So you want to style celebrities, but you don't know where to start and how to go about
it. Well, since I have been styling top celebrities like Selena Gomez, Sarah Hyland, Bella Thorne
Irina Shayek, I will tell you what were the biggest mistakes I made as a newbie celebrity
stylist. Hi, my name is Basia Richard and I help aspiring stylist enter the styling
industry. If you want to become a stylist, grab my free cheat sheet guide with tons of
resources for aspiring stylists. I will link it in the description below. Also, for styling
industry related content, don't forget to subscribe and hit the bell to get notified
when I post a new video, which is every Monday. In this video, I will tell you what mistakes
to avoid in order to start styling celebrities, so let's get started.
Mistake number one, tone down your huge expectations. Now, when I started in the styling industry,
styling celebrities wasn't very popular. As a matter of fact, there were very little events
happening outside of the big ones like Oscars, Emmys and Golden Globe so a lot of big stars
would either contact brands and designers personally in order to borrow a dress for
the event, or their management or their publicist would do that for them.
Now, the celebrity styling industry kick up a notch since then, and now every star in
Hollywood big or small has a stylist to help them pick outfits for the event. Now when
I started in the styling industry, an industry I had huge expectations and wanted to style
big names and only work with A-class celebrities. My goal was to style, let's say, Jennifer
Aniston, Beyonce. Every time an up-and-coming musician or TV actress wanted to hire me,
I was pretty disappointed simply because I had huge expectations in terms of wanting
to only work with the biggest stars in Hollywood.
That was the biggest mistake because what I learned was that as much as There's nothing
wrong with reaching high, starting low and growing was the right move. The key to become
a successful celebrity stylist and start styling top stars, you have to start styling actresses
and musicians who are unknown yet and you can grow with them. That's exactly what I
did.
Now, when I started to style Selena, Selena Gomez, no one really knew who she was. She
was like 15 years old and her TV show, it wasn't even airing yet. I stuck with her and
I was building her image for many, many years. But because I met her when she wasn't known
yet, I saw a huge potential in her and I knew that she would be successful one day. That
decision totally paid off.
Now, the more she became known and the more I could leverage the fact that I was styling
one of the top stars... And I was able to get new celebrities as clients. If you want
to start working as a celebrity stylist, actually starting to style up- and-coming actresses
and musicians are the best way to grow, simply because you can stick with them, help them
create an image and that will slowly build your career as a celebrity stylist.
Mistake number two, I would say no to a job. Imagine that. When you are just starting in
the styling industry... And it really doesn't matter if you want to work as a personal stylist
or a celebrity stylist. You should take every job, every opportunity that it's in front
of you. You never know what might happen and if that... Bring other opportunities and you
might be recommended to another client.
There were a lot of opportunities that I didn't take advantage of simply because I just didn't
see a potential with that particular job. You might be in a position when you are already
established in the industry and have a solid clientele base, but that really shouldn't
stop you from working with every possible client that is coming your way. You never
know what might happen, who can recommend you to another client and you might actually
get a repeat business from that client as well. When you are just starting, you should
grab every possible job and an opportunity that is in front of you.
Mistake number three, I undercharged for my services. Now, there's a big difference in
terms of how celebrity stylists charge for their services. It all really depends on the
job but majority of the time, a stylist will charge a day rate for the work. Now sometimes,
there will be all-in budget, meaning a stylist will receive a budget that will include a
rate, a wardrobe budget and expenses. Now, that's the most difficult way of getting paid
simply because you have to divide the whole budget and allocate money for clothing, for
your day rate and for expenses that you might have.
Now, I remember a job that I took where a client had all-in budget so by the end of
this job, I not only spent so much money on clothes for my client, I had huge expenses
and I worked like three weeks on the job and I was left with literally no cash for my services.
That was totally ridiculous. If you ever will be offered a job with a budget all in, here's
what you have to do: first of all, establish what is your day rate and how many days you
will work on that job. Then, you have to realize how much realistically you will spend on clothes
and don't forget about your expenses, either. Now, then if the budget makes absolutely no
sense, you should go back to your clients to discuss more realistic budgets.
Now, you have to keep in mind that when you are just starting in the industry and you
got your first celebrity client, most likely you will be working for a very small rate,
and very often for free. I have done it many, many times in my career, and you should expect
to work for a very low rate or for free when you are just starting to style.
Mistake number four, I overbooked myself and didn't hire an assistant. Now, that was the
most lucky decision I could ever make. Having an extra pair of hands to help you when you
have multiple clients is the only reasonable solution. Well, I didn't do it and I lost
a client because of this. Now, what really happened was... And I had two clients attending
red carpet events and then I had to go get them ready almost in the same time. What happened
was, the time when I get to one of my first client and I have to zip her up in a dress
and I left and I went to my second client, a dress for my first client broke and there
was absolutely nobody that could fix it.
That experience taught me to always cover myself just in case of any situations that
might happen. Now, when you are just starting, obviously you don't really need an assistant.
You will be able to do everything on your own. But as you grow and you get more than
one job in one week, you should hire an assistant to make sure that you don't end up in the
same situation and I did years ago.
Mistake number five, I have not connected with publicists. Now, in order to be hired
by celebrities, you need to have relationships with publicists simply because celebrities'
PR team is the one who always hires glam team, which is a stylist, a makeup artist and a
hairstylist. Almost every star in Hollywood will have a PR team that handles their public
image. In order to grow and start styling stars, you'll need to meet as many publicists
as possible. Like I mentioned at the beginning of this video, don't reach high. Don't go
to publicists who represent top, top A-list stars. You want to reach out to small boutique
PR companies who rep up-and-coming stars. I will link a website that lists celebrities'
reps and their PR management so you can contact them personally and offer your services.
Now you know exactly which mistakes I made as a newbie celebrity stylist. Now, don't
forget to grab my free cheat sheet for aspiring stylists. That will get you started in the
styling industry. Also, don't forget to subscribe and hit the bell to get notified when I post
a new video, which is every Monday. Thanks so much for watching and I will see you next
week.