"I, too, do not put a finger in my mouth": Stylists about working with stars
About the difficult life of stylists have long known, but still instead of suitcases and huge packages with things, discount cards in all dry cleaners of the hometown and lots of "guarantees" in which hundreds of thousands of rubles are written on you, many see only an endless party.
Someone from the stylists takes for fashion magazines, someone advises private clients and goes shopping with them, and someone works with celebrities and helps them choose clothes for shooting video and instagram, concerts and various events. One does not exclude the other, but it is the work of a celebrity stylist who has acquired the greatest number of myths and stereotypes. We understand how to come into the profession and what is its complexity with the help of the best specialists of the Russian industry.
TEXT: Anton Danilov, author of the Telegram channel "Promeminizm"
Alexander Zubrilin
In September 2008, I first saw Interview magazine with Kate Moss on the cover, which was restarted by Fabien Baron, fell in love with him deeply and began to seriously dream of glossiness. After graduating from undergraduate and enrolling in the magistracy, I sent a resume to all glossy publications, contacts that could get on the Internet. He wrote the chief editor, fashion directors, editors. I was answered only by Anya Rykova, who served as fashion director for Cosmopolitan magazine. She offered an internship, which quickly led to Cosmopolitan's work as a stylist. For about a year, I assisted my senior colleagues on major shootings and styled some small ones of my own, but at the end I clearly realized that this was absolutely not my publication, and went as a manager to the H & M show room.
In the fall of 2011, a miracle happened. Thanks to friends, I learned about the launch of the Russian version of Interview magazine under the direction of Alyona Doletskaya. After a test survey, I received a place there as a junior fashion editor - this was how the longest and happiest “regular” period of my professional life began.
During the work I had to meet the resistance of artists. Often they are afraid to destroy their image, which they have been collecting for years and to which they are ultimately taken hostage. Once we shot the cover of a magazine with one very famous actor, he was very late for the shooting and entered with the words: "Now we will do everything in an hour." I tell him the intended story about a bloodthirsty maniac, show things and see how he starts to get nervous. There were some leather pants, trench coats, a cap, but it seemed to him that these things were too “gay”, and he began to worry about his manly image. In such a tense emotional state, the whole shooting took place, but it only added depth to his image and ultimately played to our advantage.
In Interview, we especially liked to “rock” the image of the hero in an unexpected way. Often it was necessary to embed it in the visuals of the publication. So it was, for example, in the case of Vera Brezhnev - it was one of the most fundamental changes. The idea was to turn off the underlined sexuality of the singer: we shot her in a short-haired wig and men's suits, so that femininity and sensuality showed through more subtly. Vera had a great reincarnation and performed her role very dramatically: she ran, cried and beautifully dragged in a cigarette, although in life she didn’t even smoke. I will not hide, I was biased towards her before I met her, but now I remember this shooting as one of the most successful, paying tribute to the heroine’s professionalism, her respect for the team’s work and a high degree of trust. Another example of extreme transformation is the shooting of Andrei Bartenev, when he tried on two female images at once. Alyona then set me a task, over which I had to break my head: Bartenev should not have turned out like a drag queen. In the frame, he had to transform into a fashionable woman. Everything turned out, and it was extremely funny that in the end some people took Alyona herself for the blonde.
At the end of 2016, the magazine closed, and I moved to Los Angeles for a year and a half. The guy from Siberia really wanted to know what “life on the west coast” is - no other explanation why I was there, I don’t have it. Gradually adapting and debugging my life in a new place, I settled in a huge vintage store in Hollywood and stylized several lookbooks and editorials for independent publications.
