BTS: Budweiser TV Commercial
The question has evolved into which sector of styling do I pursue: Commercial or Personal.
As a passionate veteran of fashion, but a professional newcomer, the position of stylist has never been a thought to me. As an aspiring musician, I was always the dressed, not the dresser. Recently, I have been presented with opportunities concentrating on my abilities behind the camera and I’m questioning whether I prefer being in control or in the spotlight.
During the Budweiser shoot I was a dedicated personal assistant to the lead stylist. That intailed unloading trucks, waiting hours for executive orders, organizing racks, dressing actors, waiting for more orders, reorganizing racks, dressing another wave of actors, grabbing coffee, receiving more orders, undressing actors, reloading trucks and leaving. While this does sound busy and stressful, the amount of hang time and stand by is enough to create restlessness. I developed a form of imposter syndrome where I felt as though I should have been constantly active. I was either idle or being asked to perform minute tasks, therefore I had a constant feeling as though I was missing or forgetting something. The truth is, by the time tasks had trickled down to my level, they had already been performed by the bosses and what eventually reached me were mundane jobs such as coffee runs and color coordinating the wardrobe racks. I cannot complain as I enjoy zoning in on detail and executing anything to the best of my abilities. Observing my superiors provided me with intel on the steps and processes of styling a commercial shoot. It gave me a sense of what was to be expected if I were to have a lead stylist position.
Commercial/Fashion styling are TV commercials, music videos, magazine covers, editorials, fashion shows, advertisements and anything used for marketing purposes. Personal styling is contracted (on a high level) or freelance for individuals. The pros and cons of each are:
Commercial Pros:
More $$$
If fashion focused, it’s more creative (fashion shows, editorials, photoshoots…)
Accolades are great for resume
Can more directly evolve into editorial jobs such as Editor-and-Chief positions
Exposed to Creative Director roles for possible future path
Very respected
Commercial Cons:
Can be boooring
Not as satisfying dealing with a company vs client
More creative freedom
Need to have the wardrobe to supply or know where to get what producers are asking for
Personal Cons:
More directly based on who you know
Harder to develop a signature
Who has the money?
Pulling clothes from where?
Need to start a company in order to be considered legit
Schedule based soely on clients
Unreliable pay
Hard to be taken seriously
Personal Pros:
When clients start to trust you, they SERIOUSLY start to trust you
Private and intimate
Once you develop a name, overbooked
Pull pieces and you can keep what isn’t wanted
Create own schedule
Very respected
Sick money
I cannot use this single, commercial-styling, experience as the sole basis in which I judge the entirety of commercial styling. In the future, I will need to style in other professional environments. At Macy’s one may consider it “commercial styling” because I am working for a company, however I would consider it both commercial and personal. Because of the individual clients I accumulate and private nature of my office one could state it is purely personal styling. Nevertheless, I must keep them solely in Macy’s attire, sometimes against my better judgement. They become walking billboards for the store, thus creating a commercial feeling to the final product. It is as though I were putting together an outfit for MIU MIU for a campaign or styling a model for an Adidas commercial. The focus is the advertising message vs if the client actually looks good. I try to guarantee whom I work with always looks good, if I am not a fan of the look, they do not buy it.
