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This is a show for burnt-out fashion designers (and TDs, PDs, patternmakers and beyond) who want more flexibility while still doing work they love. As a freelance fashion designer, you can build your fashion career on your own terms. Freelancing in fashion is the only way to get freedom in your day (instead of being tied to a desk). Whether you want to earn extra money on the side, fund your fashion brand, or replace your salary, the FDGP podcast will help you get there. Listen in for actionable tips and strategies to kickstart or grow your career as a freelance fashion designer, build your confidence, and create the life you want. Hosted by $100k+ fashion freelancer Sew Heidi, the show features interviews and strategy sessions with successful freelance fashion designers from around the world who've ditched toxic fashion jobs and taken control of their own destinies. This is the only place to get REAL insights from REAL freelancers who have built REAL careers on their own terms. (Formerly the Successful Fashion Freelancer podcast.)
Heidi [00:00:00]:
Do you have any idea how many nuances go into being a freelance fashion stylist? I did not, but there are so many. You have to think about your niche. Like print is very different from commercial, and scripted shows are very different than reality TV, and personal shopping is very different than personal styling. You have to learn the basics of business and negotiating and budgeting and logistics, and learn all the nuances of getting the clothes to look just right, using some magical trickery like double sided tape or even weights. My guest today is Darshan Gress, who's been a freelance stylist for over 25 years and has worked on shows like Project Runway with Nina Garcia, styled many seasons of the Top Chef, and done projects with Gary Vaynercheck. She's also recently expanded her business to do more personal styling, working with high level executives, from fashion designers to multi million dollar business owners. Darshan shares all of her tips on how to get started as a freelance stylist. Her best strategies to get more clients, and so many other intricate nuances she learned from her long career.
Heidi [00:00:56]:
If you want to be a freelance fashion stylist, you're going to love this episode of Fashion Designers get Paid.
Darshan Gress [00:01:00]:
Let's get to it. I think a lot of people, when they think of fashion stylists, whether freelance or not, they don't think of business and success and all of that. And I think one of the keys to being successful and maintaining a career as a stylist is to treat it like a business. So it's an honor to be with you today.
Heidi [00:01:22]:
Like, how do you feel people treat it?
Darshan Gress [00:01:25]:
Well, I mean, understandably, most stylists are Uber creative, and so the business skills that you need to be successful and sustainable sort of go out the window.
Heidi [00:01:37]:
I see what you're saying. Okay, so then talk to me. You must have some business savvy or you've at least been really conscious because you've been doing this for 27 or something years.
Darshan Gress [00:01:52]:
Like a really long time. Oh, my gosh. That just put more gray hairs on my head. Yeah, I think I have been doing it a really long time. And for sure, the industry has evolved, changed as well as my career. But I was super calculated at a young age when kids were in junior high and high school and asked, what do you want to do for a living? And they said, I want to be a doctor. I want to be a dancer, and I wanted to be a stylist. Now, I learned at a very young age, it was just a weird fluke.
Darshan Gress [00:02:25]:
I overheard an interview about a costume designer in a wardrobe department of a TV show that I absolutely loved at the time. And I was sitting on the couch with my dad, and I was, like, in awe. They were doing a behind the scenes interview of the wardrobe department. I was like, oh, my God, people get dressed for TV. Because at the time, I had no idea. Of course. I was a teenager. I love to go through the pages of YM and 17, and I love fashion, but I had no idea there was a career in that.
Darshan Gress [00:02:53]:
So all of a sudden, it was like, that's what I want to do. I want to dress people on TV. So that's sort of what gave me the momentum to actually pursue it as a career. So I was really calculated about, that's what I want to do. I want to dress people on television. My career definitely took some ebbs and flows. I also really got my career and my hands wet early on in the runway, fashion runway world. That's kind of what stepped my foot into the door of styling altogether.
Darshan Gress [00:03:23]:
When I was in high school, I was one of those at a local level. So please, anybody listening know that I'm not claiming that I was a past model, but I did all those back to school and prom fashion shows at the local mall outside of the Washington, DC area. And I met the stylists of those shows. And I don't know where it came from, but I had this business mind, and I went up to the stylist and said, can I come in before my fitting or on different days when you're working with other models and help you just to learn? And that's what got my foot in the door of working on runway shows. So it really was the first kind of styling that I understood, and I'm so grateful, because everything is creative. There's different niches within the fashion styling industry, but in terms of doing a runway show, it's all about organization. There's the creative part, but the organization part is unbelievable. It's a huge process.
Darshan Gress [00:04:22]:
And so I think I approached a lot of my future jobs from that mindset. And it was really helpful because you really have to be super organized to be a fashion stylist, because that's another business skill, if you will. And people don't necessarily think about that. But if you're a hot mess and you're so disorganized, but you're really creative, then you're either going to have to figure it out on your own or hire somebody to keep you organized, because there's so many moving parts to any niche of fashion styling and so you have to stay super organized. I think that's the number one thing when I'm interviewing an intern or a PA on a TV show is what they're called Production assistants or an assistant organization is my number one question, because if somebody's like, I'm not really organized, then you're not probably not going to work great for my team because I'm so organized.
Heidi [00:05:22]:
Yeah, I have done my fair share of photo shoots and runway stuff. And yes, you need a binder with a shot list and a spreadsheet and everything mapped out, like outfit by outfit, page by page, like step by step, the rack, all organized in order, changes everything. I get it. I'm also, like, a super organized person, so I totally live and breathe just from a personal curiosity perspective. I know you did some runway stuff at Nordstrom's. Were those runway shows at Nordstrom's back when you first got started?
Darshan Gress [00:06:00]:
When I first got started, I actually did do a few where I was the model for Nordstrom shows. Okay.
Heidi [00:06:07]:
I did as a kid, too.
Darshan Gress [00:06:09]:
Oh, really? Yeah. There was actually in the area, I grew up in Northern Virginia, right outside of Washington, DC, about 20 minutes outside of DC. Okay. And at that time, there was actually a department store called Woodworks and Lothrop. I don't know if you're familiar with your name now, but it was, I think, equivalent to like, sacks, if you will. It was not super high end, but it definitely wasn't, I don't want to say Macy's and be offensive, not that Macy's isn't good enough, but it was definitely higher price point. And they had a fashion advisory board that they interviewed people all across multiple counties in the Washington, DC area. It was based in their hub store in Washington, DC.
Darshan Gress [00:06:53]:
And it was, I don't want to say a grueling process, but you had to submit papers, you had to submit recommendations, go on interviews. And I was in high school, and they took one representative from every high school in that sort of surrounding area. So there was probably about. I have no idea. I don't want to guess, but I would say about 30 to 40 of us on the board. And you sat on the board for a whole year. And we did multiple things. It's where I met, actually, Kathy Horn, who, I don't know if you know, she's an amazing writer.