There I was lucky to work with Vanya Dorn on his clips "Collaba" and "OTD". “Kollab” was a shot from the category of completely unrealistic, but one idea of which is so “pinned” that it is simply impossible to refuse. It was like this: on Monday at eight in the evening the producer calls me and describes the scale of the tragedy - you need to prepare three images of Vanya himself and the girls in the episodes. Shooting on Thursday. My fee is $ 300 and another $ 600 for the purchase of things. I collected them in vintage shops, shops like Forever21 and in the Santee Alley market in Downtown, where in the "three things for ten bucks" mode I swept the mini-skirts and topics into the net. It was clear that this is still not enough. Therefore, in the huge brief I described in detail to the girls what to bring to the shooting. And they did it! A couple of girls are even so good that I sent them to the frame, not dressing at all. In general, it was great to collaborate with Vanya - in the best sense he is a "left" character, open to experiments.
Ira Dubina
Immediately I will explain: I do not position myself as a celebrity stylist, I do not have regular stellar clients, but from time to time I work with stars on the set for magazines, special projects. As you can guess, it is much more difficult to shoot with ordinary models, because all the standard tasks (come up with an idea, collect a mindboard and things, please the client or customer, take off nicely) are compounded by an important detail: you have to work with a person who has his own opinion everything. If we talk about styling, there are two main categories of celebrity: those who completely trust your taste and choice, and those who think they understand this better than you and know how they want to look. Of course, the first option for the stylist is much more favorable: you do not feel like a courier who just brought things to the shooting, but, excuse me, a creator.
I have had different cases. Some heroes simply said: "Do what you want, I completely trust you." Others demanded to pre-send bows, which will be on the set. Still others simply collected from the available things the images to your taste. In the latter case, it is sometimes difficult to convince a star, to offer some other option. Sometimes you have to agree with their choice for the comfortable work of the whole team. You can often hear that a good stylist must be partly a psychologist. So, celebrity stylist is a psychologist of the “God” level.
It is important to be confident and ready to defend your position, but at the same time make the shooting hero feel comfortable in one or another bow. When you hear phrases like “This is terrible, I don’t wear it” or “Hmm, amazingly ugly things you brought, of course,” it can be difficult not to take it personally. But it came to ridiculous. Once I styled a famous TV presenter for a magazine with, to put it mildly, an uneasy character. Arriving at the shooting and seeing things, she began to resent how everything was bad with the styling, and even threatened to leave. Somehow we convinced her to try on the bows, and at the end of the shooting she admired that I "could convey her essence through clothes," and then asked me to book me as a stylist for other projects with her participation.
It is especially cool to work with those who are ready for experiments: it seems to me that this is an indicator of the artist’s internal freedom. A great example is Vanya Dorn, who completely trusts his stylist (I convey greetings to Lera Aguzarova) and, as a result, looks almost better than anyone on the national stage. I also like the styling of most of the videos Little Big. Their "Faradenza" is just the top level (my personal bow to Vadim Ksenodokhov, who was in charge of the costumes). At such moments, I envy my colleagues in an amicable way — that is how communication should be built between the artist and the stylist. Somehow I needed to stylize one rapper for his big concert, and I really wanted to dress him in the trendy Craig Green costume. Alas, the client chose a sporting bow that was more understandable for him - apparently he did not want to leave the comfort zone. I think this is the main reason why most of our celebrities do not look very fashionable. Well, also, probably, because there are not so many really cool stylists.
Ksyusha SMO
I moved to Moscow from Krasnodar when I entered MGIMO. In the third year I started having problems with individual teachers. I didn’t want to give up my studies, so I took a year’s academic leave. My savings would be enough for two months, so I immediately began to actively look for work. In the instagram accidentally found the announcement of the assistant vacancy. This happened thanks to the likes of my ex: I carefully watched his page. So I became first an assistant stylist, and then a stylist.
Now I have finished working on one show on TNT. The pool lasted for four days, every day three transfers. And six leading in the frame, that is, 18 bows per day. It immediately seemed to me that it was pretty tough, but I had had supertasks before. I thought: why not? An interesting experience. Now I understand: in order for a star to look good on the screen, its stylist needs to make great efforts. In addition, the TV has a lot of restrictions. For example, it is impossible for a thing to be decorated, in a small strip or cage: it will ruffle. Even a small scar can not be. Partly because of this, finding good things not from the mass market was also difficult.
