Rebecca Baglini jokes in the interview, but probably she really doesn’t sleep to be able to combine all the projects she works on. As the Vanity Fair fashion stylist, the stylist of Italian celebrities such as singers Emma Marrone, Marco Mengoni, Francesca Michielin and Alessandro Cattelan and Creative director of the weili_zheng brand, Rebecca’s routine is certainly packed every day of the week.
In this interview she tells us about the beginning of her career, how to get the first clients as a stylist and then get to work with celebrities, how she organizes her days and her advice to pursue this career.
Enjoy it!
- Hi Rebecca and welcome to Glam Observer. Can you introduce yourself?
Hi Giada, I am 34 years old, I have lived in Milan for 10 years now, with the only love of my life my dog Ornella.
- You have a master’s degree in philosophy and then you decided to study Fashion Styling and later Fashion and Fabric Consultant at Wimbledon College of Art. As anyone in fashion always says that it’s not necessary to study fashion to work in this industry but to gain experience, why did you decide to attend two fashion courses and not to start directly with experience / internships in the industry?
Actually while I was studying in Florence I started to be an assistant to a Florentine stylist, I wasn’t quite clear what exactly this job was, but I grew up with parents who always had the same answer to every question: “If you don’t like it, study , only in this way can you change things “. And so I did. I studied a lot, even if it is never enough, the best stylist doesn’t exist, the calmest one, the one who smiles and solves, it’s a precarious job and it has changed a lot over the years, once the great stylists were behind the scenes and this that really mattered and spoke for them was the result of their work. Today everything is different, every post or story posted is subject to immediate judgment for better or for worse, there is no union or assembly of stylists or someone who can really teach this job, this job is made of boxes, emergencies, tears and smiles but surely it is a roller coaster of wonderful emotions.
- How did you understand that stylist was the path for you in fashion?
My grandmother was an opera singer, I have always been passionate and intrigued by how a costume could make your role credible. She knew how to sew very well, I took the fabrics and with two safety pins I was ready for the evening. He always told me that I was patient and in a hurry. I was born with the haste to do and be and to change, then I realized that there was a job where by touching the fabric, observing its color and bringing it closer to the right person, a story could be born. This work is fantasy, intuition but also awareness of confrontation and the possibility of listening to those who collaborate with you.
- Do you think it is necessary to study fashion to start a career as a stylist?
Studying is all about not risking believing that you invented something that actually was already there and you didn’t know it. Studying is fundamental to learning to get in line, you don’t jump the queue.
- What was your first fashion job and how did you get it?
Stylist assistant and editorial assistant, I was writing about fashion economics for a magazine in Milan. Then I saw in the office next door a super cool girl who always traveled and I imposed myself, I still remember, it was 2012, € 200/month, I didn’t even know if I could pay the room. My first shooting in New York I slept in the office and anyone knew it. I believed in it, I was enthusiastic.
- How can someone become a Fashion Stylist, you find their first clients and get to work with celebrities?
For this answer, we should have at least 2 hours…. it takes time, it takes inventiveness but also to jump without a parachute, you must be lucky enough to find who believes in you.
Rebecca Baglini Editorial
- From April 2012 you are the creative director of Weili Zheng. How did you start working for this brand, what do you do and how do you combine it with your career as a celebrity and fashion stylist?
I do not sleep. Just kidding! I’m deeply in love with everything, one thing compensates the other, I’m never saturated.
- You have two Instagram profiles @rebeccabaglini and rebeccabaglini.stylist, why did you decide to start two different profiles and how do they differ? What would you recommend to publish on Instagram to those who want to start a career as a stylist but do not yet have experience?
For the first question; I believe it is right to defend the differences between what you are and what you do; my job is 85% of what I am, but then there is my being Tuscany, me smiling even in tragedies, my getting up always and in any case, my believing that the more I see black and the more the sun comes. Those who want to start this career must study history regardless, they must have hair on their stomachs and know that someone will never come to tell you that you are good, that there is a lot of smoke, there is a lot of everything and only culture can diversify you.
- How do you organize your days between your job as Fashion Stylist at Vanity Fair, celebrity stylist and creative director of a brand?
Not diversifying. We go from organizing a tour to shooting, to launching a collection to buy food for the dog. This question should be asked to the mothers of the family who cook, raise children by going to work, my job, if you like it and if you can do it, it’s a wonder, you don’t even feel the effort.
- What are the projects you have worked on or are working on, and that you are particularly proud of?
Without a doubt creating the image of the people I work for, when they go on stage I am always moved, everyone makes fun of me all the time, but if there is love in the work you do, this feeling always comes out.
- What is your advice for those who want to pursue a career as a stylist?
Always try to see further, try to understand the psychology of those who are in front of us, always put a little humanity in it, never allow anyone to tell you that you are not enough, but study because we never arrived we are always in become.
