If ten years ago they had told me where I would work now, then with the probability they would have heard a smirk or a nervous laugh. "Who am I? Stylist? What - what am I doing? I tell others how to dress, and they listen to me from young to old? "

If I, twelve years old, plodding over an essay (for in those school days, writing an essay was no less torture for me than proving the Pythagorean theorem, and all exclusively through tears and frayed nerves of my mother), they said that I would write in the fashion portal of the article about fashion, I would say that this will never happen, as well as a five-grader for this essay.

Now I am 27, I am a practicing stylist, and I am writing this article so that you get to know me better: my history, my hobbies, and how I look at the world in general.

How I came to the profession

No matter how prophetic it may sound now, my 2020 “got up on the wrong foot”, when in my flight schedule the reserve was replaced by a flight to Pakistan (I worked as a flight attendant). The picture is unattractive: when my family from far away places salads on a plate and raises glasses of sparkling wine, I go at 00:00 on a bus with flight attendants, for whom the magic of New Year's Eve is indifferent, because they come from those countries where it is always summer. And I wash my face with crocodile tears from the injustice of this decision.

Wiping away my tears, I got off the bus and, before meeting the rest of the team, tidied up the leaking makeup in the ladies' room. Inhale, exhale. I am still grateful to the senior flight attendant for his sagacity and for the fact that he did not send me in this state to work in the cockpit, courteously giving me a position in the kitchen.

Despite the fact that the flight took place at night and took a total of 5-6 hours, I returned home at about 10-11 am. Having decided that sleep is for weaklings, and since the leap year did not start as enchanting as I would like, I took a shower and went to blow off some steam at the coffee shop. A quick side note: I'm the biggest fan of this drink. My friends joke that it's not blood that flows through my veins, but coffee. I can have an Americano at 10 pm and then come home and sleep peacefully. Theobromine takes effect instantly.

A friend and the biggest cappuccino was waiting for me in the coffee shop. "I can not go on. It's unbearable!" - I blurted out instead of "hello" and "thanks for your concern" "What happened?" “They sent me to Pakistan! Happy New Year! Do you know how in Russia they say: "As you celebrate the New Year, you will spend it!" Do you understand HOW I'm going to spend this year now ?! No, I've had enough. I got the hint. It's time to change something. We have to look for a job so that it’s close to the soul ”.

From that moment on, an active brainstorming began: to identify what I like, what stimulates me to get better every day, to develop. It was a difficult (but by no means impossible!) Task. I understood that I wanted to be closer to fashion, but where exactly to go - I did not know.



I was attracted by shop windows in Barcelona: huge, panoramic windows with mannequins and the ability to dress them to your liking, displays of new collections so that it would be simply impossible to pass by. First, I had to familiarize myself with the requirements for this profession, and then start looking for courses or academies that produce visual merchandisers. And I found that very ideal place, in my beloved Barcelona, ​​where in about a year they would turn me into a specialist anywhere! But, read the fine print, it was this course, and it was in this academy that it was taught exclusively in Spanish. At that time, my level of Spanish was at the level of “My name is Julia, and I do not speak Spanish well,” and the cost of intensive language courses, which the academy kindly offered to all non-native speakers, was almost one and a half times higher than the price for training a profession.Though!

I didn’t give up my Spanish classes, but I had to give up the idea of ​​becoming a store designer, arousing the interest of potential buyers and forcing them to come in and see a new collection.

The fashion industry is so variegated and multifaceted that even the most sophisticated person will find his "safe haven" here, but I was thrown like a ship during a storm: what to do? Where to go? What I want?

Everything was decided by my mother's Instagram. One fine morning I wake up from her message: “I saw an advertisement for a school of stylists at a blogger. Look". Not succumbing to the temptation of procrastination, I began to study the "inner workings" of courses. There are many disciplines, starting with the history of fashion and ending with techniques for calculating the trends of the future season, homework, the stern faces of teachers looking into my soul from black and white avatars, a practical lesson in Moscow. And all this, the website of the school announced, will teach me in 10 months. I didn’t even complain about the cost of training: it was logical to pay the Nth amount for such a “package” of knowledge. But my inner voice did not allow me to take the plunge and confirm the payment.

But it was already easier: I know that I want to be a stylist. My searches were not fruitful, I was sinking more and more into despondency. When I could no longer cope with the burden of melancholy from the fact that nothing, untalented, could not work for me, I decided to let go of everything. Let it be. Maybe this (just not this!) Is not mine again.

In March, when the coronavirus drove us all home for an indefinite amount of time, I came across a free marathon from ReStyle. I do not remember all the details of these three-day webinars, but I do remember the energy of the teachers, the easy digestibility of the material and the desire to know more.

Of course, the point of all free marathons is to buy courses later. I booked myself a place for this training, but even here it took me several hours to weigh everything properly. But only this time my inner voice said: “This is it! Take it, don't hesitate "

And this is how my “wanderings” paid off in full: I develop every day, learn something new, transform girls, inspire confidence thanks to my image, but most importantly, I love what I do.

What do I do in my spare time

I mentioned above that I continue to study Spanish. I don't have any goal that I pursue while learning the language, but who knows where I will be in five years?

The best cure for blues is meeting friends. For coffee or wine, in the morning or in the evening, at your favorite coffee shop or a new restaurant, the main thing is company. With the advent of the profession of a stylist, creative people began to gather around me, whom I knew, but personally was not: each has its own story, many achievements behind; before I would have been scared to meet them, but now they are my friends or good acquaintances.

Recently I realized that I needed to do something else, so I decided to study Fashion Journalism. This is a laborious, painstaking work (Christina, hello!), Which requires perseverance, because you have to dig, getting into the jungle of fashion history, art, and sometimes studying the biographies of designers or their muses. I can easily spend most of the day in front of my laptop doing my homework. Why study in the section on free time? I answer with the words of Jackie Gleason: "I want my business to be a joy to me, I do not want it to seem to me that I am working." It gives me a thrill, so the learning process is a pleasant (and rewarding) pastime. There are also plans to take courses in fashion history.



As you understand, my brain almost never rests: the profession of a stylist requires constant practice, support of knowledge about current trends, client psychology, and the history of fashion, costume and world-famous brands can be studied endlessly, so I spend my days either reading special literature, or watching films (after all, it is possible to combine business with pleasure).

When the stage of satiety comes and I want to unload, I pick up the brushes, take out the sent paints from the bins and start drawing. For me, this is a kind of meditation.If the mood is not for drawing, then I pick up the classics. Now in the middle of Anna Karenina.

I also like to make a list of films and TV shows that I want to watch (without analysis from the point of view of a stylist-journalist). Recently I finished “The Crown”, “The King's Move” and the honest “Emily in Paris” that has thundered all over the world: someone copies the image, someone criticizes the presentation of the unreal life of the main character, and someone goes to search the streets where scenes from the series were filmed.



Together with Nastya, my friend and, at the same time, a talented photographer, we have created a project for all the girls, where they come to listen to the performances of the speakers while sparkling. We set topics that are relevant for all ages: psychology, astrology, fashion, work with a professional photographer. In short, we are talking about everything except work.