Darshan Gress [00:07:26]:
At the time, she wrote for the Washington Post in the fashion section. But I met all these people who come in from the fashion industry and sort of educate us. And so that was sort of like getting my feet wet, just about the fashion industry. But then we also did fashion shows where I'd model in the shows. Okay? And through that, I met a couple of the stylists that produced them, and then they would do other shows that were those big mall shows where it was, like, multiple stores, and I'd have to audition and do all that. But I loved it. I loved being on the runway.
Heidi [00:08:00]:
Those shows anymore?
Darshan Gress [00:08:02]:
I think they do. And funny enough, it's been a while, but they used to bring me on as a guest commentator for some of the shows. Like, I remember why a magazine would do a show and they'd want a quote unquote, celebrity stylist when I was doing more celebrities, and I'd go and commentate the show, and it was always so full circle for me because I was like, oh, my God, I used to do these back to school shows. I'm not that tall. I'm really not a model, everybody.
Heidi [00:08:31]:
I'm five four. But I did these really casual little Nordstrom shows when I was, like, five or something. I just remember kind of being on that little runway. It was just like, in the kids department. So I was just curious if that was maybe the same type of thing. Okay, so you got your start in high school. You asked if you could get a little bit more involved, and you met some people and learned about organization and all that stuff. How did you initially break into the TV styling world? I know you've done some big celebrity stuff.
Heidi [00:09:06]:
How did that all kickstart?
Darshan Gress [00:09:08]:
Well, there was a couple of stages in between going from high school to TV. I went off to New York for college. I went to the Fashion Institute of Technology fit. And that was like a massive dream. All throughout high school, I wanted to move to New York City and go to that school. And so it was such an honor. And still today, I feel like it's a privilege to say that. I went there.
Darshan Gress [00:09:34]:
And throughout the time while I was in college, I continued to network. I mean, I think if there's anything I can say, networking is king in terms of getting ahead in your career. I mean, it's great to have a huge social media following, but really, word of mouth and networking is the number one. I mean, it's kind of how we met. I know you said LinkedIn, but it's actually through somebody that I used.
Heidi [00:09:58]:
Through a mutual friend.
Darshan Gress [00:10:00]:
Exactly. And so while I was in college, I did everything I volunteered for, every little thing I possibly could, just to get in the room with industry leaders, whether it was a fashion stylist, or a fashion designer or whoever it was. And that way, I could really get my just being in the room with those people. You're kind of a fly on the wall, if you will. And then eventually, my last year in school, I did an internship, and that is 100%, I think, the most valuable experience anybody could do to get your foot in the door in terms of styling, assisting, or interning, depending on your level. I interviewed at so many different places, and there's so many stories I could tell you about the places and how it came about, but I ended up interning at the VH One wardrobe department. It was very small, the VJs. There is VH one still on? I don't even know.
Heidi [00:11:03]:
I'm not sure. You just took me back to my childhood.
Darshan Gress [00:11:07]:
Yeah. I can't even remember the names of the people that were on there. Anyways, yeah. I was the only intern for that one semester that I did it. There was the fashion director, my boss, who hired me, and then there was, I think, an assistant stylist and a wardrobe supervisor. So literally, there was a staff of three, and then me. And I have to say that internship really was like, I don't even think something like that exists anymore, because within a week of me being there, my boss put me in a car, a taxi to go pull clothes at a store for the VJs. I mean, I wouldn't do that.
Darshan Gress [00:11:49]:
Thinking back about the opportunities that she gave me, which were so amazing, I look back, and I'm like, oh, my God. I would never do that with an intern because I wouldn't trust them as much. But I definitely presented myself as, like, an old soul at a very young age. And so she really trusted me, and that really is what kick started my career. And because I was there, people started to talk. Like, she started to talk to people about the job that I did, and it just sort of opened doors to the next job. Very first styling job, where I actually was hired as the stylist was because she recommended me. It was an ad campaign for a company that I'm sure no longer exists called JG Hook.
Darshan Gress [00:12:31]:
And it was before social media. And I still to this day, regret this. There were billboard campaigns in Times Square. I have no footage of this. This is in the mean. That was my very first paying job. Now, I have to say, I had absolutely no place being hired for that job. The woman that ended up assisting me.
Darshan Gress [00:12:53]:
And as a weird fluke, I had a friend of a friend who was an agent, and I didn't even know how to get an assistant. That's how green I was. And I ended up hiring somebody that was recommended from this agent. And I remember being on that job, and I had done my research, what you bring and whatever, but literally, I don't even know if at that point I had been on a photo shoot yet. I was asking her questions. I'm sure she was, like, rolling her eyes, going, who is this girl? This child? Because believe it or not, my internship was the fall semester, and that job was the spring semester. It was the one day in my entire college career that I took off from college. I took a day off.
Darshan Gress [00:13:36]:
My professors approved it because I was getting paid a pretty penny as a college student to shoot this ad campaign. But, yeah, I had no place doing that. And I learned very quickly. I'm like, I need to learn. I need to assist people. I realized the job came to me. I didn't present it as if I could do it. It just came to me.
Darshan Gress [00:13:55]:
And I'm very grateful because it pushed me way past my comfort zone. But it definitely was something that was like a red flag. Like, okay, you need to assist to understand certain skills. I know I can do it, but I don't know the skills. And I think that's so important right now because I think there's a big trend within styling where anybody can do it. You just have to put together a.
Heidi [00:14:19]:
Great outfit or something. Right? Yeah.
Darshan Gress [00:14:21]:
There's a lot of people telling people that love to dress themselves. You could be a stylist, and you can just walk out the door and do it. And yes, you might have the skills inside of you to do it, but you don't have the structure and the knowledge to actually perform the job. I mean, there was, like, just key things. I spent a fortune, I remember, on that job, stocking my styling kit, because I didn't have a kit. Every stylist has a kit. And that's not just the extra shoes and bras and underwear that you bring on a job. It's also anywhere from double stick to scissors.
Darshan Gress [00:14:56]:
But then there's literally hundreds of things in my kit that I probably use once every two or three years. But it's in my kit, and I don't need it for my personal clients. But I need it for these big jobs, like weights, for example. I don't need weights when I'm personal styling a private client. But you need weights. If you're going to be shooting out in the field and the wind is blowing, you need to know how to keep that down. That's your job. That's not the photographer or the director's job to figure out how the movement of the clothes is going to go.
Darshan Gress [00:15:28]:
And that was actually something that happened on that job where something was flailing and I was clueless, and the assistant was like, I've got weights in my kit. And she showed me how to speak.
Heidi [00:15:39]:
New way more than you.
Darshan Gress [00:15:41]:
I was like, oh, my God. And here I was thinking, I brought this. I think I spent, like, $500 as a college student on a kit and brought in that bag. I still have the physical bag, but, yeah.
