Diary of an Aspiring Stylist: Post-Shoot DebriefCreative Direction

After taking a break over the holidays to relax and spend time with family, I'm finally getting back into the swing of things for my styling alter ego.

I had a lovely chat with a local photographer a few weeks ago. We talked about what fashion and photography meant to us and what we wanted to get out of future projects. I was thrilled to shoot with him, and he allowed me to take on a major role with him in the creative process for the shoot.

We started with some inspiration. He's a big fan of Pinterest, so we had some shared boards where we shared some of our favorite editorials, photos and fashion. We brainstormed some themes and decided on one that we thought would work within our short timeframe.

The make-up area with a reference photo pulled up on an iPad.

I've actually been wanting to do an androgynous shoot since I started styling, but as I've mentioned before, it's not exactly a popular look. (This is obviously a recurring theme for me this month, as made evident by my Men's Fashion Week recap.) He was totally on board with it though, so that's what we decided to start with for our first shoot together. Casting our model was a cinch - we found a model with strong features who was also beautiful and feminine.

During make-up application and hairstyling the photographer and I explored the studio props and the surrounding area. I knew with androgynous looks I wanted a serious vibe, and I started gravitating toward industrial pieces.  There were a lot of rundown, industrial-looking places within walking distance from the studio that seemed to fit with the props and backdrops I had favored, too. 

The photographer was insistent that he "[didn't] just want pretty pictures". He felt very passionately about editorials telling a story, and he viewed it as a true art, which was truly awesome to see and be a part of. Looking at the beaten up surroundings and how corporate our menswear was, the story started coming together on its own. Our model played the role of the wealthy, cutthroat entrepreneur that profited from selling out and destroying her companies and her employees' livelihoods. What helped was the timelessness of the settings, men's apparel, and the concept of the corrupt executive taking advantage of those beneath him.

Now all that was left was dressing the model and actually taking the photos. While I helped with the creative strategy, the photographer and model owned the tactical application of our idea. Her poses and expressions coupled with his eye for angles and lighting made for some photos that I can't wait to share in a few weeks!

LESSONS LEARNED:

• Bring a book.
It will take one hour at the very least to get the initial makeup and hair look down. It only takes about 15 minutes to set up the wardrobe, so you'll have a ton of downtime. It's a wonderful time to chat with the team, but if you have multiple looks then you'll have multiple hours of spare time, and the other team members may be working during that time.

• Bring your phone charger.
Everyone occupies themselves with their phones for a good bit of the downtime. And everyone takes and posts lots of photos during the shoot. Because of these habits, at every shoot I've done at least one person had their phone die on them.

• Bring snacks.
Seriously, these things take a long time. I can't stress that enough. Every shoot I've done so far has averaged about 6 hours long, and none of them have served meals. Many shoot coordinators will provide snacks, but you'll probably want to supplement it with energy bars and beverages.

Diary of an Aspiring Stylist: Post-shoot DebriefDream Team

I had a super exciting opportunity earlier this week to work on the Mel Boteri Spring/Summer 2013 shoot. Melanie Mueller is a bespoke handbag designer and expanding her collection to include jewelry as well as more wholesale bag options.

A quick glimpse of Mel's goodies and the looks I pulled.

This was a pretty phenomenal team. I learned a lot about what makes individual contributors go from good to great as well as what a more realistic experience for a stylist is (aka hiccups happen).

So to start with, here are the players on the team and what they did that made it clear that they were all professionals:

Lead - Mel was fantastic about communicating prior to the shoot. She was explicit about her demographic, goals, and even had a number of reference photos for the team to get an idea of what she was going for. This was invaluable and saved all of us from guessing what she wanted and got us all on the same page from the get-go.

Mel helping the photographer test the lighting.

Host - The folks in charge of the venue at both this and the last shoot I did were incredibly gracious and flexible with how we used the space. As I've mentioned, last-minute changes aren't unusual, so it's imperative to have a space that is willing and able to accommodate the shoot.

