I recently had the chance to interview London based Stylist- Lauren Eva. I found out everything about her journey as a Stylist. So here it goes....hope you enjoy the interview.
1. Can you tell me a little bit about yourself?
My name is Lauren Eva, I am a fashion stylist and art director. I
was brought up on 50's Hollywood glamour and 80s indie electro. I love to
create beautiful and creative fashion imagery.
2. Why did you want to become a fashion Stylist?
It was something that just happened naturally. It was always about
clothing and costume for me from a very young age. I remember when I was little
asking my Mum to help me make a mermaid costume and sitting stitching endless
sequins on in the shape of scales after school - I only ever ended up wearing
it in the bath!
I always had to have the best outfit for costume parties, I always found
some kind of excuse to dress up not only myself but all my friends, I
would try and style anything and everything, I always spent ages choosing
my outfits and I always wore heels to work. My Mother thought I was ridiculous
but I used to tell her, "Life's a photo-shoot!"
3. Did you have any experience in fashion before
becoming a stylist?
All of that creating outfits and getting dressed up led me to doing a
degree in costume design for film and theatre at London College of Fashion. It
gave me a great understanding of how to make clothes and all of the effort that
goes into each piece. Designing costumes also nurtured the idea that
each outfit should tell a story about the character wearing them. I carried on
after graduating working on films and for theatre productions but at
the same time I was always organising my own shoots. I would create garments
and scenarios for each shot and I loved having the creative control to
construct an image.
I went on to work in a lingerie boutique, and then went on
to be a corset maker, I did a stint working at ASOS and eventually I
became a visual merchandiser for Beyond Retro dressing the store and all the
mannequins. This gave me a wealth of experience in styling outfits to many
varied briefs.
All the while I was organising my own shoots and eventually started
getting work published. It didn't take long until I realised that styling and
art direction was what I wanted to do and over a few months I dropped my hours
at Beyond Retro and became a full time freelancer.
4. Can you describe what type of stylist you are
and the work that you do e.g. Editorial?
Editorial work is where I feel I can be most creative with both styling
and art direction. It exercises my imagination the most and is therefore
my favourite genre however, I do really enjoy doing nice clean commercial work
as well, such as look-books or marketing shots. I enjoy being able to have a
break from over thinking a big scale editorial and just concentrate
on a simple but well done fashion image - just a backdrop, an amazing model,
incredible clothes and fantastic production values.
5. What have been the most valuable lessons or
challenges that you have learnt in this industry?
I'm lucky in the fact that I haven't had to deal with to many difficult
people or 'Divas' so far but on the odd occasion that things have
been hard I've learned that clear, fair communication and maturity without
seeming patronising are really things you need to help a project run smoothly.
When these things aren't present, life is often a lot more difficult. There are still so many things for me to learn and each project seems to
throw something at me that I haven't encountered before.
6. What's your favourite place to shop?
I spend so much time shopping for other people that I do often
forget to shop for myself! After many years I am still a fan of vintage
and every time I walk into Urban Outfitters there are at least ten things I
want.
7. What have been your favourite trends for AW12?
I never really got completely over my teenage Goth years so the fact
that it has come back around for this A/W has definitely made me happy! I also
love the trend for heavy embellishment with Baroque themes. It's an excuse to
wear lots of jewellery.
8. What tips would you give anyone who is starting out in
fashion?
Say yes to everything you like the idea of and don't stop working as you
risk losing momentum. Smile lots and don't take yourself to seriously :-)
To have a look at Lauren's Portfolio then click here.
Thanks Lauren for your time X