Heidi [00:15:54]:
Anyways, so beyond the aesthetic side of it, like, making someone look beautiful. Right. Or presenting this outfit in whatever way, it's the logistics of how do we ultimately get the photo or the video or the piece of material that we need and the clothes are going to look right given the environmental variables.
Darshan Gress [00:16:17]:
Right.
Heidi [00:16:17]:
You're not always shooting in, like, a controlled studio. So do you feel like that's the biggest component of, like, it's not just the clothing, it's these nuances. And I have styled flat lays, and.
Darshan Gress [00:16:28]:
It is hard to get those clothes.
Heidi [00:16:30]:
To look good laying flat. You don't just throw them down and they look great. Do you feel like those are some of the biggest nuances?
Darshan Gress [00:16:40]:
I think it's a big part of it, but I hate to go back to the business side of it. I think the number one thing, because I have plenty of friends within the circle of fashion editors, stylists, celebrity stylists that have come to me and asked me, literally things that I'm like, how do you not know this? And they're all related to business negotiating. A lot of that you can learn. And I actually coach other stylists. I love doing it because it's a passion of mine. How do I say this? I think that having a good eye is kind of innate. Yes, you can learn certain things, and you can learn what color combos work well, and you can learn body types and how a larger bus looks better in this versus that. You can learn those things.
Darshan Gress [00:17:34]:
But in terms of having a good eye and good taste, I think you either have it or you don't. If we solve that part of it, the other part is understanding the business aspect. I cannot tell you how many people get into these jobs, and they're good friends of mine, and they're by resume way more successful than me, like celebrity styles, and they're calling me and going, oh, my God, I'm in the middle of this job, and I don't know what to do about this budget. Crisis. And I say, before you started the job, did you have this conversation about X, Y and Z? And they're like, no, I didn't think to do that. Now, keep in mind, usually that's somebody that's not repped by an agent. I think that's one of the things that's different about me at the level of some of the things that I've done. Most of my friends do have agents, okay? I have a secret agent.
Darshan Gress [00:18:30]:
One of my best friends is actually an agent. And so over the years, she has been my lifeline to helping me with certain things. But even she doesn't do TV. She does more fashion, editorial and advertising. And so even what I do, and she's like, oh, my God, you're a shark when it comes to negotiating. And I'm like, I have to because I've learned these lessons over 25 plus years where if you don't say it before you start the job, the client doesn't owe you a dag on thing. Yes, we would think, well, that's not realistic. They should know that they're supposed to pay for that.
Darshan Gress [00:19:06]:
No, if you don't have it in writing, they can stick it to you. And if you're on a job where they didn't provide you a credit card and a cash, and you're actually using your own resources, because that's usually what a lot of I hate freelance stylists do. They put their own credit card down if they're buying anything, and then they get reimbursed after they turn in an invoice. But if you did not negotiate something, a lot of times the production company or the person you negotiated with is going to say, I didn't agree to that. I'm not paying for all those meals. I'm not paying for your assistance to take taxis or whatever it is. So, yes, getting back, that was very long winded answer, too. Yes.
Darshan Gress [00:19:48]:
I think that the styling aspect of it, the creative aspect is one part of it, but the business side of it, which I think is the missing link to most people's success. Because there's stylists that are way more creative than me. I'll just say it at that. But yet I've stayed in the game way longer than they have, and they've turned to me and go because they don't understand about finances and budgeting and things that are kind of life skills. I mean, a lot of the things that I teach other stylists or coach other stylists on could be applied to almost any. Well, could be applied to almost any creative field, but also to any just life skills, because I think this generation, I feel like, and I hope and I'm praying that they're a little more savvy to staying in a budget and understanding about finances, and especially as women like understanding that because that's sort of been what the other person did. And I've always said your financial freedom is like the stepping stone to your creative career, because if you feel unstable in your finances, you're going to make decisions based on the fear and not based on. Is that job actually right? For me, yes.
Heidi [00:21:09]:
It's a lot of the same stuff I teach my students as well. Getting started in freelancing is like, you can have, and I know these people, too, the super creative people that are not doing that great, and then the people that are like, they're good enough and they're crushing it because there's this business and marketing strategy behind it. So I'd love to hear a little bit more about, because I don't really understand the nuances of being a freelance stylist. So you talked about a lot of people, you know, work through an agent. You're not through an agent, but you've got one in your back pocket to, I guess, just help you negotiate some stuff or just run things by, like, just someone as, like a touch point. But how does it typically work as far as getting the gigs and then just some of the more nuanced logistics of being a freelance stylist?
Darshan Gress [00:22:03]:
Yeah. So I think even if somebody is repped by an agent, they still consider themselves a freelance stylist because the agent, in my opinion, a, is not taking out taxes. They're that. But also the agent is not guaranteeing them full time employment. There is no guarantee. The agent is just bringing clients to them, potentially, and negotiating your clients. That really is what, the number one thing, I think is the negotiating and then going after the clients for the money, the invoice and that and the follow up collecting.
Heidi [00:22:39]:
Okay. Yeah.
Darshan Gress [00:22:42]:
There have been moments in my career where I was on the fence, like, okay, I need to get an agent because the kind of level of negotiating I'm doing is so big, and you're selling yourself when you're negotiating, you're talking about you. And that can be very painful. The thing is that the bulk of my career, over whatever many years, has been dressing the hosts and judges of TV shows. So that's a niche that I. That's your niche?
Heidi [00:23:18]:
Host and judges of TV shows.
Darshan Gress [00:23:20]:
I love that niche. Yeah. And it just happens to be. The title happens to be costume designer because most of my shows are union. It's funny, I just came from a meeting at my Costume Designers Guild, and I'm sitting in the room with Oscar winners and Emmy winners, and there's me, and I'm like, I do not compare myself to these people, although I do sometimes costume design what you would naturally think as a costume. And I do create and work with illustrators and build, that's not my niche. And I should clarify, I really like and have always wanted to dress real people. So when I, at that early age and said to my dad on the couch, when I saw the behind the scenes and said, I want to dress people on television, I didn't realize in that moment the love of what I do is styling.
Darshan Gress [00:24:07]:
And it's styling real people. I actually don't enjoy. It's OD to say with this title of costume designer doing costumes. I like dressing elevated, fashionable people, both men, women, all shapes and sizes, but really telling a story. And that's where the costume design aspect comes in, because I have incorporated that part of it into my personal styling and with the people that I work with on television, clothes communicate so much before you even open your mouth. And so it's all about branding and getting to the point of who somebody is before I even step foot in a store. So, getting back to your question, so the thing is that for personal styling, no, there's no agent that's repping that. I'm aware of a personal style, but in terms of agents for costume designers, agents for fashion editors, and things that are print ads, commercials, et cetera, yes, there's agents for that.