The bespoke studio we shot in works with Mychael Knight of Project Runway fame for their womenswear. One of their custom suits next to one of Mychael's dresses next to a pretty impressive cognac collection.

MUA & Hair - Good make-up artists and hair stylists know how to create beautiful looks. Great make-up artists and hair stylists sit and watch the shoot to make sure everything looks just right. If a curl is out of place or the lip color is losing its luster, they jump in to fix it without even being asked.

Prepping the model prior to shooting.

Applying touch-ups between shots. 

Photographer - The photographer was briefed by Mel on what her ideas were and what kinds of shots she was going for. She gave great direction to the model when necessary and got a variety of shots in. (We had 300 usable photos before we were even halfway through the shoot!) Before finishing with a look, the photographer made sure that the lead felt comfortable with the shots she had taken. This particular photographer also was able to load the photos onto a computer between takes (while hair and wardrobe were being changed) and showed the resulting photos to the lead there as well.

Lead and Photographer reviewing references and inspiration.

Model - Every look she came out in she gave a completely different feel to, which is a versatility that is so rare. She was gorgeous but also knew what she was doing. She didn't need much direction and struck so many great poses with each look. I've never really called anyone "a natural" at anything, but she was most definitely a natural.

The first look of the day.

The team watching it all come together.

Stylist - I totally felt out of my league when I realized how exceptional this team was, but I pulled so many items to choose from and had such good support and leadership around me that I think we ended up with some really chic looks.

LESSONS LEARNED:

• Set realistic expectations. When a store asks when you plan on returning the borrowed merchandise, you obviously want to work with them and get it to them as soon as you can. However, you don't want to over-promise and end up running late. It's kind of like waiting for a table at a restaurant. If they tell you it'll be a 30 minute wait and it takes 20 minutes instead, no complaints. If they tell you it will take 30 minutes and it takes 40, you've probably started to get impatient. Give yourself some wiggle room for a longer shoot, traffic, etc.
• Take precautions. You'd think it goes without saying that since you're borrowing these items, but you should be very careful. There are very particular things you can do to safeguard against damaging the clothing that you may not think about. For instance, we wanted to fit an oversized piece on the model, but the material was very delicate so we opted for clamps instead of safety pins. We also put a cloth around the neckhole of shirts that were trickier to get in and out of.
• Remain calm and address issues. Unfortunately we didn't pick up on that last trick until later in the shoot, so one of the borrowed tops ended up with a makeup stain on it. We notified the shop, researched cleaners, and have our fingers crossed that they can remove the stain easily. If not, we'll be paying the shop for the item that was damaged.

Last dress in the store but we had to have it, so we clamped it in the back to make it fit the model.

I'm so eager to see the photos from this shoot! And I should have the photos for the last shoot posted real soon...

Diary of an Aspiring Stylist: Post-Shoot DebriefGetting Started

Whew! My first shoot is done and it turned out to be just as awesome as I had anticipated. The models, photographer, videographer, hair, makeup, and the stylist for the male models were all phenomenal. I can't wait to show the finished shots in a few weeks!

Jenna modeling her second look of the day.

The night before the shoot I carefully packed my looks in the car, laying the clothing out so as not to wrinkle them. I packed the shoes and accessories in suitcases and learned that Jewelmint jewelry boxes are absolutely perfect for packing jewelry. They all have spots for necklaces, earrings, and rings so you can make sure things don't get jumbled or knotted. (Plus, the Jewelmint pieces were a hit on the set!)

Love my Jewelmint pieces and boxes

I also packed safety pins, clamps, a sewing kit, paper towels to stuff the shoes if they were too big. Next time I will definitely bring my own clothing rack. (I used a backdrop stand the photographer brought with her.) I also made the mistake of wearing pants without pockets and all day I kept trying to put things (phones, pins, etc.) in my non-existent pockets.

Everything laid out at the photo shoot base camp

As a stylist on a shoot, you're responsible for bringing the clothing, making sure it looks right on the models, and making sure everything is laying correctly while photos are being taken. There wasn't much to adjust while shooting, but I did have to fix a hat brim that had an awkward wave in it.

