Ever looked into your closet and felt completely overwhelmed? That’s where personal stylists come in! They help their clients revamp or refine their style to so that they can feel their best in personal and professional settings. We caught up with Robin Fisher, a Washington, D.C.-based personal stylist and “image consultant” who severs clients around the world through her company Polished, to get the inside scoop on this glamorous-sounding gig. You may be surprised to hear that this career requires a whole lot more than a good eye for style (though that’s definitely a prerequisite!). Read on for insights from Robin on what it’s like to be a personal stylist:
How long have you been a personal stylist?
Robin: About eight years.
Can you describe what a typical day for you on the job is like?
Robin: Every day is definitely different. I work with about four to five clients a week. I’m very hands-on with my branding, so I allocate time to plan for social media posts throughout the week. I’m often on phone calls to talk to clients who have issues or concerns that might arise during and after they work with me. Clients may call last minute, if they have an important engagement or international travel coming up. I have to be ready for all of those things.
Do you have a background in fashion — and did that background help you transition into your career as a personal stylist?
Robin: I majored in industrial technology, which is the merging of industrial engineering and business, to prepare myself to go into Silicon Valley. But my grandmother owned a few retail businesses and vintage shops — I think I went on my first buying trip with her at age five or six. As an undergrad, I realized I had a deep love and passion for fashion. I started taking internships for different labels in San Francisco. I landed an internship with Joe Boxer, and they offered me a job upon graduation. Eventually I became an executive buyer for another company, and I worked within the retail industry for 15 years.
I found out I was pregnant with twins during my time at the last company I was with. I knew I didn’t want nannies, and I had relocated to D.C. from the west coast with my husband, so we weren’t surrounded by a lot of family — so I wanted a career that was more flexible. I looked at my life and felt I had already achieved a lot of my goals professionally, so focused inward. I tried to be a stay-at-home mom with my first son, but it wasn’t for me. So when I was seven months pregnant I wrote a business plan for Polished. When my twins were eight months old, I completed my masters in international business and launched my new company at the same time.
What do you mean when you call yourself an “image consultant”?
Robin: A lot of people have great style, but they have trouble connecting their style to the goals they want to achieve and the image they want to present.
I work with highly functioning people who need to present a great public persona professionally and personally. I make personal style authentic to match the personal image they want to project. As an image consultant, I even go into etiquette and body language, speech, and mannerisms. My clients know they need to make a certain visual impact, and that’s where I come in – for example, my client might be young, but she’s on this track to becoming more successful and high ranking, so she knows she needs to do things to seem more mature to her peers.
How did you go about building your brand/business? Did you use specific social media, PR, or other marketing strategies?
Robin: I’m big into social media, and I really believe you need to be who you say you are. You can look at my website and compare it to other people in my industry and see how fashion-forward it is. I stay a year ahead in terms of trends, and I also focus on Europe and Asia, because a lot of my clientele are international, so staying up on international trends is important to my brand.
I’m on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and so forth, but not necessarily to gain a ton of new followers — it’s more about creating an authentic presence so when people check me out to make sure I know what I’m talking about, all of my social media outlets will accurately represent me.
I also have a lot of great success by word of mouth through a combination of giving my clients great customer service and putting out a great brand presence. I’m also very active in the DC fashion market.
What’s something surprising that people might not realize about your career?
Robin: It’s not all glitz and glam. It’s a lot of hard work. I don’t just like fashion; I’m business-oriented and technical, and that’s how I make it work for me. A lot of people say they want to go into fashion, but I think it’s one of the hardest industries to go into — you work so hard and you’re not compensated financially or emotionally. You have to have tough skin. You have to believe in yourself, commit to what you want to do, and you have to make it happen. Opportunities at a high level are few and far in between.
Are there any specific personality traits that you think good personal stylists need to possess?
Robin: You have to care about people and you have to want to make them better. I previously worked in international production, and once I became a buyer, I had to study trends — but I was far removed from customers. When I thought about a second career, however, I had to really think about if I wanted to be considerate and compassionate about people’s needs everyday.
You also need to be direct without being disrespectful. You need a great eye for fashion, but you also need to be able to disconnect your own personal tastes from tastes appropriate for clients.
What advice do you have for young millennials who are looking to enter the fashion industry, or dreaming of becoming a personal stylist specifically?
Robin: If they’re interested in fashion, they need to be honest on where they are willing to live. If fashion is what you want to do, you need to be in a fashion city — and your two options are really only New York or San Francisco.
You also need to be willing to do what it takes — and willing to make less money for longer hours. Fashion is notorious for giving you one job title, but really having you work three jobs. Do what you need to do to get the job done; that’s what’s going to get you noticed and promoted.
If you want to be a personal stylist, I say study, study, study. Really understand the industry and the craft. You need to keep up on the trends and know what’s available at retail and what isn’t — sometimes what you see in magazines isn’t in stores. And you need to think outside of the box. You’ll be dealing with people of all different body shapes and colors, not models. For example, I worked with a petite woman — she was smaller than a size zero — so we actually looked at high-end kids clothing!
Fashion is fun, but not everybody thinks so. You need to remember your clients are really struggling to do it themselves and care for them.
What other careers in the fashion world interest you? Share with us in the comments below!