Darshan Gress [00:25:11]:
The thing that I referenced some of my friends that were Uber successful but didn't stay in the industry, some of them had agents, and there was this assumption that the agent was going to bring work to them. And I always said to them, when you're not working, your job is to go out and get work. You can't assume that your agent is doing that for you. Because if your agent is repping 20 other stylists, guess what? They're kind of busy. There has been a shift, I will say 20 years ago, I think over 20 years ago, when I first got in the business and I was assisting a couple of stylists, I do feel like agents worked in a different way. They were bringing clients to the stylist. I think that has shifted a lot because I don't know if the work is far and few between. The budgets are smaller.
Darshan Gress [00:26:04]:
I don't know what it is, but I find that most agents are simply just negotiating for you as opposed to bringing you new clients. So if you put all your eggs in one basket and you're working with a client and you're shooting the catalogs for Neiman Marcus for years and years and years, and that client goes away and you haven't developed relationships with other clients, your work is going to slow down. And so that's one thing that I think is important as a freelance stylist, is understanding. Once again, there's so many levels. It's not just being creative. There's the sales aspect of it, which no one wants to talk about because I hate thinking of it as sales. I also hate thinking of it as the word networking, but that's what it is. And for me, networking is building relationships.
Darshan Gress [00:26:54]:
It's maintaining those relationships like the person that introduced us, granite. This is not a job, but I've maintained relationships with people for over 20 years and they open doors for me, whether it's an opportunity like this to be able to talk to you or I stay in touch with them, and it's not about being slimy, and I don't wait until I need something I can do the relationship while I'm working, when I'm not working. Because when you're networking, I think that's the other thing. People assume that you're going to take two weeks or a month and you're going to send out all these emails and you're going to call these people and you're going to reach out to your friends or former clients or whatever, and by the end of the month, you're going to have jobs. No, guess what? It's going to be six months from now. You're randomly going to get a call based on the work that you're doing this month because that's how it works. And that's why when you're working, when you're not working, you're continually having the conversations, you're continually checking in with people and maintaining relationships. It's not slimy.
Darshan Gress [00:28:03]:
And trust me, there are people in the industry that I have chosen not to maintain relationships with. They probably could have got me work down the road, but I didn't personally gel with their personality. And I knew me maintaining a relationship with them was me using them for work and for me personally. That's not what it's about. I really want to have authentic relationships so that when I do get a call about a job and somebody's referred me, I can trust that I can call that person that referred me and say, what do you think about the person that just called me about the job? You know what I mean? But if you'rE on the fence about the person you're networking with that referred you, they might go around your back, and I don't know.
Heidi [00:28:47]:
Yeah. So I love that you bring this up because I cannot tell you how many guests have come on. And ultimately, it comes down to relationships. And I like to think of it as, like, true, genuine friendships. Right. Like you said, if you're not really gelling with the person, let them move on. We're not here to do this just for strategy. We're here to just build some community and some friendships.
Heidi [00:29:10]:
And yes, that word network is like, right. But at the end of the day, it does ultimately come down to who you know and who you talk to and who you keep in touch with on a regular basis, not just when they need something. So you don't have a huge presence online. I mean, you've got a simple website, you've got, like, 300 connections on LinkedIn. And I think your Instagram is like, 1600 or. I don't know, it's small.
Darshan Gress [00:29:36]:
I don't even think it's that.
Heidi [00:29:37]:
Okay, well, how do you maintain these relationships and friendships? Is it text and email? Like, just really one to one personal?
Darshan Gress [00:29:45]:
So I have a couple of things to say about that. I think I might have said it earlier on. Industry, marketing, networking, everything. Social media. There was no social media back in the day, even five years ago, I don't think people treated it the way that they do now. And I do think at this stage, I'm probably missing out on opportunities because I don't have a huge social media following. But I will say this, is that the career that I was building from the beginning was very strategic, and I niched into very specific things that I wanted. And now, keep in mind, there was no social media 25 years ago, right.
Darshan Gress [00:30:29]:
But I did things that would lead to those opportunities. And I do believe strongly that if you are working towards, for example, being a costume designer on TV, I can tell you I have not had one job opportunity because somebody found me on Instagram. No, that's not how. And I knew that over five years ago when people were pushing me. I mean, I don't know if you know who Gary Vaynerchuk is, but I worked with him on the very first Apple TV show. They had a show that tanked, pun intended. It was actually a spin off of. Not a spin off, but it was like Shark Tank but for apps, like your phone app.
Heidi [00:31:14]:
Oh, yeah.
Darshan Gress [00:31:15]:
It was called Planet of the Apps, and it was basically the same concept. Gosh. Now, over five years ago, I want to say around 2015, 2016, I worked with Gary Vaynerchuk. And if anybody knows, if your audience knows who he is, I think many will. Yeah. Digital marketing. Get out on Instagram. My very first snap, he was like, what do you mean, you're not on Snapchat? And he filmed me, and he was like, I'm doing it for you.
Darshan Gress [00:31:40]:
And his videographer at the time, Drock, was like, I'll set it up for you. Knock your socks off. Because I'm not a tech person. I definitely had Instagram, and at that point, my Instagram, you wouldn't know. I was a stylist. I shot pictures of food and posted pictures of food, and I love food. I'm a diehard foodie. I now have a Foodie Instagram account for that.
Darshan Gress [00:32:02]:
I don't really post that much, but I've now started to treat my Darshan Gress Instagram as more business fashion. Anyways, he was pushing me. I mean, I worked with him. We were together. We filmed and started, I think it was like two or three months of filming. And he was like, you need to be out there every single day. And at the time, I only was pursuing TV work, and I'm like, that's not where my work is coming from. And I do not have time.
Darshan Gress [00:32:30]:
I need to invest in networking or wherever. My time needed to be invested on the job and cultivating relationships so that I could continue to work. And there was some truth to what he said, and I do regret not doing it a little more at the time. But I don't regret what I said to him. And it was great because I know people pay a lot of money to get in the room with Gary. Yeah, I was one on one with Gary, and we gelled really well because he was like, you're a business person, I get it. We really got along, minus the football thing. He's a Jets fan and.
Darshan Gress [00:33:08]:
But he said, well, what if one day you want to do something else? If you have this following, you'll be able to spin it. There is truth to that. But we've all heard the story about those influencers that have a million followers and can't sell one T shirt. So it depends now. Yes, I am working more on with my personal clients. I've always had personal clients that have never been in front of the camera. A lawyer, a financial investor, whatever. Maybe they get in front of the camera because somebody's interviewing them.
Darshan Gress [00:33:43]:
But they're not TV people. Sure.
Heidi [00:33:45]:
They're just regular people.
