late 20s, I am barely discovering, I feel like my own personal style. I feel like growing up, you try to fit in, you try to like wear things that are on trend, I guess. And I do think I always had like some type of fun like fashion to me. I've always like added a cool earring or a headband. I always added like some random piece that would just make it more me. Like I hated using outfits that were just kind of like a dress that already came with a print and I couldn't really do anything with it. I always wanted to build something, build an outfit rather than just buying something that was already like pre-styled in a way. So yeah, I I feel like I hated dresses for that reason. Um, because I felt like I'm like, what am I gonna put on here that's gonna make it more unique? Like I love standing out and being complimented on my outfit. Like I feel like that that feeds my ego, but it also feeds my soul and my great creativity because I do feel like dressing up is a form of being creative and putting yourself out there however you want to be presented as. And I feel like my style really changes on depending on what I'm doing that day, and sometimes I just want to wear active wear, but if I'm wearing active wear, it's gonna have a cute jacket on it. I'm gonna put a headband, like I'm gonna make it a whole character, and getting into styling for sets for commercials is similar to, I feel like, I want to think it's a stepping stone to my goal and dream of being on a movie set and styling for actors and actresses, depending on characters and eras. And although commercials are not that big, I feel like people do not understand like what goes behind the lens on planning the color like palette that's gonna complement the product, and what are these models or actors, actors, actresses going to be wearing that don't clash with the colors on the set and also go with the colors with the product, and then you have to avoid logos, and then you have to work with what you have. Like sometimes there's not a wardrobe budget, and I've used my closet so many times to style for even like shoots that I'm shooting for clients or for my own creative purposes. So my closet is literally it's like a vault of different like sizes and colors, and I mean everything fits me, but I feel like I like the oversized look, so I have a lot of things that fit anyone. Um, of course, mostly for female models, I can use my closet for male model models, it's a lot more challenging, but I've even used my dad's stuff before. Like I'll go into his closet and see what cool jacket he has that I can like add to a photo shoot, and and they don't even know what's going on. I'm just like, I'll return it, don't worry, it's fine, and then it'll appear in a commercial somewhere. So I think styling is something, yes, you can learn and you can really I guess practice it, but I do think like anything creatively it does come from a more personal and a more creative talent eye. I think you have to have an eye for things, and I feel like that's very similar when you're doing music or even I guess like anything in like the art-related world. Yes, you can like learn it and you can practice it, but there's only so much you can learn. It has to come from like in here, your heart, your soul, your how your like brain is random traffic, but how your brain is wired and how you see things aesthetically. I feel I do feel like I have a very cinematic eye, and I try to guide myself that way. And I do pay attention to these things when I'm watching even ads while I'm like on YouTube or anything like that. I'm looking at the outfits, I'm looking at like the colors on the set, I'm looking at like the production value of how it came to be rather than what is being sold. Like I love when it all makes sense and they did their research, and I can tell, and clothing is so important to make it all make sense. So it's definitely been like a very low-key journey, and like I said, I I very much started by paying attention to other stylists and then kind of practicing my own to style other people. I mean, my boyfriend will even ask me to style him when we're gonna go out on a date, or just like anything, he'll be like, What am I going to wear? Style me. And I'm like, Well, I'm gonna have to charge you. But he does pay for dinner and everything, so I guess it balances out. Um, but it's just like really practicing it and connecting with the people. I feel like I've connected as a model, but also photography, and then just putting myself out there on social media, and I also feel like I am like my own product, like I am a walking ad for my styling, I guess you can say, because I really do try to, like I said, like very much put outfits together that are gonna stand out, make sense, and get complimented on. Like, I love also promoting what I'm wearing. If I have a friend or boutique that I love, I don't mind sharing, like, oh, I got the sweater from here and this skirt from there. And I mean, I did get the skirt from clothing stories, I've talked about them before. Obsessed always. Yeah, I feel like everything kind of just comes together. I know I do I do a lot of things, and when I'm asked, like, what