Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Julia Platt-hepworth. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Julia, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

I have been able to earn a full time living from my creative work for many years now. But certainly it was not that way from day one. For the first maybe, four years I didn’t. And every year I wondered if I should give up. Then I’d decide to give myself one more year. And eventually I stopped wondering if I should give up altogether. I was fortunate, typically fashion stylists assist for years before taking on lead roles. I only assisted a few times before the stylist I was assisting changed careers and handed me a couple of her clients. But the flip side of that was that I didn’t learn many things assistants typically do, so for a while I was really just muddling my way through and working it out as I went along, hopefully those first clients didn’t realise I had no idea what I was doing! There is so much to learnt about how photoshoots work, how the wardrobe department should run, logistical things, tricks of the trade. How to communicate with clients etc. There are not really any short cuts for that stuff. You’ve just got to put in the time. I think the thing that worked for me is that I started out with a pretty strong creative identity and vision which is in my opinion the main ingredient to being a good stylist, and I did a lot of portfolio/editorial shoots early on, which helped me strengthen that vision.

Julia, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m Julia platt-Hepworth, I’m a wardrobe stylist, I focus on advertising/commercial and editorial styling and have recently started dipping my toes into film. I am originally from a small town outside of Sydney Australia. I’ve been in the USA for 14 years, most recently in Los Angeles. When I initially moved to the States I lived in Portland Oregon, which is where I started my career. There are some big companies headquartered up there, Nike, Adidas, Sorel for example, and a lot of advertising agencies so it was a great place to start.

When I first moved to Portland I was freshly out of art school in Sydney – where I had majored in photography- I had a very serendipitous moment that I really credit with setting me on the right course with my career. On my first morning in Portland I met Britt Howard, a woman involved in the local fashion industry. She has a design and fabrication studio that works on some very cool niche projects, and she happened to be the waitress at the cafe where I went for breakfast- it was her last day, she was leaving to focus on her business full time. We got chatting, and she suggested I intern with them (I was waiting on my green card at the time and couldn’t work), so I did. Through her I met more industry people and one of those people said ‘you should really be a stylist’ and I was like YES I SHOULD, HOW DO I DO THAT? It was a job I knew existed and was very interested in, but that seemed very out of reach in a sense of it being for other people who knew more and had lots of connections. I had no idea how you would even begin. But my community pointed me in the right direction, and as I mentioned, I assisted a little and eventually worked it out.

Clients come to me for my unique style and perspective. I am very organized and detail-oriented; agencies and clients can trust me to support and build relationships with their clients, as well as the talent and teams we work with. I work on a variety of jobs: big commercial ones, smaller brands, and designers. I am often hired for my ability to strike a balance between commercial and aspirational styling. But the most joy I get from my work is when I get to do editorial projects. For me, styling is just a form of storytelling, and those projects are when I really get to spread my wings creatively and tell some interesting and important stories.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

Honestly, just word of mouth. Thats the biggest source of clients for me. When you do a good job, those agencies/ producers/ clients will want to use you again and to recommend you for other jobs.

Any advice for managing a team?

Be kind and treat people respectfully

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.juliaplatthepworth.com/
• Instagram: @juliaplatthepworth

Image Credits

1.Cully Wright, 2.Austin Sandhaus, 3.Damien Fry, 4.Cully Wright, 5.Scott Leon, 6&7. Cully Wright, 8. Austin Sandhaus