Darshan Gress [00:33:46]:
Yeah. It's not a prerequisite to work with me, and it's definitely not a TV show that we're working, you know, with that. There's still high level clients. And I have to tell you, most of my clients, when I ask them, are you on Instagram? Nope, they're not. They are on LinkedIn. I know you reference LinkedIn. I know that's a place that I think down the road when I have very strategic goals and time, and I literally only have so much time in the day, and I just right now don't have the time to deal with that. I do know and believe that there are clients there for me in terms of personal clients.
Darshan Gress [00:34:23]:
On the flip side of that, I am starting to work on smaller ticket things, if you will, as a stylist, because there has been a lot of requests. I started to put things out there on Instagram, and I would get DMs. I wish I could work with you. And I am starting to get people that are requesting, well, how does it work? How much does it cost? And the truth is, my services, one on one, is a premium service. It takes a lot of time, so therefore, it costs some money. And I think people think it's going to cost $100 for three weeks worth of work. Well, guess what? I'm not working for $100 for one day of work. But my point in all that is, yes, I don't have a big following, but my career, I have worked nonstop in terms of TV work, my entire career.
Darshan Gress [00:35:12]:
And it's been such an honor and a joy to have people call me and to maintain relationships. I mean, I just had a call. It didn't work out because my schedule, I was actually headed to Europe, and a client that I've worked with for 15 years, a production company, called me. Of course, the second you plan a vacation. I had multiple calls leading up to that vacation. It was very painful, but I said no to all of them. But, yeah, I do believe that in terms of finding work and finding clients, you have to really know, what is your goal? What's your end goal and where are those people? Where are those clients? Because if your end goal is, I want really high end VIP clients, I'm not saying they're not on social media, and I'm not saying that it hurts you to put yourself out on social media. In fact, I think it's a good thing if you have the time to do that, but you have to be calculated where you're investing your time, and you want to invest your time where your end goal is going to get you the fastest, if that makes sense.
Darshan Gress [00:36:18]:
I don't know if I said that correct.
Heidi [00:36:19]:
No, it does. I guess back to the. But how are you keeping. I just put it bluntly again. How are you keeping in touch with these people over the years, and how are you getting some of these personal styling clients? Like, how are you getting connected to these people? Is it just in terms of. Since it's not on these typical social platforms?
Darshan Gress [00:36:43]:
Yeah. In terms of the TV production clients, there's many people that are involved when it comes to actually hiring me, whether it's the line producer, which is the title for sort of the money person, they're usually the ones that reach out first initially when there's a show, a new show or a commercial or whatever. But I'm sure that that conversation starts with the director, not always, but more with the executive producers. The way I maintain relationships with anybody is I shoot quick hellos, I shoot little texts, or I'll go into their Instagram if I'm following them and they're following whatever, and they make a comment, hey, how are you doing? I just start organic conversations and I will say, I genuinely think of certain people. When something references an outfit or something that I did on Project Runway or Top Chef I've worked on, or any of those shows, if something rings a bell and I think of there's a particular line producer who I love and adore, I'll shoot her a, shoot a message, and she's actually at a company now that I've not worked with her for yet. I don't know if I ever will. But we maintain relationships because that's just how you do it. You do it once again, not when you need something.
Darshan Gress [00:38:05]:
In terms of the personal clients, I have to say, I think that every single one of my personal clients has come word of mouth. And so I think it's important also, no matter what niche of the industry you're in, is telling your friends, telling people what you're doing and what kind of clients you want. Because my best clients came because I basically said, this is what I'm doing. This is the kind of ideal client I want because I'm very strategic in terms of the clients that I work with. I don't want somebody to think of me as a personal shopper. Like, I am a stylist. That is my heart, that's my soul. And yes, I do personally shop for people, but I actually just turned somebody down who I would love to work with.
Darshan Gress [00:38:54]:
And she may come back, but she basically wanted me to. She was like, I don't need all that. I just need you to go out and buy. And she had a laundry list of the things that she wanted, and I was like, well, you want a personal shopper, and I can do that, but that's not how my business is structured. So you have to figure out what you want, what your end goals are, and then you network, and you're really clear about that. Now, I am currently in the process of evolving a lot of what I work on because the bulk of my career has been in television. And over the last few years as a weird flute going into 2020, pre COVID, I already knew I always set my goals for the next year around November. So November 2019, I had started to write down my goals that I wanted to expand my personal styling clients because I love styling and I like working one on one with people.
Darshan Gress [00:39:49]:
And then COVID happened. So obviously there was some breaks and things didn't happen the way I thought, but it actually was a blessing in disguise because it gave me the time to really submerge. Like, I had already worked with personal clients over the years, but a lot of people would reach out to me and I'd be like, I don't have the time. I'm on a three month TV show. And then I'd reach back to them after the three months and they'd moved on or forgot or never responded or said, oh, I hired somebody else. And I was sort of sick of that pattern. And I also didn't have as much as organized as I am. And I definitely had systems and structures of how I would work with personal clients.
Darshan Gress [00:40:28]:
I didn't have it to a T, so I always got nervous every time I had to have a call with a client, and they're like, well, how do you charge? How do you do this? And I didn't have it as organized as I'd like. So over 2020 and into 21, I really got clear with how I work with my personal clients, and I came up with a system. It's funny, it's the thing that you've always done. You just didn't have it formalized. And so now that I have it formalized for myself, I don't have that fear factor because it felt like, once again, I was negotiating, if you will. Every time somebody would want to, they would reach out to me, want to hire me and be like, well, what do you charge? And I was, like, Shell shocked because I didn't know how to formalize it. Now I have no problems having clear conversations because it is what it is. It's my business, and I'm not embarrassed about it.
Darshan Gress [00:41:23]:
And I know embarrassed is probably a weird word to use, but I think people get really gun shy when it comes to money. They do when it's not like I'm selling a box of a physical product. But when you're selling a service, once again, usually service based industries, it's you. And so I got really clear. And so with that said, I'm in this whole process and transition. As I've continued, I've not stepped away from TV if the right opportunities present themselves. I still work on television shows. I just had Project Runway air the 20th season.
Darshan Gress [00:41:58]:
I did that season and got to work with the editor in chief of L Magazine. I was the costume designer for the show, but Nina was the person that I worked most with. But I'm really expanding my personal clients, and I'm in that transition. And so I probably will be upping my social media in some regards because there are some nuances to where those clients are, and there's just different things. My website currently is. I'm working on it, and I hope by the time this actual podcast airs, it'll be a little updated because people don't necessarily know that I work one on one with clients, and I do. I have clients all over.
Heidi [00:42:44]:
Yeah, I don't think I had any idea the breadth of, I mean, I've seen some stuff, but it's really amazing. You're touching some really high level people in the industry. You're like, Nina, so casual.