At various times I worked with L'One, Dead Dynasty, Vander Phil, Feduk, Masha Ivakova, T-Fest, Christina C. (Christina Sargsyan) and other musicians. With Gleb (Golubin, real name of rapper Pharaoh. - Note ed.) and his manager, I talked for a long time. They even partially filmed one of his first videos in my apartment. The video for the song "Diko, for example" was our first full-fledged working contract. When I got things, I wrote in the showrooms of major brands. According to the idea, the collections of Gucci and Louis Vuitton were very suitable for us, but without a second reminder to the PR people of these brands, no one answered me. Gucci wrote that they did not dress celebrities - but I understood that this was nonsense (then, at the end of the year, they sent him a gift, hinting at continued cooperation). In a personal meeting at Louis Vuitton, I was coldly told that Gleb was not their hero: "We work with Moth."
I once stylized for the singer Hannah her clip "Without you I can not." She collected things in Moscow, but they shot the video in the States. I did not fly, I was not given a visa. By the way the clothes fit into the script, by what tasks I set and completed, I like this clip more than the Gleb clip. My task was to organically fit the "usual" everyday wardrobe, but so that it had clip brightness.
If we talk about Russian stars, I like the way Ivan Dorn dresses and how Lera Aguzarova works with him. I like how the novice stylist Sofia Burnasheva puts on Boulevard Depo. And I want to mention Lena Temnikov, she found herself, found her own style. At one time, when she just left Silver, we collaborated, I stylized her clips and filming. Her inner and outer are in harmony.
I had no special difficulties in working with stars. When we didn’t agree on style issues, I calmly explained what the problem was. It happened that those about whom my friends spoke badly, in the work turned out to be nice and kind. I do not know what it is connected with - maybe, with my character? I, too, do not put a finger in my mouth. But I would prefer any young “superstar” to a young artist: I love it when they are still “not spoiled” and you can write from scratch.
Some stars turn to stylists so that they simply correct the common vector, radically changing nothing. Someone thinks: “Why do I need to buy things in a clip? Let the stylist have better access through his own channels, and I will just pay her or him a fee”.
But the Russian market of fashionable clothes is very limited, often we don’t bring really cool items from collections to us. I have several private clients, in work with which there are no financial restrictions. When this framework is not there and you can choose whatever you want, you understand how modest our choice is. I am very friendly with SVMoscow and through them I can order something from the shows - this is super. But when I collect a wardrobe for a client and he wants a lot of images, at a certain moment I realize that I can find a limited number of things — neither left nor right anymore. And what to do?
People can look down on others, even without being familiar. I used to have a prejudiced attitude to many stars. I looked at some artist and thought: what kind of nonsense is he doing? But I have disaccustomed myself from this.
Sveta Mikhailiuk
I did not have a clear desire to become a stylist: before, I had a bad idea of what kind of work it was. But four years ago I decided that I can no longer work in the office, I need to change something. I always liked to go shopping not just shopping, but just like that. At first, I really got a job as a seller at a clothing store, but quickly realized that it was not at all mine. Then I saw an advertisement for the courses of the stylists Self Made Studio and decided to go and learn. I quickly began to assist more experienced colleagues, and the first fashion shoot was for Wonderzine. The fashion editor then was Olesya Iva, and I helped her. I remember being very afraid to do something wrong: when Olesya instructed me to buy basic white socks, I chose them for the last time. Now that I have my assistants, I hope they don’t worry as much as I did then. The most memorable work was the field shooting for Buro 24/7 in Portugal. We filmed then on the sea. It was one of those moments when I realized how much I love my job.
