The State of Men’s Fashion, According to Celebrity Stylists – Sourcing Journal

The first rule in menswear is that there are no rules.

At the Liberty Fairs in Miami last week, Fashion Snoops VP and creative director of menswear Michael Fisher sat down with Jeff Kim, Rachel Johnson, and Kwasi Kessie to discuss the sense of freedom and invention that filters menswear and how it affects their roles as celebrity stylists.

With a roster of shared clients that includes Jay Z to Michael B. Jordan to Diddy, they have a pulse on the cultural changes that affect the way men want to dress. While the confluence of factors such as the Black Lives Matter movement, social media, and direct-to-consumer retail slashes the traditional gatekeepers of fashion, stylists recognize the role they can have in raising new voices.

“The beauty of what we can do as stylists is that it fosters empowerment in everyone, and that’s how fashion should be in general,” said Kim.

Colin Kaepernick, a former San Francisco 49ers quarterback and civil rights activist, was Johnson’s first client to ask a designer of color for his December 2017 GQ cover. “Colin was very specific about the fact that he only wanted to wear black, indigenous and women designers in the book. He wanted to make sure we were among the menswear brands and designers who had never had the chance to have their clothes in the GQ office.”

Despite the simple request, the effect on the designer is enormous. Designers, Johnson said, burst into tears over the phone and said they never thought their brand could even be considered a magazine cover, let alone GQ and let alone someone as iconic as Kaepernick. Not only that, GQ editor is introduced with a brand new list. “They had to get out of their comfort zone and their usual Rolodex to really go out there and open things up for us, and that’s a steep chasm for me,” he said.

Including people of color is ingrained in Kessie’s work. His goal in coming to style is to provide his friends and brands and the people who grew up with a platform.

“It’s always been a part of my wheelhouse—celebrating my fellow friends or an African-American brand or a women’s brand or anyone who’s underdogs,” she said. “I wanted to show them the light because they have some really cool stuff… it’s always been part of my style profile, to give people like this a chance.”

As curators for clients, stylists use their position to help highlight often overlooked designers. Demand for the Black brand is increasing, says Kessie, “because of the climate of what’s going on and because people just want something different, something fresh, something new,” but it’s a work in progress.

Although fashion brands, retailers, and publications responded to last summer’s BLM movement by incorporating more black models and designers, Kim underlined that eradicating systemic racism will not be achieved with a one-and-done action.

“The most important thing is to realize that inclusion and diversity are constant. It is something that needs to be in our vocabulary and embedded in our minds,” he said. “As color stylists, we have also started where we are climbing hills and having to fight against the tide… we have the privilege of being able to create moments for these new designers and designers but at the same time it is something we have to keep learning .”

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While the role of a stylist can sometimes feel like “publicator, manager, agent, assistant, therapist, hair stylist, sometimes nail artist”, Kim jokes, creative storytelling is at the heart of their work.

“We have the ability to be able to show our clients’ point of view about the world of fashion without having to use words,” he said. “We connect with our clients in a way to know what matters to them, what they want to show the world, and we can create that image, as creative, through clothing.”

Mood boards and sketches remain a favorite tool for stylists to convey their vision to clients. For Kessie, it’s a way to express the “energy and vibe” of a project because people tend to interpret creative ideas differently through email and conversation.

These tools, Johnson adds, are a great place to start because they encourage a collaborative environment. “It’s important, especially for new stylists, to understand that this is a collaborative effort between you and the client… You didn’t come to put your foot down and change this person overnight,” he says.

Rather, change is a process—a process Johnson likens to planting a seed. “If I want my client to wear pink, and I know for a fact that she won’t be wearing pink, every time I come in for a fitting, there’s going to be something pink on that shelf,” she says.

Eventually, the color will feel familiar, and they will try it.

Long-term plan

The work of a stylist, however, does not end with one job. When Johnson started working with Lebron James, he learned that he had a long-term vision of becoming a global fashion icon. From there, it’s his job to break that goal down into small steps that will help make it a reality.

As well as dressing for one event or having early access to a collection, Johnson says his part in achieving this vision is making sure that his 6’9” clients have designer suits, so when editors finally come calling, they can pull right off their own. collection. “And that means I have to spend time breaking down designer doors who have special items in their closets,” she says.

“The clothes are there, so a long-term vision and understanding of what’s to come is key,” he said.

Embrace that strange flag

In a visual world enhanced by social media and virtual communication, fashion has become an art form, self-expression, and a gateway to discovering who you really are.

This has never been truer, Kim said, since the start of the pandemic. Just as the unprecedented events of 2020 lead individuals to recalibrate their priorities, embrace nature in new ways or embark on new careers and life paths, they are reinforcing age-old ideas and traditions to which the fashion industry and consumers are obliged.

“Honestly, we’ve all had real problems during Covid,” Kim said. “Stylistically 2021, 2022, forever — I hope — is about letting your weird flag fly and be yourself. There is no other reason than to live your truth and to show the world who you are, and we have the opportunity to be able to get that out of clients who may have confidence issues or feel insecure like we do. ”

Confidence is what resonates through fashion these days, says Kessie. Instead of trending or wearing a head-to-toe designer look, she says confidence is an intangible quality that makes men stylish.

“The only rule is that you make your own rules—you decide what they are and how you want to express yourself in the world,” says Johnson. A job well done, he adds, is when his client “walks out the door and no matter which audience he’s going to be dealing with, he’s going to rule that audience because trust is already built.”