Darshan Gress [00:43:00]:
No, I mean, a. I adore know. It has been such an, you know, I say that I'm a know working on Top Chef for so many years. I haven't worked on the last few seasons of, yeah, but I started season one when it wasn't Padma as the host. I actually did the original, but, you know, and I haven't worked on Top Chef for years, but I did a ton of their spin offs. I did Top Chef Jr. I did Top Chef Masters, Top Chef. I think it was called duels.
Darshan Gress [00:43:34]:
There's tons of spin offs. And because I love food, it was like this perfect marriage for me. I was in awe. The fact that I know Jacques Papan and I don't know if you know who that is. I don't know, but what a legend, I have to say. I got street creds with my grandma, who with us, she's been gone for over ten years. And my grandmother, that was like, she didn't care anything about my career. But the fact that I worked with him, that's to show how the age that he's at.
Darshan Gress [00:44:05]:
He worked with Julia Child.
Heidi [00:44:08]:
Okay. Yeah, no, I'm familiar with her.
Darshan Gress [00:44:10]:
Yeah. And it goes the same with the one on one clients. I really say that I work with industry leaders in the sense that they're at the top of their game, whether they're a fashion designer. I've worked with fashion designers on their wardrobe, on their personal wardrobe, which is crazy, you'd think, what do you mean? But once again, most of my clients love fashion. They're not. Not fashionable people. They don't need a makeover. They just need help defining, like, they're going through a change.
Darshan Gress [00:44:46]:
The truth in the reality is it's a big change. Even for me, working more with personal clients than being on a grungy TV set, I've had to rethink my wardrobe. I mean, my wardrobe for years was how you show up, T shirt and jeans and sneakers, because you're not supposed to wear anything but boots and sneakers on a TV set, which is great. And I still would wear hopefully what was considered fashionable and more of a sure pair, but that's what I wore. As I continue to work with other clients that are at a higher profile, I've had to expand my wardrobe in a different way. And so personal clients, it's so fascinating to me. And working with all these people, I learned so much from them, too, because they're so diverse in terms of the industries that they work in. But there's always something to learn.
Darshan Gress [00:45:36]:
And I'm a fly on the wall of these amazing. Whether it's creative or business, people know, financial experts. I'm like, oh, tell me about.
Heidi [00:45:46]:
Yeah, totally. This is so fascinating. I know from what I see, you kind of split your time between New York and LA ish. Yeah. And I imagine to do, especially the TV type of work, that's where you have to be. You're not doing this anywhere in the world. You're doing this in New York and LA.
Darshan Gress [00:46:09]:
And that is one of the other reasons that. Back to 2019 and setting goals, I was like, I can't do this forever. I'm a diehard New Yorker, but I love LA. It's nice having the mix, I have to say. It goes both ways. But there comes a point where I can't work a 20 hours day. I mean, my knees. I'm at the age where after a 20 hours day.
Darshan Gress [00:46:43]:
I'm not in the same shape as my 20 year old assistants, although I can sometimes run circles around some of my 20 year old assistants that get really exhausted after hour eight. I'm like, guys, we have another 10 hours to go. Wake up. Get some coffee.
Heidi [00:46:58]:
Yeah. So that TV component of it is very physically hands on, location specific. And the client side, the personal clients, do you do all that in person or do you do some stuff?
Darshan Gress [00:47:13]:
A lot of stuff. Remote. So it can go both ways in terms of promote, virtual or in person. I prefer to be in person with my personal clients, though. I have loved that. If I have a client in New York, I can have a fitting with my tailor in New York, who I know my tailor for years, and I can watch on Zoom in LA and it works out so I don't have to fly back to New York. That's been the biggest godsend blessing because that, I think, also prevented me from really expanding this career in terms of the personal styling for years, because I was like, how does this work? How do I actually live in both? Because I am a local in both places. So if you are watching this and you want to hire me, I fly myself to either of those places and I put myself up.
Darshan Gress [00:48:07]:
There's no expense on my client's behalf. Now, if I work with a client, let's say, in a different area of the country, yes. Then that client is flying me there and putting me up if they need to in a hotel or whatever. But having the luxury of Zoom and being able to do things virtually is great. But I will say there's this idea that it's easier, it's faster. If it's virtual, wrong. It actually takes longer. It's harder to see things.
Darshan Gress [00:48:36]:
I mean, there's definitely clients that I have had virtual closet edits, which I insist on before. It's part of the stages of what I do when I work with the process of what I do. Okay. And then I shop for them, and then I physically go to their home and I see something, and I'm like, that's the color. It did not look like that on the Zoom. And so I've learned, yes, you can do a lot, and you can definitely style. Like, I definitely take individual pictures of clients wardrobe, and so therefore I can create lookbooks and create outfits for them digitally. I could be anywhere in the world doing that, which is great.
Darshan Gress [00:49:17]:
I can be in Paris and do that, which is great. But in terms of the actual styling and seeing how something fits, because even like I had referenced doing a fitting with my know, I had one client and my tailor was like, darshan, I just don't know how to communicate this. But you're not seeing it the way I'm seeing it. I'm like, I'm just going to have to trust you. It was fear factor. It was a $5,000 dress. And I was like, okay, tailor it what you're saying, but I do not see what you're seeing. So, yes, I can do things virtually.
Darshan Gress [00:49:47]:
I prefer to do things in person, and I think it goes faster, and I think the end result is so much better for the client.
Heidi [00:49:55]:
So some of these key relationships you have that are very high trust factor, like, with your tailor, who you've worked with for a really long time, you can lean into their decision to like, you know what? Let me just fix it. But if you don't have that foundation, it would be fairly impossible to do the level of styling that you're doing.
Darshan Gress [00:50:16]:
Completely remote.
Heidi [00:50:17]:
So it sounds like you pretty much don't do like, you do some stuff remote at a certain point, but at some point, there's physical, in person engagement to make sure this is all lining up correctly.
Darshan Gress [00:50:28]:
Yeah, it's interesting. I just got a call about a month ago, give or take, actually, only probably two weeks ago, from a producer that I maintain a relationship with, and she's working on a show. The show is in the Midwest. The show is really the concept of it I love. And she's got two hosts, they're based in Boston, and she wanted me to prep in LA, send the stuff to Boston and have virtual fittings. And for multiple reasons, it did not work out. But I have to say, and I'd never worked or met with the two people that were the hosts of the know. I was courting the idea, but I set very strategic guidelines of how this would work for me.
Darshan Gress [00:51:16]:
And I'm like, look, if this doesn't work for you, I get it. But doing something virtuaLly, because there was a little bit of, well, this will take less time. You don't have to fly. And I'm like, we're going to have a fitting virtually, and then they're going to fly to location and you're going to see that it doesn't fit the way that I think it fits on a virtual zoom. You need to have a really good, like, that was one thing that I was like, and I don't know, tailors in. I actually, we did a season in Boston of Top Chef, and it was a used, we worked with multiple tailors and not one of them was anything that I would recommend. So I basically said for, like, you've got to find a tailor and it's got to be like an amazing tailor, and you've got a budget for a big budget tailoring job because one of the women you can see, I googled the women and I'm like, I don't think this person is going to walk into a size, whatever it is, and it's going to look good and it's going to be a simple hem that any tailor could do. I think it's going to be custom tailoring and there was blazers involved and whatever.
