Last Thursday I was on the set of a fashion photoshoot for a brand campaign in Milan, to show you what goes behind the scenes of a photoshoot, the various phases, and which are the fashion professionals involved (you can see some stories I posted that day above ). I posted a Q&A on Instagram to answer all your doubts and curiosities and I received many interesting questions on how to become a stylist and work on a photoshoot, so thank you for your interest as usual!
This time, however, instead of responding personally, I decided to ask someone who is involved in the field and live these experiences on a daily basis: Camilla Rizzolo who works for Vogue Japan and as a freelancer and who was the stylist of the photoshoot that day. She answered all your questions and curiosities on how to become a stylist and work on a photoshoot: from how to get started, how the stylist prepares for a photoshoot, how to become an assistant on a fashion set, how to borrow clothes as a new stylist and more. In this article, you will find many curiosities and practical facts on how a stylist works and what it’s like to work on a fashion photoshoot.
1.Hi Camilla! Could you please introduce yourself to the Glam Observer community and talk a little about your job?
My name is Camilla, 25, and I am a Fashion Stylist and brand consultant. To explain what I do, just open a magazine and look at a fashion photo. That’s my job. Everything you see in editorial photography is thought, studied and meticulously cared for by me, obviously thanks also to the skills of the photographer. What the stylist has in mind, imagines, thinks and dreams, the photographer manages to make it real and material through his photographic skills.
- What did you study and how did you break into the fashion industry?
I studied at Istituto Marangoni in Milan the three-year course in Fashion Styling.
- How does someone become a fashion stylist?
I believe that you do not become a stylist, not even with a degree in Fashion Styling or any other course either. It is a passion, something innate that you have always carried inside. Even as a child I used to combine clothes on dolls, I cut my hair myself because I believed that that cut suited my looks better, I saw films and tried to study all the looks, I remembered all the clothes, all the outfits of the scenes. A fashion course is something that can complete your passion, it can make it more concrete, it can refine certain techniques and deepen certain knowledge, but it all starts with you.
- You personally brought the shoes and accessories to shoot the campaign for a clothing brand. Can you explain how the process works? Is it the brand that asks you to bring them? Is a stylist also chosen based on what she can bring on a photoshoot?
Let’s start from the most important point: EVERY STYLIST MUST HAVE HIS/HER OWN ARCHIVE. A stylist’s personal archive is a lifesaver. For example, I have a room full of wardrobes where I have everything labeled by type, color, socks divided into lengths, colors and materials, and the same for each item of clothing. However, it really depends on what kind of brand it is. If the client is a shoe brand and needs fashion photos to advertise their products, then the stylist will have to create looks related to the aesthetics and type of woman the brand is aimed at and try to enhance the shoe by creating a perfect look. If it is a clothing brand, then the stylist will have to integrate with shoes and accessories to complete the look. It’s important to ENHANCE THE CUSTOMER’S PRODUCTS WITHOUT LOSING THE FOCUS ON WHAT WE ARE ADVERTISING.
5.What do you recommend to those who didn’t study fashion styling and still want to pursue this career?
As I said above, it is not essential to study fashion styling.
The questions you asked on Instagram @glamobserver about what’s happens before and during a fashion photoshoot.
1.How does a stylist prepare for a photoshoot?
There are various ways of preparing according to the type of magazine for which you are shooting. Each magazine has customers or brands that pay annually for advertisements from ADV in the first pages of the magazine up to the editorial campaigns. When shooting for a magazine you must first give priority to paying customers and then continue with everyone else.
- Who should I contact to become an assistant on photoshoot?
The stylist directly, ideally on Instagram or via email.
- What is the process of creating the concept of a fashion campaign?
If we talk about editorial for magazines, we propose a mood board to the editors or the editors send their mood board to the stylist and the photographer who need to adapt.
- What indications are given to the stylist and what can she choose?
For a commercial job for a brand, therefore Lookbooks, ADV, E-commerce… it may happen that the customer gives guidelines to be respected, but not always. The customer can ask not to upset the ideal woman to whom the brand is aimed, or there are more personal things like: “I’m not crazy about the combination of these two colors” or “I’m not a lover of flat shoes” so you try to meet the customer’s needs.
- How do you get the clothes, accessories and everything else you need for the shoot?
To shoot an editorial campaign you need to contact the showrooms. Big brands have their own showroom while for smaller brands or accessories brands there are showrooms that represent them. So we exchange millions of emails with the PR of the brands asking for the products and giving all the details of the shoot: where, when, who is the photographer, for which magazine…
6.How should a new stylist contact brands to borrow clothes for a shoot?
You have to introduce yourself and give all the details. If it is a job for a magazine, the stylist needs a PULL LETTER with which the magazine guarantees the stylist’s name and that she is working on a shoot for them.
7.Who do you consult with before the photoshoot aside from the brand (makeup artist and hair stylist …)?
The stylist talks to the Art Director, photographer, make-up and hair stylist before the shoot, there is an exchange of ideas and visions and then on the shoot day, the stylist makes decisions on how to do the hair, the color of the eyeshadow, if the background is white or colored.
- What happens if a piece from the collection doesn’t fit or look as good as you thought?
We try to fit it as best as we can! Nothing is impossible with pins and safety pins! THE KIT IS ANOTHER IMPORTANT THING FOR STYLISTS: safety pins, pins, needles, ribbons, scissors, anything! Our luck is that by working with photos, based on different poses and photographic cuts, we are able to make every imperfection disappear!
- How can a stylist be credible?
Be as prepared as possible! Do anything on a set, even when you think is not your job!
10. Any tips for a successful shoot day?
Learn to observe and absorb as much as you can! The world around us is full of photography, it speaks to us with the language of the images. You see millions and millions of images every day. OBSERVE AND CONNECT EVERYTHING TO FASHION obviously with your own aesthetics, try to make a photo PURE ART.
