You can call them crazy for fashion or simply creative individuals, but the truth is they are the masterminds behind some of the great looks you see in popular magazines or in your favourite stores. Now trendsetters in the fashion industry, the relatively new profession of fashion stylist has given an opportunity to those like Greek Australian Vass Arvanitis to live their dream. A hairdresser by trade, London-born Vass Arvanitis made it happen, with no formal education or training in fashion.
“I never knew it was a job, as back when I started it wasn’t as popular. I gave up hairdressing and started working towards styling,” the 33-year-old tells Neos Kosmos.
Now, after seven years in the very saturated fashion styling industry, Vass Arvanitis is a highly sought after Australian stylist. She is a freelancer, represented by her agent, Unsigned Management.
Fashion stylists coordinate the apparel, accessories, hair and makeup that are seen everywhere – from editorials in fashion magazines, to shopping centre advertisements and the windows of your favourite stores.
What one needs to become distinctive and unique in this industry above all, as Vass puts it, is to have passion and determination.
“At the start, you need to work for free so you can build up your portfolio. You are constantly working just to have a book with high standards that would be acceptable in the industry,” she says.
Once you build up your portfolio, big names show up on the list of your clients. With vast experience working on fashion, hair, magazine covers and for various advertising clients, Vass Arvanitis’ clients include names like The Strand Arcade, OJAY, Jo Mercer, Harris Scarfe, L’Oreal, Redken, Rialto Melbourne and Chadstone Shopping Centre, and magazine titles such as Australian Fashion Trend, Plaza Kvinna, Hairdressers Journal and Culture Magazine.
However, the job of a fashion stylist is not solo profession. Working with good photographers, make up artists and people that you gel with, who can understand your style and your vision, is crucial in this profession.
“The team is very important in this. Depending on the client you have, you may be working on their idea, or you may have freedom to create your own. There are editorials when you shoot for magazines, and that’s when I and a photographer work together and come up with a story. So it’s never only me, it’s always a team behind the work that we do,” she says.
The job of a fashion stylist is not just working with great clients and the best brands’ clothes. It is often said that what makes a stylist stand out from the rest is not only their ability to pull outfits together, but their network of connections to source garments and accessories. It involves dealing with PR agencies and designers, and then shooting once everything is ready. One of the big names in the Australian fashion industry that Vass Arvanitis has been working with is Alex Perry.
“Sourcing outfits is the most important part of my job. It’s about building a data base and building relationships with designers and brands. It works both ways. The designer will get recognition for lending their stuff to you, and you will get the outfit to use that will make your shoot more amazing. Alex Perry is an amazing, inspirational person, who has given me a lot of advice in the last few years,” Vass says.
And as for every job where creativity is the main tool, sources of inspiration play a big role. For Arvanitis, who is of Cypriot origin, growing up with 1950s movies and Greek cinematography made Aliki Vouiouglaki and her movies one of the basic inspiration sources that inspire her today.
“I am inspired by the past. 1950s Greek movies and Vouiouglaki inspired me always and inspire me now, as well as Sophia Loren, Grace Kelly, the Bond girls. All the girls in that time were just so classically beautiful, well dressed and so polished, and that’s what my work is all about.”
Fashion stylists are those people who you will always find well dressed and mindful about their appearance. The universal advice they usually get is – you always have to look good, as you don’t know where you may meet your next client. When it comes to Vass, her personal style is nothing like she would style her model with, she says.
“For me it’s all about looking polished and classic and feminine, just simple stuff.”
And her advice for Neos Kosmos female readers about what to wear this winter is not about getting only fashion pieces. Ladies, set up your wardrobe so it works trans-seasonally, especially if you are in Melbourne.
“You have to have your statement pieces. This winter I would go for beautiful suede boots. A really good coat or a cape is a must have this season. Good accessories as well – winter sunglasses and hats, nice watch and a bag – always add to your look. You can always make it look amazing, matching the not so expensive pieces. It’s about how you put it together, and knowing your colours,” Vass advises.
Having the ability to work to any brief, be classical and neutral, but at the same time in trend – just like her muses from 50s and 60s cinematography – is what those who have seen Vass Arvanitis’ work think will place her on top of the styling ladder. But for Vass, she is already living her dream at the moment, doing what she likes most. Everything else will come slowly, she says.