Darshan Gress [00:52:21]:
It didn't work out because our schedules and timing didn't work, and I really was going to do it. I have to say, the second I knew I wasn't going to do it, I was like, because that would have been real tough and I learned a lesson. I think that really doing these virtual jobs, it's doing some people disservice. Like, if that's all they can do, great. And I think it's great. There's a lot of personal stylists, even ones that I've coached, that that's all their business is, virtual styling. And I think that's great. But at the level that I do, in terms of, there's a big difference between a woman or a man who goes to the office and is not the boss and just wants to wear bananas and look good and have a great feel, there's a big difference between that versus the man or the woman that's walking in the room with billionaires and negotiating and needs to look apart.
Darshan Gress [00:53:19]:
I need their clothes to fit. Like, there should not be anything out of line. So I'm meticulous about tailoring. Tailoring is like something that I can make something from. H and M look amazing with a good tailor. I love that. Not everything. I mean, the quality has to be sure, but I'm not buying H and M from my fancy clients.
Darshan Gress [00:53:42]:
But my point is that the tailor is sometimes more important than the clothes. I know that sounds crazy. It's not a black and white statement, so take it with a grain of salt.
Heidi [00:53:54]:
Yeah, totally. So many little nuances and insights that I've never thought about for this aspect of the fashion industry. So if people wanted to get started as a freelance stylist, it sounds pretty imperative that they're in one of these key locations, New York or LA, to kind of get an internship or get some type of assistant role, and then just network, build the relationships, grow like that, learn those marketing and negotiating and business skills is that the path send people down.
Darshan Gress [00:54:30]:
And I will say, I started essentially my career, if you will, when I was in high school at the. True, that's true. So it's not to say you have to be in New York or you have to be in LA, but you do have to get your feet and your hands dirty. You have to start styling people. And even if. Know, I know this is going to sound absolutely crazy, but if you want to be a personal stylist, for example, start dressing your friends, start taking your friends into the mall or wherever it is. Because the thing is, you can learn all about the body shapes, all about proportions and vertical and horizontal and all of that. But no body is the same.
Darshan Gress [00:55:12]:
Every body shape is so there are totally different nuances to everybody. And that includes skin tone. I mean, really, there's this big trend about doing your colors, and I'm all about wearing colors that are good for you.
Heidi [00:55:28]:
I did mine recently. Yeah, my friend got it for me for my birthday.
Darshan Gress [00:55:32]:
But on the flip side of that, I will say I'm totally against lumping somebody into. You can only wear this. You can only wear that because let me tell you, there's ways to wear colors that you absolutely love, just not up against your face. For example, you can wear a great pant. And so I think sometimes it does a disservice. So my point is that you can learn those skills, but you really need to get your hands and feet wet. And I do think that no matter what niche, I do think it's important to figure out what niche you enjoy working in. I can't tell you how many times people pursue assisting me on TV shows.
Darshan Gress [00:56:09]:
And I'm like, I just want to let you know, this is real people. This is not costume design. It's real people. So it's more like personal styling, if you will. It is TV, but it's personal styling. And I cannot tell you how many of my assistants in the union are like, oh, my God, your job is so much harder than working on a scripted TV show. Because a scripted TV show, you create characters. Not to say it's a lot of work and there's a lot more people and factors, but I'm dealing with a person.
Darshan Gress [00:56:44]:
The actor is being told what to wear. And yes, you work with the actor, but I'm working with a real person. This idea, I went into a fitting once with the person that I just worked with, and we have racks of clothes and the executive producer came in and was like, darshan, to come and say hi to everybody. And she was like, why do you need all these clothes? And my client turned to her and go, how do you think it works? It's not like she just tells me what to put on, and I just put it on and say, okay, Darshan dressed like, there's opinions about it and there's a personality about it. And the thing that's tricky about what I do on television is that a lot of times, the director, the producers, they want to dictate what the talent is wearing. And I'm like, these are real people. You can tell me to make them sexier. And I've had, literally, that comment about somebody years ago on a show.
Darshan Gress [00:57:41]:
And I was like, this woman is a millionaire who owns a huge company, and her brand is about, it's not a sexy company. She's a beautiful woman, but she's never going to be breasts out.
Heidi [00:57:59]:
This is not her image and her.
Darshan Gress [00:58:01]:
Brand, not a carriage, and she's representing her company when she gets in front of the cameRa. So knowing what you want to do in terms of the niche of work that you want to work on, and that's why it's so good to assist, because once again, so many people want to assist me, and then they get with me and they work on a show and they're like, oh, this is totally different than what I thought. This is more personal styling and fashion styling, as opposed to creating a costume and a character. And then same with commercials, is very different than print. What you're doing when the clothes are moving on camera versus a still shot, it's totally two different worlds. It's not to say you can't do both, but I can't tell you how many times I've worked on TV shows where a celebrity is brought in as a guest and they hired a fashion editorial stylist who does the pages of, I'm not saying vogue, but something, a magazine, and puts the client, the celebrity, into something. And they show up on my set, and I'm the costume designer in charge of everybody's looks, and the outfit looks like a blob on camera. Because TV work and what works on TV is so different than what works on a fashion editorial.
Darshan Gress [00:59:19]:
It might be the most amazing and unbelievable thing, but somebody in the middle of America watching the TV show has no idea what designer it is, has no idea where it came from. They're just looking at it going, why is that woman wearing a potato sack? You know what your context. Yeah. And understanding what you want to pursue. And then pursuing it. And yes, if you want fashion, a lot of it is based in New York and you know, there's markets everywhere. Truly.
Heidi [00:59:52]:
Yeah. Yeah. Wow. I could listen to you talk about the nuances of this for days. It's so interesting to me. Like I said, I've done a little bit of print stuff in my day, back when I designed, and I would do photo shoots and print catalogs for the brands and that sort of thing, but that was the end of it. I've never done any video or any TV stuff. And so many little nuances.
Heidi [01:00:18]:
It's wild to think about. So just getting your feet wet and that might be, like you said, just with your friends or even going to your local mall and seeing if they have anything going on and how you can get started behind the scenes on something like that. It doesn't have to be this big undertaking in New York or LA. And I appreciate that reminder because I do talk about freelancing. I talk about how you can work and do this anywhere. I think there's some nuances to styling that change that a little bit. Compared to a lot of fashion designers or technical designers can do everything completely remote. But it's a good reminder that you're right.
