The Styley

My Styley Friend: Jessie Cohan

Kate — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 00:47:45 +0000

I met stylist Jessie Cohan way back in September. We were both at the Alex Olsen opening at Lisa Cooley, and we chatted about the madness of Fashion Week (it was my first time shooting streetstyle there.) At the time, Jessie was sporting printed shorts and a chambray shirt, and I liked how casual, cool, and comfortable she looked. I believe that real style means dressing appropriately for a given situation, and Jessie was doing just that.

What do you do?

I’m a stylist.

How long have you done that?

I started as an assistant seven years ago, but I’ve been on my own for the past several years.

What does assisting mean?

You do all the grunt work of the whole operation: running around to showrooms, picking up bags, packing bags, transporting bags, steaming clothes, unpacking everything, laying everything out, organizing it by designer, packing it back up at the end, returning it to the showroom…You’re a glorified mule.

Were you doing something else before, or was styling something you always wanted to do?

I was working at an art gallery, a new media nonprofit where I was teaching the artists in residence how to incorporate new media into their work. I got really sick of working at a desk in being a basement. I knew I liked collaborating with artists and other creative people, and it just happened that someone knew a stylist who needed an assistant. The qualifications were all things that I had. I tried it out and ended up loving it.

What were the qualifications?

Problem-solving. I’ve always loved shopping, knowing where to go for what. It’s the same visual and aesthetic creative eye, but it’s clothing. I’ve always been interested in fashion, helping people find the perfect thing to wear and what looks good on them. I’ve always found obscure things that I like that end up being major trends years later.

For me, clogs, ponchos and bell-bottoms are three things that never go out of style. I don’t care if no one else is wearing them. I want to wear them anyway. Do you have things like that?

Slim, kind of fitted jeans. Skinny-ish but not skinny skinny. I love exposed ankles. Cute schoolgirl dresses. Cardigan sweaters. Leather jackets. Black ankle boots—I have at least ten different versions.

I also feel like plaid never goes out of style.

I agree with that. I feel like it’s kind of a New England/Seattle grunge thing.

What are the best things and worst things about owning your own business?

The best thing is making your own schedule, being your own boss. It makes me more motivated. I’m much more efficient than I would be working for someone else. You have to be business minded about it. New York is a very difficult place—it’s very competitive. You just have to keep going for it, even if you feel like it’s not working.

I’ve always been curious about personal styling. Tell me a little bit about how that works.

For me, the job is very psychological, getting inside the mind of the person or project I’m working with. What are they like, what do they want to express, what are they comfortable with? I just worked with someone who I had hoped would go kind of avant-garde, wear a harness, or Rick Owens, but he wasn’t having it. He found those things too “Zesty.” That was fine, and we went a much safer route.

When need inspiration for your job and for life in general, what kinds of things do you look to?

Websites, magazines, blogs, museums, art galleries. I watch a lot of films. Music, concerts. New York is just amazing. You walk on the street and you’re inspired by outfits people are wearing.

What is some advice you would give somebody who wanted to do what you do?

The best way is to apprentice. Find someone whose work you like, whose portfolio you like, and whose working style you like, and start out as an intern. There’s a real etiquette to working on set and collaborating with everyone in the most professional way possible. The only way to learn that is to see it happen.

What is that etiquette?

You deal with a lot of strong personalities. You have to know when to listen and when to give your opinion, know when to push something and know when to say to the creative director, “okay, let’s do it your way.”

Do you like collaborating?

I love collaborating. That’s my favorite part of the whole process. I love working with other creative people who are good at what they do. On a really good shoot, the outcome is greater than the parts. I like the back-and-forth, that everybody is working toward this one objective. Together you get better results than any one person would get on their own.

Do you have any tips for people who are a little bit lost with their style?

I think the biggest mistake people make is trying to be “in style.” I think it’s more important to develop your own personal style. Even if you’re wearing the same thing every day, you know that that blazer, those jeans, and that shirt are what looks best on you. Another piece of advice I have is to invest in something well made, a classic piece that you can use for the next ten years instead of a bunch of disposable things that won’t last. Buy something less often but buy something nicer.

What are three things you don’t leave the house without?

iPhone and charger, hand sanitizer, safety pins, and Fresh tinted lip balm in rose.

If you had a life philosophy what would it be?

I try to be positive and optimistic and try to look at the glass half full. So I would say: Don’t worry be happy.

Notes from the Home Office: Business Travel

Kate — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 20:02:46 +0000

That’s Yoshiko, editor of Japanese Elle, shot during NYFW F/W 2013. Great bag, right?

I was on a business trip to San Francisco this past week (exhausting), and I have another one next week (more exhausting). So business travel has been on my mind. And here’s what I’ve been thinking about it:

It makes you feel like a real adult, which is not always the case for me. Anybody else out there feel like they’re pretending a lot of the time?
It’s an excuse to buy a new work bag, because hey, it’s a freaking business expense. I just bought this one from Baggu for a friend for her birthday. And I’m eyeing this one from Claire Vivier (no idea what color, they’re all so awesome) for myself.
It means that when people ask you why you’re traveling you can say “business,” which makes you sound Serious and Important.
You might actually be going somewhere fun.
It’s a momentary escape from the rest of your life, sort of like a get-out-jail-free card. Or a visit to Fantasy Island. You decide.
It gives you a million opportunities iPhone photography—a chance to reinvigorate your eye.
You don’t have to make the bed.
It means you have an actual change in status to write on Facebook.
It means getting to experience that wonderful moment when you return home, and the familiarity of the way it looks and/or the people and animals in it it make it feel, for that moment at least, like the most wonderful place on Earth.

