Who I’ve been following…

Since I’m always crunched for time I like having a one stop shop for visual inspiration and I’ve been hooked on Pinterest ever since I joined.  It’s perfect for us visual people, and it’s actually a homework assignment for my styling students, for creating mood boards.  I follow mostly fashion folk, DIY, and a few foodie boards, but the one visual merchandising board I follow is by Alex Leyva.  She never fails to pin great photos of windows or in-store displays that are inspiring and different.  Her fashion editorial board is very unique too.

If you have a Pinterest account I would look her up and send me links to your boards too!

A fashion editorial pin:

Do you think they filled an entire room with water to get this shot?

A window display pin:

Urban Outfitters in San Francisco 

Class Syllabus – FASH 54A Beginning Fashion Styling

[A more detailed syllabus with the class calendar is handed out in class, this is just a reference for those who lose that!]

Objective: The objective of this course is to give you an introduction to the world of fashion styling – The Fashion Industry’s Unsung Heros.  This course will utilize a hands-on approach through lecture, guest speakers, and group projects.

Supplies: During week 3 each student will be given a list of items that every stylist carries in their kit.  You will be expected to assemble your kit and bring it to class for grading.

Required Textbook: Photo Stylist by Susan Linnet Cox (written by a really experienced stylist!)

Recommend Reading:

• Stylist – New Fashion Visionaries by Katie Baron  – a coffee table book I highly recommend.  It’s a compilation of the true who’s who in styling.
• Styling by Jacqueline McAssey and Clare Buckley
• Secrets of Stylists by Sasha Charnin Morrison – for those who aspire to be the next Rachel Zoe or June Ambrose
• Mastering Fashion Styling by Jo Dingemans  – written by a teacher with lots of exercises and projects

Attendance:  Since some of the assignments for this course are completed in class (group projects), it is important that you attend class! There is no way to make up missed projects. You are allowed two unexcused absences – anymore will affect your grade by a full letter.

Fashion Week – the big 4:

• New York:  September 6-13
• London:  September 14-18
• Milan:  September 19-24
• Paris:  September 25-October 3

Assignments:  I DO NOT ACCEPT LATE ASSIGNMENTS.  You will be given a hand-out explaining each homework assignment and when it is due.  I do mark down points for poorly written, and misspelled words.  All homework assignments are to be emailed to me on or before the due date.  There are five homework assignments.

Group Projects:  You will divide into teams of 2-4 (no more than four to a team) for two group assignments.

• The Clothes Off Your Back – be careful what you wear to class this day……. (hint, hint!)
• Advertisement or Fashion Editorial

Exams:  There will be no mid-term exam or final exam, but you will be given a mid-term grade based upon your assignments completed to that point, and your final grade is based upon an accumulation of all your work.

Grades: Your grades will be based upon your attendance, class participation (group projects).   This class gives a letter grade using the school’s standard grading system.

If you attend class regularly, participate in all discussions and projects you should do very well in this class!

Someday My Prints Will Come

Former student Chelsea W. is doing amazing work at Bloomingdale’s.  I now take a special interest and make it a point to pass the mall windows every time I go to the mall, just because I know the young lady who does them!

Thanks for sending this in and please continue to do so!

(love the lips on the faceless mannies and frogs, cute ideas like this are Chelsea’s trademarks)

Welcome Back to School Everybody!

Hello everyone and welcome back.  I especially want to say welcome to my FASH 54A students whom I’ve directed to this site for all their class info.  FASH 54A is a new class for me this semester – Beginning Fashion Styling.  I’m super excited to be teaching this class!  I spent practically my whole summer researching and preparing for this program.  I hope all 60 (yep I’ve got 60 students!) of you enjoy this class.

This class is not based on your typical textbook theory, but a practical hands-on approach to fashion styling; by the end of the semester you will have a stylist kit assembled, a portfolio with images you created, a directory of the best places to “pull” merchandise, and source props, and the business acumen for working as a freelance stylist.  Many of you wrote to me over the summer, telling me you were taking the class because you want to begin working immediately as a stylist; so that’s how I focused the class.  You will learn about the different types of photo styling in the various medias, but this class is definitely a “how-to”.

I hope my students from FASH 49 – Visual Merchandising, and other readers interested in visual work will learn something too, in fact I will touch on visual work in this styling class, as you will see styling a mannequin is no different from styling a model.  Visual display artists do what stylists do everyday, the only difference is their work isn’t photographed – the skills are very much the same and transferable from one trade to the other.  After college my “9-to-5” job was doing display work, but I was repped by an agent for freelance assistant styling work too.  Having an agent is great and I recommend it, especially if you live in a small editorial market like me (San Francisco).  The freelance work wasn’t as plentiful as New York, LA, or even Chicago.

I hope in the next few weeks to also be making some changes around here.  I am hiring another former student who will be upgrading this site and helping me with a new design.  I may at that point decide to move FASH 54A to its own blog – the working title I have for that idea is I’m a Stylist.  I chose that name because I laugh every time I hear someone say it.  I’m not trying to be mean, but now soooo many people say they’re stylists (Thanks Rachel Zoe), it’s become the default career for the fashion industry.  Years ago “everyone” was a model, then “everyone” was a designer, nowadays, “everyone” is a stylist :)!

At least at the end of my class you’ll be able to say it and really mean it – welcome back!