How Kollin Carter Went from Couch Surfing to Styling Cardi B

In our long-running series "How I'm Making It," we talk to people making a living in the fashion and beauty industries about how they broke in and found success.

Kollin Carter is much more than a stylist. It may be how he started — first in editorial, now in the celebrity world — but he's since achieved bigger recognition within the industry. As he tells Fashionista, "We've shifted into a space where you can gain opportunities just for who you are as a brand" instead of being "perceived" as "the help."

He's landed a coveted Hollywood Reporter cover alongside his longtime client Cardi B, sits front row at fashion weeks and, most recently, secured a partnership with cognac brand D'Ussé to launch "D'Ussé Brunch Society."

"[D'Ussé] really wanted to be more inclusive in giving more people a seat at the table and almost rebrand themselves, working with cooler creatives, especially with the times having changed so much," Carter says of the partnership.

But to be clear, Carter is firmly staying in the styling game, at least for a little while longer: As a duo, he and Cardi B have ignited new conversations on where female rappers fit in the high fashion space. He's also worked with Victoria Monét, Kelly Rowland, Kysre Gondrezick, Normani, Sza, Ciara and Anok Yai, among others.

Ahead, Carter talks about his path into styling, working with Cardi B, navigating relationships with luxury fashion houses and much more.

Tell me about your earliest interest in fashion, before you pursued it as a career.

I used to have a female best friend and every day after school we would go and look at magazines and we would sketch out looks and create outfits. This was during my middle school years. And while everybody was out playing — or doing stuff they had no business doing —we were inside sketching. So looking back, that was the first sign that [fashion] was my interest. 

Right out of high school, I started an internship with a stylist named J. Bolin. He had a magazine called Denim Magazine, and he was really the first to introduce me to the fashion world and what it was like to work with celebrity clients and do editorials.

Was that internship experience how you knew you wanted to pursue styling specifically as a career path? 

At the time, in my early days, I never really knew that the position of a stylist even existed and was an actual job. I was more passionate about design. But once I got out of high school and started to study more and intern, I gravitated more towards styling. J. Bolin was actually a stylist and a designer at the time, and I got a peek at what it would be like to design and I was like, 'I'm good. Let me just stick to putting on the clothes when they're done.' 

At what point did you know you were ready to work for yourself as a stylist?

I'm an Aries, and I would like to believe that this plays a part in this, but I've always been super independent. I kind of grew up the black sheep a little bit in the family and I wasn't the most popular kid in school, but I think that all of those things contributed to my independence when I got older. By the time I was ready for me to spread my wings, it wasn't even a question. I used to save up my money when I was 17 and 18 to go to New York Fashion Week, and I would rent a room and I would go out there with business cards and try to network. I would be walking around with my huge leather portfolio to show anybody who would look at it.

I visited every fashion week up until I moved when I was 21. By that time, I was like, 'Ok, I know the city enough, I met enough people, I networked, and now it's time for me to go and pursue my dreams of what I thought was going to be an editorial stylist.' But that changed quickly. I thought I was ready, and boy, was I wrong.

Why were you wrong?

I think that a lot of the connections that I made were very, very surface-level. That's when I really learned about the gift of gab when it came to people because I felt like I had a community there. I felt like I had a support system there, and that's part of what contributed to me feeling like I was ready. But when I got [to New York], I quickly learned that I was on my own. I went through the typical New York transplant struggles that anyone goes through when they transfer. There were a lot of hard times, a lot of loneliness and really not having anybody or anyone to guide you through it. It was much more of a struggle than I thought it would be.

How did that experience inform how you build relationships today?

Now, I believe in action more than anything. Somebody can speak about an opportunity to me, but I don't really get excited until it's in motion because I've learned that in this industry a lot of people like to name drop and it's also a very pretentious industry, too. So people will come around and feel like they may have to impress you with things or opportunities that may not even be true. So now, I'll believe it when I see it, not necessarily when I hear it. 

Earlier you mentioned you thought you were going to be an editorial stylist. How did you realize that wasn't the path for you?

When I was on my come-up, I became a contributing fashion editor for Elle Indonesia, and I quickly learned that while it was great to be published and it really helped with my book, there was no money in it. I was literally putting my last dollar and dime into making sure these photoshoots were a reflection of my artistry. I did that many times to come. 

And I was already a struggling artist at that point, so I was like, 'Oh no, I don't want to become an established struggling artist, so let me shift this energy.'

Can you walk me through your styling approach? How do you want people to know and recognize your work?

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I would always say that I felt like women could be sexy and be fully clothed. That was always something that I really, really believed in. I love the idea of a woman in a power suit. I love the idea of a woman in a turtleneck and I just love things that feel really chic and elevated and that also grab attention without being half-naked. I carried that approach when it came to Cardi [B]. 

Cardi B is one of your biggest relationships. How did that partnership come about and how has it evolved over the years?

That relationship came about from Atlantic Records: I met and worked with Justine [Skye] for a year or so, and she moved from Atlantic to Roc Nation and I was devastated because when she moved they left everybody behind and they switched teams. But I got a call about three years later from Atlantic Records and they were like, 'Hey, we remember you from Justine. We love your work. We have a new girl just getting off of television and we would love it if you would just try working with her.' I was like, 'Ok, who is it?' And they said, 'Her name is Cardi B.' And I was like, 'Ok, that's not quite the direction that I want to go, but let's see it.'