Models being prepped for the shoot

And then, of course, you need to make sure you return everything you borrowed for the shoot.

The boutique's list of everything I borrowed

LESSONS LEARNED:

• Be flexible. I planned out a number of looks for the shoot, but coming in the photographer wanted to be pretty hands-on and we rearranged the looks and created new outfits on set. 
• Think on your feet. The stylist for the male models rolled in a rack of all his clothes and built his outfits on the spot when he met the models and sized up their build, coloring, and look. 
• Network. In this industry it's super important to network. A portfolio of strong work isn't going to do you much good if you don't have references or people introducing you to collaborators. Introduce yourself to everyone working on the set and pass out business cards or your contact info. It's been less than 48 hours and I've already heard from one of the models and the makeup artist that they both know of projects I may be suited for.

With the models in their second looks

It was a blast. I look forward to building my portfolio, printing some business cards, and finding more work!

Diary of an Aspiring Stylist: Expect the Unexpected

Right after crafting all of my looks and creating a lookbook, I received an email from one of the boutiques I had reached out to that was interested in having me pull pieces from their store. That's way more ideal than using my own items, so I visited the store the day before the shoot and spent about 1.5 hours building looks from their items.

The experience was a lot like my experience in the previous days, pulling together looks from my closet. I started by setting aside items that fit the aesthetic or that I absolutely loved. Then I created outfits with just the clothing, after which I scoured the jewelry and accessories to find the right accents.

A 360° view of the boutique

Since this was my first time working with the store and my first time working with any store, I didn't want to ask for too much. I built 9 looks (instead of the 20 I made from my own closet) and left gaps for basics and accessories that I knew I had on hand. For instance, using my own bags made what I pulled at least $500 cheaper than it would have been if I used only their merchandise. Looking forward I'd love to pull the entire look - head to toe - from the shop, but I thought that since this shoot required a lot of clothing I should be mindful of how much I was borrowing.

Because our shoot is mostly to build the portfolios of the people involved, we can't offer the images for advertising for the boutique. However, we will credit them wherever the images are used and they're free to use the photos on their social media. It's good for the stores to work with stylists to not only make connections for future work, but also because it gives them exposure. It costs the store $0 technically to lend out the merchandise, and they get some nice shots of their pieces to share on Facebook.

LESSONS LEARNED:

• Get a method. I learned that I definitely have a process for building looks. Both in my house and in the store I couldn't imagine building the wardrobe any other way. Not that that's the right way, but it's the right way for me and it makes sense to me. Find out what works for you.
• Get comfortable. It took me 2 days in my closet to get the looks I wanted. At the store it took about 2 hours. At first I thought that was an unreasonable amount of time, but I've definitely gotten more used to building outfits and can do it faster and more efficiently than I could a few days ago. Small victories.

I'm looking forward to the shoot and hope everyone there likes and wears my looks and that I'll get to share some awesome shots with you guys!

Diary of an Aspiring Stylist: Prepping for My 1st Shoot

I'm pretty pumped about this weekend. A friend of mine is a local model and has been encouraging me to get into the stylist game in my area. He actually referred me to a photographer and I'll be styling my first shoot on Sunday!

One thing I noticed while making sure I dot my i's and cross my t's was that there's not a ton of really in-depth content out there on how exactly one gets started with styling their first photo shoot. For instance, how do you pull clothes when you have no portfolio? What all are you expected to bring to a shoot?

Well, the dearth of good educational material has encouraged me to chronicle this adventure. :) Here's the first part of hopefully many posts on my experiences and what I've learned...

STEPS TO PREP FOR A SHOOT:

1. Book a gig. I was incredibly blessed since step one pretty much fell into my lap, thanks to my fabulous model friend. A photographer was looking to start getting some fashion/editorial shots added to her portfolio, and he recommended her using me. Solely based on his recommendation and our back and forth with questions and answers, she ended up picking me despite having not much to go by. Usually at this stage you'd be building a profile and a portfolio and reaching out to local models and photographers to offer your services.

