i'm sure you've seen the credit "stylist's own" or even "customized by stylist" in a magazine or two before. stylist's own refers to items that are owned by a stylist, it can be from their personal possessions or it can be from a collection of props. along with using items from your personal collection, customizing these items are also a great way to add a unique touch, even if it's just a small one, to a shoot. in the end you have an article of clothing, an accessory or jewelry that you won't find in every other editorial.
and it doesn't need to be just a vintage hat or some vintage jewelry. you can make your own pieces and change appearances of clothing. create your own nose rings; add shoulder pads to a garment to change the shape; take a sweater and turn into a head wrap. if you have sewing skills you can make something from scratch. there are countless possibilities. often times a stylist's own contribution is the result of not being able to find what is wanted so instead it's created or inspiration struck on the spot to make something new.
below are a few examples of my stylist's own creations and contributions. i'm also planning an upcoming shoot in which i will have a very large portion of the wardrobe be customized by me and some of my own props added. it will be a challenge but the results will unique and i'm looking forward to that!
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| alter ego editorial for FILLERmagazine: i made earrings, a nose ring and a stacked ring out of wire and taped the model's fingers, football player style, using black masking tape. |
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| test shoot, anna by owen bruce: i used a vintage kangol that i purchased years ago. can't even remember where it's from, it was that long ago. |
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| black & white by lily & lilac: i have quite a large collection of glasses and sunglasses and it keeps getting bigger. i buy them cheap and take good care of them so that i can get multiple uses from them. *tip: pop out the lenses from glasses if you need to reduce glare; pop out the lenses from sunglasses to turn them into regular frames. |
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| a glitch in the matrix editorial for FILLERmagazine: i added shoulder pads to this chanel dress giving it a more extreme silhouette to better go along with aesthetic of the rest of the shoot. i think i ended up using two sets. |
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| frances by felix wong: my own collar tips and my own belt. i credited them according to where i bought them because they were still available for sale or similar items were available. |
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| geek chic editorial for strut magazine: since this editorial was more beauty focused all items used were props/stylist's own. the sunglasses are my own (lenses popped out); i cut off the sleeve of the shirt and frayed the edges and the suspenders are my own (prop). |
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| ida editorial for let them eat cake magazine: i made the black thigh high leggings myself and the ring is a chinatown find for 5 bucks. both came in very handy for this shoot because my attempts to pull from the area showrooms (this was shot in new york) fell through. all i was left with were hot bathing suits from aqua di lara and some frighteningly expensive unique leather pieces from lost art. make due with what you have and make it great. the rings and leggings helped. |
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| test shoot, jeannine by mckenzie james: the bag is from my own collection and so is the bangle. both are vintage. both i don't really wear myself anymore but i will never part with. |
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| dehli 2 dublin video "tommy": kytami (violinist) is wearing a vintage club monaco sweatshirt that i cut up for her. she loved it so much that i let her keep it in the end. |
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| zöe bridgman for women x women exhibit 2009: the belt is vintage. i actually borrowed (raided) this one from my younger sister's closet. |
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| solar flare editorial for 1968 magazine: i hand stitched the pearls onto the bra. the pearls were leftover from my years in design school, or maybe from even before then when i would add custom touches to a lot of my own clothing. |
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| x-man editorial for fiasco magazine: the rings on his fingers are my own and i used safety pins to form the letter "X" on the baseball cap, 80's style (you know, when we would safety pin EVERYTHING to make it cool). |
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| indian summer editorial for strut magazine: i have since cut down on this "specialized" technique but i use to always cut fingers off gloves. always. sometimes all the fingers, sometimes just the thumbs; i would try different combinations with each pair. now i just buy fingerless gloves and will often reuse them. |