do you do? And a lot of people know me from like the modeling industry, I guess in the fashion world, more so than anything. But then I have people that just know me in the photography world, and then now I have people that know me in the styling world, which is insane and cool. Like, I do love doing other things, but sometimes I'm like, should I just focus on one thing? But then I feel like I would never be fulfilled. So maybe this is why I'm having like this creative lockage where I'm doing too many things at once, but uh, I just I love it so much. Uh anything creative into fashion really feeds me. But I mean, stay tuned. Maybe I'll be styling for the next big movie out there that's manifest it right now. Um, but yeah, that's just like a little bit of how I got into styling, how I'm making it happen, because I'm also I'm no professional, like I don't I'm not out there yet, but I do feel like I'm taking the steps. I'm taking like color theory classes, learning more and more from other stylists, like La Roach, Zendaya's stylist. I am absolutely obsessed with that man, and everything he has been doing with Zendaya in the drama press tour. I don't know if you guys saw this, but every stop they did, and every like red carpet, she was wearing something low-key that made sense to the film because it's about marriage and getting married. So she wore something old, something new, uh, something borrowed, and something blue. So, see, like things like that, you that's when you know do your research, make it make sense, work with the designers, and people pay attention. That's like people that know know, and I feel like it's not just throwing pieces together and hoping they work, it's actually doing your research. Like, what does this brand mean on this commercial and how can I make this outfit make more sense to the uh to the storyline? That's just my brain process, my thought process. So I guess this whole episode is very much like if you're looking into getting into styling, this is just a little bit of how I've how I'm doing it. And I think it's something that anyone can get into, but you just really have to have your right contacts and never stop connecting and even like style your friends, style people that you know that are like even influencers for events. I feel like that's my next step. So if you need a stylist, message me. Um, I'm always looking for creative work. I do have a lot on my plate right now, but I'm really good at balancing my things. And just I love like working with people that are as passionate as I am, and I know that when there's a real connection, everything works just so much better. So I'm at that point in my life where I'm really just feeling out who I want to work with. If I see the passion in the person in my client, and I'm also, you know, passionate about their brand or their restaurant or their project, everything I think will always come out so much better. And I will give it my 110% because we're we're in the same page. So it's not just about like making all this money and getting all these clients, but making it work and understand each other and really being on the same page of the goal, the end result, and not being scared to know your value, know what you're bringing to the table, because I feel like some people think they know what they want, but if you know what's going to work, then don't be scared to bring it up and do it. And if they're against it, well, maybe they're not the right client. So those are my two cents. I hope this was like a little bit informational. I know it was a little bit more of a vent, venting episode, but regardless, it's something styling is something that is fun, I'm passionate about, and we'll see where it takes me. So I also hope it inspires you to do something creative, or if you know want to try something different in the fashion industry, there's so many fashion jobs, and that's something I also wanted to mention. Um, like I talked about this in my last episode with my friend Priscilla, who's an assistant buyer at Neiman Marcus. That's just like one of the other jobs that there is. So styling assistant buyers, but also like accounting in fashion, doing finance in fashion. You know, I don't think you need to limit yourself to just doing one thing, but also not just limiting yourself on the thoughts of like, oh, fashion is just being like a designer or a model or makeup artist. There's so many other business careers in the fashion industry that you can look into if you're interested. So that's the V. Hope you learned something new as always. And please share, follow, subscribe, all the thanks. I am truly grateful of all of you watching, listening, supporting, and I just hope to grow this community more and more. So just keep supporting and send me your questions, input, all the thanks at That's the V Podcast on Instagram. And I'll be sure to get to them and talk about them. Bye. Thank you for tuning in. Make sure to follow at That's the V Podcast on all platforms for more fashion content. And a big thank you to our sponsor, Jagremier Advertising Agency. If you're looking to get on platforms like Hulu or Netflix, check out the link in the description.