— By Mariya Sethjiwala, Sophia BMM

Dressing up is something we all love to do. Whether it is for parties, functions or social gatherings, what you wear reflects on your personality. The same goes with your favourite celebrities!  You judge them so much on the basis of what they wear. Whether the apparel a celebrity wears is a hit or a miss, depends a lot on the kind of stylist they hire. A fashion stylist is what we are talking about here.

Do not confuse a Fashion Stylist with a fashion designer. A designer designs the clothes a person wears. A fashion stylist smartly puts together an entire outfit for you, complete with accessories and bags and even hair and make-up. A fashion stylist is responsible for putting together clothing ensembles to meet the demands of specific clients. They work to get a person ready for a particular event or lifestyle choice.

To be a fashion stylist, it is a no-brainer first up to have a unique sense of fashion. You should be confident enough to experiment with your wardrobe in order to stand out at a function. A course in fashion designing is not necessarily a criterion here. A good understanding of latest trends, colours and hues and what-goes-with-what is! Therefore reading high-end fashion magazines is highly recommended.

To get you noticed in this field, like most other fields in the fashion industry remains a challenge. For beginners, working with a magazine or other lifestyle organisation helps. You should stick around with one organisation for a good period of time in order to build relations with people who might hire you as their stylist in future. Also another great way to begin would be assisting an established stylist. Working under a known stylist can you help you gain clients of your own as you tend to meet a lot of people and get to spread the word that “You are here!!”

As a stylist to a celebrity, you are always under constant pressure to give your client fresh looks every time they step out for an event. With the ever growing sense of fashion of the audiences and with the fashion police always looking for its next victim, being on your toes always is a must. You should also be willing to experiment and invent your own fashion trends to make your client stand out rather than always following the rule book.

A stylist needs to be a good communicator as you are required work with a team of professionals to style your client. Also, once you start working, it is advisable to ask some models styled by you to pose in order to create a portfolio that you can show to people. One of the most demanded professionals in the fashion industry, Stylists are being widely recognised as a key factor in building an image for celebrities.