Andale!

Streetstyle: Sophie Moore

Kate — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 04:05:48 +0000

Sophie Moore is a student and painter studying art history at UCLA. I think it’s safe to say that she’s killing it with that hat.

What is your profession?

I’m an art history student and a painter.

Which artists do you admire in particular at this moment?

I’ve always been drawn to Picasso, mostly his early sketches and drawings, more so than his paintings.

How did you start painting?

My parents are both artists, and I kind of have a kooky imagination. A lot of my paintings are of obscure figures.

Do you usually have something in mind when you begin painting?

Often [a painting] begins with something I imagine, which can be frustrating as a painter. In my head it’s a painting that’s done, and then I start to do it and I can’t.

If you had a life philosophy, what would it be?

I don’t live by philosophy, really.

Streetstyle: Stripes, serenity, and Samantha

Kate — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 00:33:07 +0000

Let’s take a minute to talk about the wonderfulness of film. The richness of its color! Its texture! How seeing what you’ve shot after waiting feels a little bit like receiving a surprise gift. So glad Samantha was patient enough to chill while I ordered her around and subjected her to the whims of my handheld lightmeter. Which is on my iPhone, of course. Hi tech and low tech together at last!

Samantha Ford is a design student enrolled at the Delaware College of Art and Design. I liked her striped pants and her blue streaked hair (you know how I feel about stripes). In case you kids want to try her hair at home, get yourself some Enrage and Ion, which is vegan and cream-based, in teal.

I photographed her after she’d just finished up a scavenger hunt for her art history class (I KNOW SO COOL) at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. They had a bunch of different artworks listed on a piece of paper, and they had to go through the entire museum, find each piece, and write down something meaningful about it. The thing that left the biggest impression on her was the Japanese room: “You walk in and it’s calm and serene and you just want one.”

Serenity—or the lack thereof—is something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. Okay, maybe I haven’t been thinking about it, maybe I’ve just been feeling un-serene and wondering how to achieve a more serene state of being. Currently, building a Japanese room is not in the cards, so I’ve been resorting to cheaper methods of chilling out. Walking is an old standby. It’s calming and it gets the creative juices flowing.

What kinds of things to you do when you need to a rest from your own head?

Streetstyle: Lonesome Traveler (but not really)

Kate — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 17:50:40 +0000

Margaux in the Marais.

I photographed Margaux this past summer while I was in Paris. She was working at Claudie Pierlot, where I had just purchased a pair of black ankle boots that I now wear pretty much every day. She said that she was working at the store to finance a trip to Australia. When I asked her, “Why Australia?” she said, “I’ve always wanted to go to the end of the world, and you can’t go much farther than that.”

Boom!

I won’t lie: I’m not a traveler. I didn’t do the whole backpacking across Europe staying at youth hostels thing, although I have been to Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Romania. I know that last one seems random, but I’m half Romanian. When I was in high school, my mother was trying to build an investment bank in Bucharest (yes, she’s the Romanian in the situation), so we spent two weeks at Christmastime one year. I was a teenager and not that psyched to be trapped in a weird country with my family for that long. Now I would love to go back and photograph the hell out of the place.

Six years ago I had an opportunity to go to Vietnam, but ultimately it didn’t pan out. That was a bummer. I have romantic notions of riding a bicycle through the streets of Hanoi, speaking French and drinking iced coffee with condensed milk. And if I were already in that part of the world, I’d definitely make a trip to Cambodia, which I’ve been vaguely obsessed with since seeing The Killing Fields in high school. In fact, my interest in that part of the globe stems in large part from violent movies about the war there: Platoon, Good Morning Vietnam, Full Metal Jacket. Should I be worried about that?

The above may be a rhetorical question, but feel free to answer it anyway. Or take a crack at this one: What places are you dying to visit and why?

Streetstyle: Susan Joy

Kate — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 05:05:00 +0000

Stripes and bling. Yes.

Stripes. Can’t get enough of them. I’ll walk into a store and before I realize what’s happening, I’m looking at striped shirts. It’s totally unconscious. Do you have things like that?

So when I saw Susan’s stripes…and her glasses, and her rugby jacket, and her diamond necklace, well, I don’t think I have to explain why I photographed her, do I?

What do you do?

I’m a stylist and fashion consultant.

How long have you been doing that?

A long time. I’ve been in New York for 14 years. I was styling in Australia before that as well. I’m a veteran.

Is styling something you’ve always wanted to do?

No. It just happened.

Based on your experience, what would be a piece of advice you would offer someone who wanted to do what you do?

They need to just learn everything. Watch movies, go see art, soak up culture. Read books, and get into the descriptions in books. Movies are so important, you know, for references and understanding where things have come from. And then intern. Just get in there and work for anyone and watch.

How would you describe your own style?

It’s all about the mix: masculine and feminine, textures, prints. There’s always a mix involved.

When you start a new project, what is the first thing you do?

It’s different every time, but you have to step into the head space of whomever you’re working with [in Susan's case that means brands, designers, magazines].

So you’re kind of like a vision shrink.

With designers, yes, absolutely. You have to understand what they want, and what their vision is. They’re not always very clear about that. You also have to understand what’s right for them and their brand and how to take their brand where they want it to go. It’s a lot of divining. You have to listen to everything everybody says that they want, and then analyze a little bit to see if what they’re saying is actually what they mean.

You have to read between the lines.

Yes. And sometimes they don’t even know where it could go.

If you had a life philosophy, what would it be?

I’m definitely a cup half full kind of person, so for me, it’s about always doing things 100% and having fun with them.