I was super broke, I was still on the come-up and my friends were like, 'Boy, you better do it. You don't have any space to be picky. We're tired of you calling us, asking us for lunch money. Figure it out.' So I was like, 'Ok, I'll try it.' The only reason why I didn't think that I would be able to execute my vision was because she was very, very short, really curvy and I had never styled that body type before. Also, she was on reality television. I felt like fashion wasn't taken as seriously when it was in relation to reality television.

It was a risk that I took and it turned into something I could have never imagined. We did our first fashion week in Fall 2017, and immediately people took to her, they took to us as a collaboration. After 2017, nothing was the same. I think that editorial approach that lived in me, I kind of took it on her and was like, 'You know what? Let me put her in a suit or let me put her in a beautiful gown.' Let me take a different approach than what people are used to seeing when it comes to female rap. I think that is really what got us recognized in the way that we did.

How collaborative are you working together? 

Cardi definitely has a vision and sometimes we bump heads, but I think that's the thing that makes us special. In our collaboration, there is no ego. She's able to say, 'I want this.' And I can be like, 'Ok, that's a mess, but I'll give it to you.' Meanwhile, I'm like, 'I want this,' and she's like, 'Kollin, no.'

There have been big fittings and red carpets where she won't even see the look up until the morning of the fitting, and that's pure chemistry. I know what works and I know her body and she knows that she trusts me. 

As a Black stylist who works with a roster of high-profile, A-list Black women, how have you navigated relationships with the major fashion houses, some of whom have a history of not wanting to work with Black talent?

That it is still something that I am currently navigating. I see the difference and the favoritism between some of my Black girls. Certain houses said no in the past, and later had said yes, but I feel like it's all about how we were told no. Some fashion houses are just like, 'Unfortunately, she's not our type of girl,' and that approach I really don't like. I would rather you guys say, 'Sorry, at the time we're low on samples. We would love to lend, but we can't right now.' I would've rather some of them have a little more finesse about the situation. I kept the people in mind who passed in a polite way and how they treated us. And as any business works, I think that there is a time when the leader or the owner of the business can make a call and say, 'We didn't necessarily feel like she was ready then, but we want to work now.' Then the ball is in my court and we can make the decision on whether we want to move forward or not. 

There have been fashion houses that I have felt like have used us in the past just for shows. We'll get contacted and we'll be really excited and she'll attend the show and they either never respond or never lend in the future, but it was because they just wanted that press that they know that she was going to bring from being at a show. So now, I'm a little more careful about how I navigate. I want to work with the houses that are excited to work with us. This is not a charity case. You're not doing a favor and if you feel like you are, I would rather not work with you. If you want to choose a white girl over my Black girl, that's fine, but just know that when you circle back around, the ball is going to be on my court and I'm most likely going to say no.

Are there any major fashion houses that were receptive and excited to work with you early on?

An honorable mention for me is Christian Siriano. He was one of the first mainstream designers who wanted to support, and his clientele is a very diverse group of women. For me, just looking at his brand, there was not a girl like Cardi that he had ever dressed. He actually got a lot of pushback when he did, but he continued to work with us because he saw the potential and he saw that she was a star before a lot of other people and houses did. Another house was Mugler and designer Thierry Mugler. He allowed us to reach into his archives and that was some of her earlier days, too. I think that's what really broke her into fashion, it was our archive Mugler moment.

If you were to go through the highlights of your career so far, what milestones do you see as the building blocks that got you to where you are?

One was the transition from Mississippi to New York. Two was assisting and gaining my own clientele. Three was getting my client that was not necessarily what I felt was ideal, but also re-imagining for myself and for the industry what is ideal and what's not and not following the guidelines of industry and beauty standards. I connected with Cardi, I have such a love for her, and I felt like she was just as deserving as anyone else of these opportunities just like me. The way that I initially may have viewed taking on that job was the same way that a lot of people probably initially viewed me as a Black stylist. So I think that overcoming the milestone of not trying to fit into what I felt was right or what I felt was industry standard is what got me here today.

I've been asked before, 'Do you style women that aren't Black?' And it's like, I do and I am very open to diversifying my clientele, but I think that the issue is that women that aren't Black, they don't come to my page and see themselves. It can be the chicest look, but I think that in a lot of cases, specifically white women, they almost have to see my work on a white woman to be attracted to it and feel like they can relate. 

What do you think are the biggest challenges that stylists face today?

I can't speak for every stylist, but I think that you're only as good as your last job. Everything moves so fast.

I was on a blog one day and I was reading somebody talking about fashion and female rap, and they were naming all these other female rap women that do fashion and they didn't mention Cardi. It's like, how could you not, in those conversations, mention what Cardi has contributed to the fashion world and how she's one of the first girls in rap to wear couture? I think it's because of the way that social media moves. You can do something so great and it is talked about for a week and then it's onto the next thing. So you have to really stay on everyone's heads and stay super creative and producing magic or you will be forgotten about. It sucks, but it does drive you to keep producing on a high level. 

What advice do you have for aspiring stylists?

As cliché as it may sound, it's to never give up. I think about where I was when I got the call about Cardi: I was sleeping on a leather couch — couch-surfing — staying with my friend and his mom in a two-bedroom apartment in the Bronx. I remember waking up every morning just feeling so defeated. It was at one of my worst moments when I got my biggest opportunity. Had I given up or left the city before then, I would've never been able to take on those opportunities. So push through, believe in your vision, but also make sure that you are nurturing relationships and you're moving correctly morally. And also make sure that you're perfecting your craft. You're never too great or too good to stop learning, so whether that means finding a mentor to work under or studying fashion history, never stop learning. 

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

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