Being a Fashion Stylist Using these Three Tips:

1. Money can buy anyone style or at least a fashion stylist

One of the biggest things I’ve learned over the past year is that anyone can buy style with money. I want to teach you how you can easily become your own fashion stylist while on a realistic budget. Being a fashion stylist essentially just means creating looks with different clothing items for specific events. In terms of celebrities, it may mean the red carpet, but for you and I, it could be as simple as creating an outfit for dinner plans or going to class.

In high school, I was convinced I had to buy something new to wear every time I went out with my friends. If the outfit was ever posted on Facebook, I couldn’t wear it again for at least a couple of months. As you can imagine, this lifestyle did some damage to my bank account. After I graduated high school and went to college, I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep up with this lifestyle. Dropping at least $100 a weekend for a new outfit wasn’t going to work as a college student who now has bills to pay.

My brother once told me, “a good body (as in fit), is the one thing that money can’t buy.” Some of you may argue that surgeries and weight loss pills etc. can give you a good body, but to have a naturally fit body, it takes hard work, not money. This had me thinking about other areas that may be true.

Celebrities are known for having the best style and the best clothing. That is simply because they have the money to buy designer clothing and pay stylists. Even some of my friends, they have good style simply because they have access to their parent’s credit card and can just copy a cute outfit right off the model.

What I want you to take away from this topic, is that great stylists know how to create a bomb outfit out of nothing. True talent when it comes to styling is something money can’t buy.

2. Having less clothing forces you to become more creative

The more clothes you have the less creative you need to be. You never have to re-wear anything and when you’re out of outfit ideas, you go straight to the store to buy something else. But, remember this, having less clothing forces you to become more creative. 

With this in mind, I started to get more creative with the clothes I already owned. In the past, I had a shirt that went with a specific bottom and never understood how important mixing and matching was. Mixing and matching is a game changer. This is where the creativity comes into play.

I suggest picking out a few staple items in your closet and mixing and matching with as many other pieces as you can. Sometimes I even take pictures on my phone of outfits I could mix and match and wear in the future. If I don’t know what to wear I just scroll through my pictures on my phone and instantly have ideas already planned out. This is also a great project that is super fun and will give you something to do if you are ever bored.

For those of you who feel so lost when it comes to styling, Pinterest is a great tool for outfit ideas. After browsing on Pinterest, look in your closet to see if you have anything similar. Once you start to copy outfits on Pinterest, you’ll naturally become more creative with your wardrobe. This outfit idea I found from searching Pinterest.

3. Creating a great outfit is a lot more satisfying when it’s free

Finally, and most importantly, creating a great outfit is a lot more satisfying when it’s free. When I started to create killer outfits from pieces I already owned, I was extremely more satisfied and happy about the clothing I was wearing. Having a new outfit that no one has ever seen before can be exciting, but when I was buying a new wardrobe every weekend I started to feel more guilty rather than satisfied.

Lastly, when people love your outfit so much and ask you where you got it, you can tell them you’ve owned these pieces for awhile and you styled that look. Now you’re wearing an original outfit that no one else can copy! Here is one of my favorite outfits I created out of items I’ve already owned.

Final Thoughts

I decided to write this blog post, because the dress that is pictured, is an item I bought from Urban Outfitters about 6-7 years ago. I swear I am not a hoarder! I just knew it was a piece that would come back in style eventually. I wore this outfit to a graduation party and got endless compliments. I was excited to get so many compliments because (1) I styled this outfit by myself (2) I was creative and found an item I hadn’t worn in multiple years, and (3) it was free and not currently for sale.