My main profile is photography, I work less often with stars. The exception is the singer Luna, I work with her on an ongoing basis. Christine was introduced to me by my friend Katya, a makeup artist, who often paints Chris on concerts and filming in Moscow. We did a joint shooting, and then, about a year later, Christine offered to dress her up for a concert at Crocus. So we started working in Moscow.
I will lie if I say that I wear Christina, because she has a great taste; we always work together. In general, I believe that you need to love the artist with whom you work, to understand his or her music. Unfortunately, many Russian celebrities do not look fashionable, because they are afraid to experiment. They believe that they know better what goes for them and, most importantly, “what their audience needs,” and the stylist is simply not allowed to work, taking him or her as a courier in delivering things.
I do not really watch celebrity-styling, this direction is not very interesting to me. Of course, I know who Mel Mel Ottenberg (stylist Rihanna) or Marnie Senofonte (stylist Beyonce) is, but I didn’t dive deep into this subject. Among foreign stars I like the style of Dua Lipa, she is dressed by Lorenzo Poscok, he is cool. From Russian stars I like how Lena Temnikova looks, her image is very suitable for her work. I know that Nastya Klychkova works with Lena. Very cool Ivan Dorn puts Lera Aguzarova. And I also like what Ksyusha SMo is doing, she generally noticeably revived the Russian show business.
Lera Aguzarova
I did something like styling long before I realized that there was such a profession at all. At school I was friends with musicians. I was a fan of rock music, bought a bunch of music magazines; I was inspired by how cool foreign stars look. There were a lot of rock bands in my hometown, and I helped them prepare for concerts. They didn’t have much style, but I wanted to help. I had a clear confidence that the musician on the scene must look cool, but there was no money for it at all, and we invented something, bought clothes in second-hand, altered. Then I could not even think that such work could become a matter of life, it seemed something frivolous. Now I think that the matter did not seem serious, because everything was easy and pleasant.
Having moved to Moscow, I saw a vacancy in a vintage clothing store and decided to try to get there. They took me to work. I think that the appearance played a significant role, I looked rather eccentric then. Stylists, directors, actors often came to the store, and I watched how they chose clothes and helped them. People liked what I advise, and it inspired me to try it myself. I have already stylized a little for catalog shoots of the store, and novice photographers wrote to me. Many of them are now successful, you can see their work in magazines. The only thing I regret, looking back at that period, is that I didn’t think of going to help someone. I just did not know that it was possible.
Once I was called to shoot a novice artist in the journal, it was Ivan Dorn. Almost seven years have passed since then, but we are still cooperating. I always see what kind of thing is “his”, I know in advance how it will look in it and where I will buy it, whether it will be for a performance on TV or a solo concert. Конечно, огромную роль в этом всём играет его харизма. С Иваном мне очень повезло, он готов на любые эксперименты с внешним видом, но я всегда заранее в курсе того, на какое мероприятие идёт артист, и действую по обстоятельствам.
Самое непростое в моей работе - это переговоры с менеджерами шоу-румов и пиар-отделами брендов. С ними всегда какие-то сложности. Бренды предпочитают давать вещь для съёмки в журналы, ведь редакторы напечатают кредиты и все будут довольны. Но если ты приходишь в шоу-рум с предложением одеть артиста - например, для афиш предстоящих туров и концертов, - то пиар бренда не видит в этом выгоды. They don’t want to use this content, but what should the stylist do? Ask any of them, and everyone will have some kind of life hacking for this occasion: designer friends, friends in the showroom or in the store. This greatly limits the resources. On the Russian stage there will be no conditional A $ AP Rocky or conditional Rihanna until brands and their representatives are involved in this business. So now the easiest option is to buy clothes.
I am not very closely watching the Russian stars, but I notice recently that they began to pay more attention to their appearance. Young performers please. I, for one, like Eighteen. I know his stylist, he is well done. Our other stars lack good stylists and, perhaps, an understanding of how important the appearance is in their work. Many are not ready for the new and do not want to change, and the appearance is half the success.