Katie Grand is, by far, one of my all time favorite fashion heroes. Every time I work with her and for her I learn SO much. Not only is she one of the only editors that gives me the space and platform to do much of my favorite styling work, she gives me the opportunity to collaborate with the BEST people in the business. For that, I will forever be in Katie’s debt. When I worked for Katie at Pop magazine, she taught me what it means to be a fashion visionary and an incredible business woman. I’m not going to go into a long spiel here about her biography; I really wanted to chat with her specifically about styling. For this column, I will be conducting a series of interviews with people in different fashion roles who hire and work with stylists, or the iconic stylists themselves. Katie answered my questions with the honesty and humor that I always appreciate from her. I learned so much reading her answers, I hope you guys do too!

Here it goes….

SL: How long have you been styling? It began when you started Dazed & Confused with Rankin and Jefferson Hack in 1993, right?
KG: Yeah, I was at St Martins and met Rankin and Jefferson at a bar in the basement of the Trocadero called DNA and I started working on Dazed, initially folding magazines, and then my first story was a white t-shirt story, shot by a friend of mine, Gary, who was at St. Martins doing photography.

SL: What led you to styling versus doing another job in fashion, like design?
KG: Stylists get to do the best bits, we work on product, on photo shoots, shows, advertising and magazines–we get to do all the best bits.

SL: Who do you feel you have learned the most from in your career?
KG: In chronological order: my dad, Nathan Wilkins, Giles Deacon, Rankin, Jefferson Hack, David Davies, Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, Steve Mackey, Miuccia Prada, Marc Jacobs and Nicholas Coleridge. I think they all influenced me hugely.

SL: How did you meet Camilla Lowther, owner of your current agency CLM?
KG: Kevin Kollenda, who used to work with Camilla, met me socially, we laughed a lot, so much, and then he introduced me to Camilla.

SL: Has she always been your agent?
KG: Katy Baggott, who used to be at Z Photographic and then started her own agency, was my first agent. Very sadly she passed away earlier this year, we remained friends, and I always had a huge amount of respect for her integrity and loyalty. She represented Juergen Teller, Phoebe Philo and Katie Hillier.

SL: What has been your biggest career highlight so far?
KG: There’s a couple of brilliant moments. 1. When I’d been styling for about a year, I got asked to style Kylie [Minogue] for Top of the Pops, I literally ran around our very tiny Dazed office on Brewer St because I couldn’t contain my excitement.
2. I had been asked to style the Miu Miu show in Milan, which was very exciting in itself, and then got invited upstairs to “have a look” at the Prada collection and ended up working for Mrs. Prada for three years.
3. And then being asked to launch a magazine with Conde Nast [Love], which was really hard not to tell the world about but I couldn’t!!!

SL: What roles do stylists play in your world as Editor-in-Chief?
KG: I don’t do the magazine on my own; it’s only as good as the staff and the contributors. I have huge respect for the stylists I work with on Love, and have worked with throughout my career. I like working with stylists. I love Joe McKenna’s work, I always have. I feel incredibly honored to have him contribute to Love. And all the other stylist I work with, of course, but I have a special affection for Joe.

SL: How do you interact with other stylists for Love?