“Styling is 99% research and 1% creativity”

Chandigarh August 1, 2020:

University Institute of Fashion Technology & Vocational Development (UIFT&VD), Panjab University, Chandigarh, conducted a Webinar on Fashion Styling (My Journey and Business of Fashion Styling) on Friday 31st July, 2020.

Chairperson of UIFT&VD, Dr.PrabhdipBrar, gave an introductory note, welcoming the speaker, Mr. Rahul Vijay, a fashion design graduate who started his career at Harper’s Bazaar India. He rose from a fashion intern to a fashion editor and moved to Mumbai. He joined ELLE India and later GQ India and is responsible for styling covers and fashion editorials, with an 8 years’ experience in women’s wear styling. He is one of the creative directors for Lakme Fashion Week and has styled for leading designers such as Rajesh Pratap Singh, AM:PM, Ashish Soni and KunalRawal among others.

The speaker narrated his journey starting from writing articles for his college magazine in 2007 to reaching Harper’s Bazaar in 2011. It stated that the role of a stylist is to give trends to designers, help them edit a collection and to create a language to sell his/her product. Apart from garments the other necessities for styling include footwear, wearer trials and photography. For a magazine, any cover star is selected on the basis of an upcoming movie release, on newsworthy content associated with them or according to the mood board. The takeaway of the session was that “Styling is 99% research and 1% creativity.” The talk converged at a statement that “To succeed as a stylist, one needs the right team and the right attitude.” This session would definitely strike the right chord in the students of fashion technology who wish to pursue styling as a career.  

 It was attended by more than 90 participants including faculty members, research scholars and students of Fashion Technology.