Top 5 Stylists Who Didn’t Study Fashion

Are you dreaming of becoming a stylist but wondering if you can make it without a fashion degree? 

A huge myth of the fashion industry is that all the roles from creative to business-oriented need a fashion degree. However, that is not the case. Not even a creative role like a stylist has to study fashion, and we have the proof! 

In this article, we have listed the top 5 established stylists who have been awarded and celebrated for their work with the top magazines and A-list celebrities. If they didn’t need a fashion degree to work with Vogue or Zendaya, then neither do you. So get cozy and read 5 inspiring stories of 5 top stylists who didn’t study fashion.

5 Stylists Who Didn’t Study Fashion

Law Roach

One of the most respected stylists of the 21st century, Law Roach is known for being the individual who reinvented the style of Céline Dion, working with top A-listers in Hollywood, including Hunter Schafer, Priyanka Chopra, and Kerry Washington, and styling his muse Zendaya for everything from the Oscars to a Valentino shoot. Last year, he became the first-ever recipient of the Stylist Award at the 2022 CFDA Fashion Awards. In March of 2023, he revealed the news that shocked many industry professionals, announcing his retirement from styling.

Roach supposedly studied Psychology at Chicago State University but then went on to own his Vintage shop. He was quickly discovered in the nooks of Chicago when Kanye West entered the store, drawing a lot of paparazzi and industry insiders from Los Angeles and Hollywood. These were the moments that led him to land his first major client: Zendaya. The pair shopped together for an outfit for a Justin Bieber premiere and have been together ever since.

Kate Young

Kate Young is a New York-based, one of Hollywood’s most in-demand stylists. She has clients from Selena Gomez and Michelle Williams to Dakota Johnson and Sienna Miller. She is on everybody’s radar. Known for taking Selena Gomez from Disney star to It Girl, she has even been named ‘The Most Powerful Stylist’’ by the Hollywood Reporter over three times.

Did you know that Kate Young actually studied English and Art History at university? She began her career at American Vogue, first as Anna Wintour’s assistant back in 1997, and then moved into the styling department, assisting the market editor Tonne Goodman, before launching the sittings editor position. She also held stints at Teen Vogue, InStyle, and Interview. Although she never studied fashion, Young’s strong editorial background formed her name in the fashion industry and was a good foundation to later work with celebrity clients.

Monica Rose 

The Los Angeles-based stylist is best known for mixing high-end fashion pieces with accessible everyday wear, curating the day-to-day wardrobes of the most famous celebs. Harper’s Bazaar once said, “You can’t scan a fashion website, Instagram, or even Snapchat without seeing Monica Rose’s work”. Some of her past and present clients include Shay Mitchel, Chanel Iman, Kaia Gerber, Megan Fox, and once the Kardashian family. Her debut began when she met Kim Kardashian back in 2007 for her first magazine cover shoot. Kim liked Monica’s style so much, that she hired her on the spot, and Monica ended up styling the whole Kardashian family for a decade, putting them on the map.

Monica Rose became a distinguished celebrity stylist despite she never studied fashion or styling; it’s actually unknown if she ever went to college. What we know is that she first discovered her love for the role when working in retail with clients one-on-one. When she first moved to Los Angeles, she gained experience assisting stylists in editorial, where she scored her first role at Complex magazine in 2007. 

“I had no idea where to start—it was a very scary feeling,” she explained in an interview to Complex. “I never assisted or interned for a stylist so I had to learn everything on my own. I didn’t even know what a showroom was or that you could actually borrow clothes for a shoot. I was testing and working for free so I would just borrow clothes from some of the boutiques on Robertson [Boulevard] since I knew so many of the managers from working on the block. I was even pulling [product] out of my own closet and vintage shopping a lot to create looks for my shoots. I basically had to learn fast and I made a lot of mistakes along the way.”

With her strong will and dedication, Monica Rose certainly proves you don’t need a fashion degree to become a stylist.

Carlos Nazario

The influential stylist, and also contributing editor at Vogue, and the current fashion director at i-D magazine, has been making his mark on the industry.  He has styled names including Rihanna, Solange, Zoe Kravitz, Bella Hadid, and Naomi Campbell. Working under the CAA agency, Nazario has become the first black stylist to style the cover for Vogue magazine in over 100 years (Lizzo and Naomi Campbell for the October and November issues of 2020). His fresh take and editorial focus has changed the way fashion magazines look and think. 

Looking at his background, Carlos Nazario didn’t go to college at all. “During my senior year in high school, it became clear to me that college was not going to be my next step. I felt I needed to be out in the world doing and seeing rather than reading and studying about what other people had done and seen,” he told in an interview with Matches Fashion. When he graduated from high school, he packed up and moved to Paris, gaining experience meeting photographers and doing test shoots. Upon his return to New York, he landed an internship at W magazine and then went on to work at Love magazine, where his love for editorial styling began. After 2 years there, he found a dream job assisting his idol Joe McKenna, and then went on his own. And the rest is history.

Elizabeth Stewart

Elizabeth Stewart is a Los Angeles-based celebrity stylist and a fashion editor. She styles editorials for Harper’s Bazaar, Marie Claire, Vanity Fair, etc. She also collaborates with renowned brands including l’Oréal, Maybelline, Calzedonia, and Guess, and dresses Hollywood A-listers for the red carpet and editorials. Cate Blanchett, Julia Roberts, Jessica Chastain, Gal Gadot, and Viola Davis are just a few from her extensive list of clients. 

She actually graduated from the University of South Carolina with a degree in journalism and spent 12 years working in the style department of the New York Times Magazine, and 10 years at WWD and W Magazine. “It was 1998, and we were just starting to put celebrities on the covers of magazines,” she shared with WWD. And slowly Stewart paved her way into celebrity styling.

The career path of these 5 famous stylists clearly shows that even for the most creative job in fashion like styling, it is never necessary to study fashion and have a degree in the creative field. I hope you can find some inspiration in their stories if you are an aspiring fashion stylist. Whatever it is you are studying today, and whatever job you do, you CAN become a top fashion stylist too one day. 

Oh, and if you want more fashion career inspo, we chatted with Hetty Appleton-Miles who works as a stylist at Burberry. You can listen to the podcast here.  

Want more tips to start your career as a stylist, even if you have no fashion degree or experience? Register for our free masterclass here to learn 3 top strategies to get a job in fashion.