2. Pull clothing. Experienced stylists have relationships with stores or PR agencies that will lend them clothing for free, for a small fee, or for a deposit. I have no experience and thus no relationships. So I started from scratch, reaching out to a number of local boutiques that research showed didn't have as much of a presence as some of the better known shops. (Lesser known stores are more likely to work with lesser known stylists than bigger and more recognizable stores are.) I emailed and emailed, reaching out to 10 local boutiques and not receiving a reply from any of them.

3. No really, you need to provide clothing. That's one thing I knew on instinct about being a stylist. So I was going to have to succumb to a "Stylist's own" byline on the photos. This is where the real work began. I started culling my wardrobe, picking out pieces that fit in line with the photographer's vision.

...and the piles begin...

4. Build the basics. I'm not sure how real stylists do it, but my first thought was to build the outfits with the clothes alone. I categorized my options and spread them all over the room so I could see them all at once. Then I was completely overwhelmed for a few minutes. It was so much clothing. I didn't know where to start. I had to change my mindset and pretend I was getting dressed for the next day and pick an outfit. Then I pretended I was packing for a trip and picked a few more. By that time I started feeling a lot more comfortable in my vortex of clothing, so it started to flow more.

Pairing and sorting adds a little bit of sanity to the piles.

5. Accessorize. The thought of pulling out all my shoes, bags, jewelry, and other accessories was even more overwhelming than step four was. I decided to segment it out and start with the shoes and bags, since I had fewer options and thought I could make the associations faster and easier.

Honestly it was hard to find shoes that didn't show significant signs of wear. But you wouldn't be able to tell from this photo.

6. Add finishing touches and last looks. To make sure I had the looks just right, I set out each outfit one at a time and tested a number of jewelry options before settling on the proper pieces. I arranged the look the way I wanted it to appear in photos, so I scrunched sleeves, tucked in tops, buttoned jackets, etc.

I didn't feel comfortable making jewelry decisions with this ordered chaos lying around.

7. Create a lookbook. I have no idea if stylists do this, but it seems pretty practical. I took photos of each look and uploaded them into an album. This way I have something to reference on the day of the shoot so I can remember exactly what I wanted out of each look. I sent my lookbook to the photographer and the men's stylist so they could use it as a reference if they'd like. It was a great opportunity to get feedback from them, too, so I had time to make any changes they suggested prior to the shoot.

An example of my lookbook shots. They were very informal since they were intended for personal use only.

LESSONS LEARNED:

• Get started. You can't get booked if you're not trying. I started by following my friend's advice and building a profile on Model Mayhem. And expect to work for free until you build up your portfolio.
• Get photos. You need to be able to show your work. Take photos of yourself or do what I did and spend a day having a fun photoshoot with friends or your awesome sister. :)
  
• Get good lighting. When I was building the looks I had to move the pieces to the one part of the room that was really well-lit which was a bit of a hassle.
• Get plenty of space. As you can see, a lot of clothes take up a lot of room. They usually say to prep twice as many looks as you'll need for the shoot, so it can really take over a space.
• Get tools to groom garments. This is especially necessary if you are using your own items, as pilling and other signs of wear need to be gone before you can even think about using them for a shoot. A steamer is great because you can use it on delicate clothing as well as everyday fabrics, and you can get a decent one for pretty cheap. Everyone probably already owns a lint roller, and I am kind of obsessed with my fabric shaver. (And I have been ever since I was a child - I remember playing with my parents' fabric shaver as a child and cleaning up everyone's knitwear for fun when nobody else was around.)
• Get going! The turnaround from the time you book a shoot to the actual shoot can be a week like I had, or it can be mere days or even hours. You don't have as much time as you may have expected, so you need to get moving and get to work.
• My husband is very supportive and gracious. I've made a complete mess of our closet, bedroom, and have definitely cemented his accusations that I own way too much clothing. (But it was all so cheap at the thrift stores!)
• I have a shameful amount of clothing and accessories. It was super helpful and convenient since I ended up needing to style the models using my own pieces, but man do I own a lot of stuff. See above bullet for my defense. ;)

More to come after the shoot...