BoF's Fashion Styling and Image Making course by Lucinda Chambers, is an online course which teaches aspiring stylists to create concepts; organise shoots; work between editorial and commercial clients; and build a dynamic portfolio that will help getting that elusive foot in the door. To view the course, click here.

LONDON, United Kingdom — Junior styling jobs are notoriously poorly paid and are often a primary area hit by layoffs in publications' efforts to cut overhead costs. Indeed, in May, Condé Nast layoffs targeted the fashion teams at American Vogue, GQ and Glamour due to internal reorganisations. Despite this, styling remains one of the most sought-after professions in the fashion industry, and entry level styling positions continue to receive over a hundred applications per role on BoF careers.

Today, styling is a broad job description with the day-to-day work of a stylist varying greatly depending on the nature of the publication or platform. As the breadth of jobs continues to grow in the digital age, the distinction between differing roles isn’t always apparent. Although traditional fashion magazine editorials are still regarded as the most prestigious form of styling work available, advancements in technology and the roll-out of successful community engagement strategies has seen online styling continue to evolve as its influence and cultural relevance grows.

To hear the realities of both sides of the career, BoF sat down with the former fashion director of British Vogue, Lucinda Chambers, Rika Magazine fashion director, Alexandra Carl, and the studio and styling manager of MatchesFashion.com, Jessica Goddard.

Editorial: Balancing Budgets and Imagination

“There must be purpose,” says Lucinda Chambers, the legendary stylist who went from being a assistant to Vogue editor Beatrix Miller in 1980 to become fashion director at British Elle in just five years. Over her career Chambers has styled dozens of Vogue covers and hundreds of editorial shoots. “With a cover, you haven’t got a narrative necessarily. You’ve got one dynamic, engaging picture to do, in a certain space of time. It has to be instantly very appealing.”

Depending on what publication you want to work for, and what the thrust of the message of that publication is, you tailor the picture according to what is required. “I’d advise you build a more artistic portfolio. Essentially, what we all want to be booked on are the things we really love to do.  Of course, you’re going to have your days where you have to do slightly more commercial and slightly less creative things.  But what you show your clients, and what your agents should show your clients, are the things that really are your voice,” stylist and Rika Magazine fashion director, Alexandra Carl, says.

“When you have a very high-end publication that is a little bit more visual, it isn’t so much about delivering a trend editorial,” Chambers explains. “And then you go to another magazine and you know exactly what white shirt you want to buy that week. Both are equally relevant to the way we look at the world and if a magazine or publication is to be relevant in the marketplace today, then you probably have to do both.”

Styling roles in editorial work also come with constraints of budgets. The trick is to compromise and have realistic expectations. “You’ll have your dream, and you’ll have reality, and hopefully, somewhere you meet in the middle,” Chambers says. “You can’t just waltz away with the fairies and think ‘I can spend X amount of money’.”

However, Chambers believes no picture should suffer because of the lack of money, and a restriction on budgets shouldn’t limit the beauty of the picture. Instead, it should make you, as a new stylist, “more imaginatively resourceful”, according to Chambers. “I think you do the picture that you want to do, and the way you want to do it, and you cut your cloth accordingly.”

“When you’re building your portfolio, it’s important that you have something that magazines want to see and that you, essentially, can also make money on as an artist,” adds Carl, who started styling at the age of 16 and boasts a portfolio of work at Vogue, LOVE and Adidas.

E-commerce: Fast-Paced Creativity

The online stylist role is a creative role, but also one that needs to consider styling in a more commercial and sellable way. As well as researching trends and looking at catwalks, e-commerce stylists must collate customer profiles, which are often mood board-based imagery per customer profile to which a styling team can refer.

“The biggest challenge for an online stylist is being able to be creative, while also working in a fast-paced environment,” Jessica Goddard, the studio manager at MatchesFashion.com, says. “They need to be able to not only be creative, but also work with accuracy at speed.”

Online styling teams work on a rotation base, with a day to prep an allocated product and a day to work with the photographer and shoot the product on the model. The day is then taken to research and pull together outfits, with every outfit discussed and approved by the styling manager. On a shoot day, the stylist works with a photographer and an assistant, or sometimes a junior stylist to support. They have a day to shoot every single outfit and then select the shots with the photographer, from which they select the most suitable shots to go online.

“It’s great to get styling experience, to put together your own portfolio and to be creative, but it’s really good to get experience across a whole studio environment, so you’re aware of how production teams work. Ultimately, you need dedication, versatility and hard work,” says Goddard.

The styling team completes pre-shoots, which is when a stylist and photographer go to the brands’ showrooms, whether in Paris, Milan or London. They then create a set within the showrooms and shoot from samples. The collections are shot three months early, which can be used as a preview for customers. “You get to work with amazing luxury product on a daily basis and you get to see the product before customers and before season,” Goddard explains. “My one piece of advice for someone wanting to be an e-commerce stylist is to be versatile," she adds.

BoF's Fashion Styling and Image Making course by Lucinda Chambers, is an online course which teaches aspiring stylists to create concepts; organise shoots; work between editorial and commercial clients; and build a dynamic portfolio that will help getting that elusive foot in the door. To view the course, click here.