We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Andrei Mocanu a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Andrei thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

Earning money doing what you love seems to me to be the most beautiful thing! I am Fashion Stylist, full time job and I really like this because I love to be creative and share my creativity with others.Of course it wasn’t always like that… I started from the bottom, I worked and I aspired to get to this point but I didn’t feel that because I do what I like and after a period of time I got to support myself from it and it’s amazing.I encourage everyone to do what they like and don’t forget to dream because dream comes true!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Andrei Mocanu and I am a Fashion stylist from Romania. I have been practicing this job for 8 years, but I always knew that I would do this or that I would work in the fashion industry. Ever since I was little I would buy materials and go to the tailor to have shirts and pants made for me because I didn’t like being dressed the same as the other classmates.Later I entered the fashion faculty in Bucharest but I withdrew after the first semester because I couldn’t find myself and felt that I couldn’t evolve and that I wouldn’t be able to do much after I finish the faculty.I started working as a Visual Merchandise in a clothing store, then I was “Window Dresser” for Zara and later I had my own Visual Merchandise team and together we took care of the Topshop Topman stores. After which I met the stylist Ovidiu Buta who was also my mentor, I worked for 6 months as his assistant, after which I decided to go on this path alone and my life changed completely. I started to have projects with big artists such as Mario Fresh, Nicole Cherry, Alexandra Stan, Alexia Eram, Jador, Marius Moga, Iuliana Beregoi and many others, but also collaborations with international fashion magazines such as Vogue, Photohouse, Malvie Paris, Gmaro , Fashion Premium Magazines and more. I’ m proud of the fact that I’m doing what I love, that I can be creative and that people pay me for it, Hahaha, it’s amazing. Unlike other fellow stylists, I didn’t shy away from anything. I know that some of them specialize only in films and series, others work only with girls or only with boys, others only work with artists, well I have worked and work with everyone. I also do styling for series, movies, I have over 80 music videos, short films, international models, but also a lot of clients for whom I do personal shopping and go shopping with them all over the world. And together with my good friend Luana Seu, I did the most beautiful, natural and creative photo shoots of my life. Starting this year I want to have more international projects because so far I have refused 2 projects in London and one in Milan because I was afraid of losing what I managed to build with difficulty in Romania. Now I feel ready and I want to share my creativity with more people and make amazing things together.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

In my opinion, I think that people should support artists and creative people more by using their services.to encourage designers and buy from them instead of mass market stores, people to give a chance to a young person who just finished marketing college and wants to have a career, to give a chance to a photographer who is passionate but doesn’t have a lot of experience in the field. I believe that we should be more careful around us and the moment we discover someone talented to “take advantage” of him and encourage him by purchasing his services, we should not only appreciate him verbally because at the end of the day he does not feed with “wow that’s cool you are or congratulations you’re doing a good job” obviously these are also important but not as loud as when you support him and try to do it in such a way that as many people as possible hear how talented he is

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

At first the goal was to prove to my parents that they were wrong about the fact that I will not be able to support myself from this job, they wanted me to become a policeman because it is a safe job, you have a fixed salary, you defend the country, blah blah . and I refused to enter the police academy and I set out to show them that I could. so at first I wanted to prove it to them. After that I wanted to prove to myself that I can reach even higher. and now I think it has become a mission to share my creativity with people and try to teach others to discover this side. creativity knows no bounds and anyone can be creative in their field, whether you are a gardener, a cook, a salesman at the corner store or a mechanic. anyone can be creative and I think now my goal is to discover them and create wonderful things together

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamocanu?igsh=ZTduMWhoejMxcG51&utm_source=qr
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrei-mocanu-66560a214?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app
• Other: Tiktok https://www.tiktok.com/@iamocanu?_t=8iqSQHmnvtJ&_r=1

Image Credits
Photo 1: Me : Andrei Mocanu – Fashion stylist Photo 2: Styling by Andrei Mocanu Artist: Adriana Onci Wearing: a.v.e_atelier Photo 3: Styling by Andrei Mocanu Photo by Luana Seu Model Georgiana Saraev Dress Pif Stephano Photo 4: Styling Andrei Mocanu Artist Connect-r Jacket Christian Buza Photo 5: Stylist Andrei Mocanu Artist Connect-r Photo 6 Stylist Andrei Mocanu Model Ada Popa Photo 7 Stylist Andrei Mocanu Artist Iuliana Beregoi Outfit Robert Roca Photo 8 Stylist Andrei Mocanu Artist Connect-r Photo by Luana Seu