The art of styling

In the mall, a person may catch your attention because he or she is carrying lots of shopping bags. Initially you assume this is one rich person on a shopping spree. But guess again. It could be a stylist just “pulling out.”

“Pulling out” is the stylist’s term for borrowing. When they have to borrow merchandise from retail outlets for fashion shoots — clothes, shoes, accessories, even furniture, you name it — all the right stuff to make that perfect shoot possible has to be pulled out.

Styling is actually an extension of my work as a staffer for various lifestyle magazines. It used to be that when a picture was needed for an article, the editor would just assign a photographer to shoot. Not anymore. To make the pictures really stand out, we now have to “style” them to suit the article better.

We bring all the clothes together to produce a unique and cutting-edge style statement, like a painter uses his color palette to create an artwork. The outcome: it’s the fashion photos splashed on magazines and newspapers.

There are times when I go to fashion shoots, either to assist or to produce the shoots myself, slowly learning the tricks of the trade. Being exposed to it so much, you take an interest in the mechanics of getting the right look.

Off To The Mall

One thing I like about this job is it’s not a nine-to-five grind. In fact we spend a lot of time malling to source, for instance, the right clothes for an upcoming shoot. It’s like being paid to do window shopping. Upon seeing the right clothes, we take the next tedious step — the paper work. Then the clothes are ready to be pulled out. Usually it’s the job of the stylists to do the pulling out, and there’s nothing glamorous in that.

It may seem glamorous; it’s not. It’s hard work. A stylist has to make sure that the clothes look well when photographed. A stylist’s kit thus includes such mundane items as paper clips and masking tape to ensure a proper-looking fit. And after the shoot, you have to make sure all the clothes are accounted for, folded properly, meticulously checked for makeup stains or rips, to name a few. Especially with merchandise such as jewelry — all put together, the loot for a single shoot can cost as much as a car. So don’t be surprised if someone says, “I’m carrying a car on my back.”  

And like any endeavor, styling has to be carefully planned, and must have a theme or a concept — not just a random bunch of clothes slapped together. This tests the expertise of the true stylist: whether the outcome will look “fasyon” or fashion victim.

Love Of Clothes

The fun part of the job is that you are surrounded with nice clothes, even if they are only borrowed. But there’s more to styling than just love of clothes, for one’s work must be able to relate to people. If, on the pages of the final magazine spread, the photographs scream, “Buy me,” then the stylist has done a good job.

 I like nice clothes, and being a stylist has transformed me into a shopaholic of sorts. But that to me is the beauty of it: I have turned an indulgence into something productive.

And you thought nothing good could come out of shopping.

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E-mail the author at ketsupluis@yahoo.com.