What Getting Hired in Fashion Styling Really Takes
📚 Part of our September "Back to School Newsletter" series 📚
September's energy hits differently when you work in fashion. While everyone else is buying pumpkin spice lattes and setting fresh goals, we're dealing with the reality that the industry just woke up from its August coma. Clients are suddenly booking for the rest of the year, fashion weeks are in full swing, and everyone's scrambling to catch up.
If you've been waiting for the right time to get serious about building a sustainable styling career, this is it.
This week, we've covered the foundations of getting hired consistently rather than just hoping something will work out. Because hope isn't a business strategy, and crossing your fingers every time you send a portfolio isn't sustainable.
The difference between stylists who struggle and those who thrive isn't talent, connections, or luck. It's treating their work like a business instead of a hobby they happen to get paid for sometimes.
Most stylists approach getting hired reactively. They wait for opportunities to find them, send their portfolio when asked, and hope the client likes their aesthetic enough to book them. When they don't hear back, they wonder what went wrong but never dig into the real reasons. They take whatever rate is offered because they're grateful for any work, then repeat this same passive process with the next potential client. It's exhausting, unpredictable, and keeps them constantly scrambling.
Successful stylists approach it systematically. They build portfolios that answer specific client needs rather than just showcasing pretty work. They communicate like professionals who understand industry constraints and deadlines. They position themselves strategically based on client psychology, follow up appropriately without seeming desperate, and most importantly, they learn from every interaction to improve their approach. They are proactive, not reactive.
The first approach leaves your career to chance. The second builds sustainable income.
If you want to get hired consistently, it comes down to a repeatable cycle: build the right portfolio, pitch strategically, get booked, and repeat. That is the Stylist Elixir formula we have been breaking down this week.
Portfolio Strategy: Your portfolio isn't an art exhibition; it is a business tool. It needs to solve client problems, not just showcase pretty pictures. Clean presentation, strategic content selection, and client-focused organisation matter more than having the most creative work.
Email Communication: Most stylists sabotage themselves before clients even see their portfolios. No subject lines, desperate language, and poor professional boundaries eliminate you from consideration before your skills get evaluated.
Client Psychology: Understanding how hiring decisions actually get made, the emotional, gut-reaction assessment that happens before logic kicks in. Clients choose people who make them feel confident about their decision, not just people with impressive credentials.
The through-line across all these topics: systematic approaches beat hoping and guessing every time.
The industry timing right now is perfect for implementing these strategies. Clients are actively booking, budgets are being allocated, and there is genuine work available. But you need to be ready to capitalise on it professionally.
This means:
Having a portfolio that immediately communicates your value
Sending emails that get responses rather than radio silence
Understanding what clients actually care about when making hiring decisions
Following up strategically rather than desperately
Building relationships that lead to repeat work and referrals
This Monday, 8th September at 7 pm UK time, I am running a free live workshop on building portfolios that convert views into bookings.
We will cover:
How to organise your work so clients immediately understand your value
The presentation mistakes that quietly eliminate you from consideration
What clients actually look for when evaluating portfolios
How to position yourself competitively without undercutting your rates
This is not a generic "make your portfolio pretty" session. It is practical guidance on building a business tool that consistently gets you hired.
Here is what I have observed while working with hundreds of stylists: those who build systematic approaches to getting hired work less frantically and earn more consistently. They are not more talented; they are more strategic.
They do not wake up wondering where their next job will come from because they have processes for:
Identifying the right clients for their skills and style
Communicating their value clearly and professionally
Following up appropriately to stay on clients' radar
Learning from both successful and unsuccessful interactions
This systematic approach is what we teach inside The Studio: complete frameworks for building a sustainable styling career, not just hoping talent gets rewarded. From portfolio strategy to client psychology, these are the systems that turn career building from guesswork into predictable progress.
Next week, we are covering business systems, the unsexy but essential foundations that separate sustainable careers from chaotic feast or famine cycles. We will tackle organisation, workflow systems, and the processes that let you focus on creative work instead of constantly scrambling to keep up.
The goal is not just to get hired for one project. It is to build the kind of professional reputation and systematic approach that makes getting chosen feel inevitable rather than lucky.
Free readers will get the broad reset framework. Paid subscribers at £5 per month will get the actual systems in detail, including how to set up your workflow, track jobs and payments, and create structure that protects your time and income. These are the behind-the-scenes tools most stylists never share, and they are what turn uncertain months into predictable growth.
September’s energy is perfect for this kind of reset. The industry is active, opportunities are available, and you have the rest of the year to implement what you learn.
Stop hoping your talent will eventually be rewarded. Start building the systems that make success predictable.
If this post gives you the map, The Studio of Stylist Elixir is where you actually run the route and repeat it until it becomes second nature. It is the next step for anyone ready to move from understanding the formula to living it week after week.
Portfolio → short courses, portfolio audits, layout guidance, and example structures that show clients your value
Pitch → email templates, subject line frameworks, follow-up rhythms, and decision maker psychology
Get booked → workflow checklists, deal memo basics, and systems for repeat work and referrals
Repeat → trackers for jobs, payments, and relationships so the cycle compounds instead of resetting
Inside, you will find complete courses, practical tools and templates, and a community of fashion creatives building sustainable careers alongside you.