Sally's Styling Seminary

A couple of years ago, when I was in business school, my teacher was having a conversation with the class about all of the different areas of business we must take care of in order to be considered “successful”. One of those areas was “politics”. Now, he wasn't talking about politics in the traditional sense of the word, like government or politicians, he was talking about the dynamics of people in a group, area or field. So I am talking here about politics as the relationship between people in fashion and how some people are considered powerful, how some people are not, and why. At one point in our class, someone stood up and said that he hated politics and he stayed as far away from politics as possible (exactly what I was thinking as the other student said it). In return, my teacher said, “If you don’t like politics, then be a dog. Tough luck buddy. Whether you like it or not, politics are there and you have to learn to deal with them if you want to be successful.” So I started thinking about what that meant to me and my job and career as a stylist and what it meant inside of the fashion business.

Stylist Sally Lyndley has put together an amazing guide to producing a runway show. See her first three installments--Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3--before reading this. By the time the show comes around, I begin to feel like it’s time to let the chips fall as they may. All of the hard work of the designer and team, producers, casting director, publicist and stylist has finally come together. Months of preparation lead up to a 12-minute show. I put on my game face and one of my favorite outlandish (but comfortable) outfits and head to the show.

Fittings are the part of the process where the collection really comes alive for me. They give me a glimpse into what the final show will look like, fulfilling the designer’s vision and my own. Seeing the models in the looks with all of the final accessories and accouterments makes me completely giddy. When fittings begin, I like to start with the stronger models. The casting director does her/his best to get some of the more famous models in for the first couple of fittings so the designer and I can get really inspired. While this doesn’t always happen, it is a fun way to get this sometimes long part of the process started.

This past February I had the pleasure of working with one of my favorite menswear designers, Antonio Azzuolo, styling his Fall Winter 2011 presentation at NYC Fashion Week. Antonio has been gracious enough to allow me to share a photographic documentation of our working process for the presentation. Rather than writing a long description about the process, as I have for this column in the past, I thought it would be cool to show you guys the pictures we take each step of the way instead. This way you can begin to see how the process takes shape in the stylist/designer working relationship. The looks process is the first step of putting the show together. It is different from fittings because the stylist is trying the outfits on one model, instead of various models.The looks model starts to disappear, and a stylist can just see the clothes.

Teen Vogue is one of my favorite magazines to peruse and read. The happy, energetic images Amy Astley puts on her pages bring pure joy to the unusually serious world of fashion. It's always a pleasure to shoot for Ms. Astley. Indeed, she's been the catalyst for several of my most memorable career highlights. (Hello, Miley Cyrus and Patrick Demarchelier on the rooftops of Paris!) Amy works closely with me when I'm shooting to help me better understand the Teen Vogue girl, and how to create interesting and new images. It's refreshing and inspiring to have such a rich dialogue with an editor about what I'm creating for their magazine. Speaking with Amy about styling gave me even more insight into what makes her editorship at Teen Vogue so awesome.

With the feedback I've received through my Fashionista column, I have created “The Introduction to Styling.” It's a three-day seminar of conversations and exercises where attendees will learn what it takes to be a stylist. This includes practical information about setting up a styling business, from the relationships you need to build to the tools you need to use. All of the knowledge taught in the course is original content created and written by me, based on my 13-year career all over the world. Why attend? Well, I'm the first stylist with high fashion luxury clients, and a fashion background, to create an original weekend like “The Introduction to Styling,” which in its essence, will teach students the fundamental basics of becoming a stylist. Other courses and seminars are taught by people who possess very little or no experience in the marketplace, definitely not teachers who are considered experts. I created this training seminar after observing the struggle of my interns and assistants from misinformation--and lack of information--available in the current fashion learning environments. “The Introduction to Styling” seminar enables students to acquire the information they need to become powerful stylists, whether you are a full-blown stylist or just starting as an assistant.

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?

I believe every top stylist has a very special Secret Weapon. What is this secret weapon, you ask? An incredible first assistant. A brilliant lead assistant is one of the roles that holds the entire business together for the stylist. This week I am going to ramble a bit about how extremely important it is to have an incredible, reliable assistant and/or team of assistants. A first assistant, FA for short, is a jack-of-all-trades. The responsibilities for a head assistant include every aspect of the stylist's business. After sitting down and making a shortlist of what my assistant handles for me, I came up with these 13 fundamental responsibilities: 1. Research: FA can find the story styled by Grace Coddington and shot by Patrick Demarchelier for the first issue of Anna Wintour's US Vogue without asking 500 questions or looking for five minutes and then telling you they can't find it. An FA finds the story and creates the most fabulous scans of the story and also scans the rest of the main well from the issue, just to have on hand. 2. Prepping: A stylist doesn't always have the time to go through every show on Style.com to choose looks for a story, so the FA steps in and makes a first edit. The FA can pull the best looks for the concept the stylist is creating, from designers the stylist loves and the credits the magazine needs. This saves the stylist hours of time.

A couple of years ago, I began going to business school to learn the basics of how to run my styling business. After all, we stylists have to deal with cash flow statements and managing our money and assistants, even if we are just “creatives” who play with clothing. As I entered into the alien world of business 101, I was surrounded by corporate business people that didn’t have the slightest idea what a “fashion stylist” was or what could be expected of one. In most cases, I would anticipate the need to go into my 2 minute speech which explains my role, how it works, and with whom I work, whenever I met someone new. Even when I got my speech down to what I thought was a decent explanation, I still got blank stares back. The uninitiated couldn’t seem to understand the gist of what a stylist did. In a nut shell, here was my speech: "stylists work with creative teams including photographers, design teams, or art directors to create a vision for an image or brand. At the same time, we also face the challenge of making the clothes look awesome (regardless of their quality)." Due to the general lack of understanding regarding my role, I started to think more about what I really do as a stylist. I guess the reason that it is not easy to explain is because a stylists’ responsibilities change quite a bit depending on the kind of job or project we are working on that day. When I am shooting an editorial, I have the privilege of collaborating with some of the world’s best editor-in-chiefs (EIC’s for short) on creating stories for their magazines. With an editorial and the approval of the EIC, I get to choose the concept, photographer, hair and makeup teams, models, and of course the clothes.

Over the last two decades, the occupation of stylist has gone from a behind-the-scenes job that those outside of the industry didn't know existed, to a high-profile position that rivals "fashion editor" in its stature and gloss. But what does a stylist actually do, and what does one have to do to get to the front of the pack? We've enlisted super stylist Sally Lyndley--who's worked with everyone from Katie Grand to Victoria Beckham--to give us a little insight into what her job really entails--and why she's so in love with it. Each week, Sally will offer us a peak into her world, from stories on the history of styling to Q&As with some of her favorite people in the industry. To get things started, we've given Sally the Seven Questions... treatment. We're so excited to have her on board! Fashionista: So, tell us a little about what you do. Sally Lyndley: What do I do?! Sometimes I feel like a "hired" best friend for a photo shoot day, other days I feel like a punching bag, and if I am lucky, I feel like a film director or artistic collaborator (on a good day). But technically, I am a freelance fashion editor and stylist with the agency CLM. I am also a consultant to businesses interested in competing in the fashion marketplace. Sounds so professional! My clients include LOVE Magazine, US Vogue, Teen Vogue, and Victoria Beckham among others. And how exactly did you get there? Well, here goes the "Cliffs Notes":