Heidi [01:00:57]:
There are markets everywhere and things to shoot everywhere, too. Not everybody's shooting at a studio in New York or LA. Like you just said, something in the Midwest or sometimes they go on location.
Darshan Gress [01:01:07]:
It just reminded me, know, look in your local market. If you're in Chicago, for example, or Washington, D. C. Or Miami, there's agencies there that rep stylists see if you can get on their roster to assist. That's really how. Because the truth is, no one's going to cold call you if you're at home and you want to be a stylist. I mean, the likelihood of somebody finding you if you're know, herndon, Virginia, which is where I grew up, it's far and few that goes back to networking, that goes back to knocking on every single door. And yeah, no one might call you for six months, a year, but you will get a call at some point if you're professional about it and you present yourself in a way that really is.
Darshan Gress [01:01:56]:
And the other thing, I'm just going to throw this out there because I think it needs to be said. I think so many people I found in a younger generation, they just want to jump in and actually be the stylist. They want to be at the top of the game. And while I do believe that you can start, I was really afforded some crazy opportunities at a very young age. My career took some crazy blessings, and I can't say it was all me, and it was at a different time when there wasn't as much competition. I will also say that, but I think that one thing that I always did, and I think it's important, is once I realized, oh, my God, I need some skills, I need to assist. I think it's so important to really humble yourself and realize you don't need to be a stylist this year. You can assist.
Darshan Gress [01:02:50]:
And I will also say this. With that said, a lot of my assistants will work every single day of the year, as opposed to some of my stylist friends, myself included. They don't work year round, and the reason is because a stylist has a team, so there's a lot of people that can be working, and you can go from job to job and assist other people, whereas for me, it's just me. I'm only hired for that job. And there has been actually, during COVID I was like, you know what? I don't care. I want to work. I need to make money and pay the bills. And I assisted a couple of my friends on some really big, really big jobs.
Darshan Gress [01:03:32]:
And I have to say the day rates for assisting were, like, crazy high day rates. So it was like, of course I'll assist you, please. Pretty much. That's great pay. But my point is, I'd been doing this for 25 years, and I assisted two years ago for a couple of days because you know what? A, I wanted to keep busy. B, I wanted some money. And you know what? I was like, I've never done. It was a very specific genre that I had never done, and it was more costumey stuff, which not my favorite niche, but I actually love going into the costume houses.
Darshan Gress [01:04:03]:
It's fun when I don't have the pressure to create, and I'm assisting somebody and I'm collecting everything, and I went Buck Wild for, actually, it was about two weeks, and I created all these costumes and pulled all this stuff that was totally wild. Do I want to do that as a career? Absolutely not. It was so much work and not what. It had nothing to do with fashion, and that's not what I want to do. My point is, I learned a lot. I don't know. I learned a lot, but I learned some things, and I think it's important to be humble and say, I need to assist and learn the skills, because the more you learn, and it's usually the assistants that move up into the lead role. SomEbody sees them along the way and don't step on people's toes to get there.
Darshan Gress [01:04:52]:
But when you're nice and you do hard work, I can say that my motto when I assisted back in the day, it wasn't about me. I was there to make the person I was assisting look good. And I think that really stood out because there's so many assistants now, especially with social media. They're on their cameras, and I'm like, excuse me, we're here to work. I need you to be present and work, and there's a time and a place for that. But my point is, the ones that really hustle, the ones that really do the job, those are the ones that stand out to me. And I'm like, when I get a call and I'm not available because I referred passing it to all those past jobs this last few months that I wasn't able to do to assistance that I have a woman that works with me, and she does some of her own personal clients and commercials, and she's amazing. And her career, I think she's in her late twenty s and she's unbelievable.
Darshan Gress [01:05:46]:
And you know what? She's the first person I recommend for anything because she did such an amazing job working with me on my team. And it's a team effort.
Heidi [01:05:55]:
So, dear listener, make friends with Darshan and do a kick ass job. Lovely. This has been fascinating and so inspiring to hear about your career and all the different angles and components that go into this type of role. I learned so much. I really don't know anything about the styling side of this. Where can people find you and connect with you online?
Darshan Gress [01:06:22]:
Yeah, well, everything is my name, which is a little hard. It's Darshan Gress, so it's D-A-R-S-H-A-N-G-R-E-S-S. You can definitely find me on Instagram if you want to stay in touch with me, you can send me a DM, and I will send you a link. You can put the word news, news in a comment or in a DM, and I will send you a link to add you to my newsletter list so we can stay in touch and you can get updates. Also, if there's anybody out there, I do offer consultations to up and coming stylists, so if that's something that you want to hop on a zoom and get some career advice, it's probably something that I'm enjoying more than anything right now because I love talking about all of it. So happy to help any of you out there.
Heidi [01:07:12]:
Okay, awesome. We'll put all that in the show notes, and I will end with a question that I ask everybody at the end of the interview. And that is, what is one thing you wish people asked you about working in the fashion industry as a freelancer, that they never do.
Darshan Gress [01:07:28]:
What is one thing? Gosh, you've got me stumped. What is one thing that they don't ask me about freelancing? Is that what. Yeah.
Heidi [01:07:40]:
So the way I always kind of put it into some different context is like, you go out for drinks or coffee with friends, and they always ask you about this and this and this about freelancing as a stylist, and they never are asking you about this thing. What is the thing that you wish people would ask you about that you kind of want to nerd out on? But that is not usually the question that comes up.
Darshan Gress [01:08:03]:
I mean, honestly, I feel like this conversation was my nerding out. I love talking business and really helping people grow their business and their success. I always say that style and success go hand in hand. That's sort of my motto in terms of styling, because the people that I work with, I want to know who they are and how that translates visually with their wardrobe. But I believe that it leads to their success because it's like putting on armor. They step into this role and they see themselves. And so when people ask me, what's the latest trend, I understand why people are asking me that. But to me, it's almost irrelevant because I don't know you yet or if it's a friend, I do know them, but I think that's the number one question I do get asked is, what are the latest trends? Or where do you shop? And I understand why, but I think that's a Band Aid on the problem.
Darshan Gress [01:08:59]:
I think it's more about if somebody were to ask me what should I do to create my personal style, that would excite me, because that would lead the conversation to, well, who do you want to be? And that would lead to talking about their success and how their wardrobe relates to that.
Heidi [01:09:19]:
Yeah. Fantastic. Fantastic advice. And sometimes you're shopping at H and M just using a really great tailor.
Darshan Gress [01:09:27]:
You know what? And I'm the queen of Vintage and thrift shopping.
Heidi [01:09:31]:
Oh, I love thrifting. Yes. I love getting, getting secondhand stuff. Fabulous. Darshan, it was really lovely to have you. Thank you so much for sharing all your expertise and your precious time with us.
Darshan Gress [01:09:44]:
Thank you for having me. Such a pleasure.