Marie Claire | Meet the Argentine stylist who works in New York for big brands

Her name is Bárbara Vélez and she has been working for several years in New York City. He worked for Gucci, Dior, Vogue Italia and for Marie Claire, also Argentina on two occasions. Here he tells us about his experience and how his job changed during the pandemic. Just weeks ago he was in Buenos Aires working for a brand in Bafweek and is preparing to teach the Fashion Stylist course online at Inside Studios that begins this April 19.

-What does a stylist have to have to develop their work well?

-You have to be very passionate about your work, committed to your passion and curious. But above all things it has to be very organized. Work as a stylist is not only creative but physical as well. Mind body and soul. It is necessary to be in the detail and in the whole. Sharpen the eye a lot. Especially when one begins to have many projects at the same time, he needs to be clear to be able to give space to creativity and good choices and decisions. Having a good work team is essential. As well as punctuality and respect above all else.

-How has work changed in the last 5 years?

-I feel that there were many changes in society and in the world that intrinsically penetrated fashion and therefore our work also mutated. Talked from the body of the woman, the gender, the rules of the archaic and demodé game that were disarmed and the parameters of beauty that evolved to an expansive level that I hope will be maintained over time. When we make fashion we instill an unconscious message in society, in the reader and the viewer that many people did not take care of, and I think that the era of the virtual world generated many positive and negative things but in the positive ones I really appreciate the fact that it gave rise to many important voices and uncovered many situations that could not continue to happen. Ecologically and socially speaking as well. Apart from creating entertainment and fantasies, we are constantly telling a story, a tale, a story.

-What is it like to work as a stylist in NY?

-It’s very funny, and very intense at the same time. You constantly have stimuli everywhere and that is the most accurate representation for me, the emotional state in everyday life in New York. Many things happen in the same second and just as you have to absorb and savor that visual eclectic party for me it was key to filter and choose. In order to develop my aesthetics and my signature as a stylist, I began to understand that there were things that caught my attention and admired but they were not “me”, and little by little in that process of self-evaluation and professional development one begins to assemble his aesthetic world , working with artists who represent you as well and with whom the creative language flows.

-What were your most interesting jobs in your career?

-The editorial that we made exclusively for Vogue Italia together with Alberto María Colombo where we include AI technology and work the human-technology-nature relationship, it was clearly a super interesting project. The last cover campaign we did with my friend and photographer Martina Keenan for the Margot99 brand that comes out in September as well, the search in styling was key and the brand allowed me to give the campaign a story through all the styling without losing aiming the product but being able to tell a story, it was spectacular.

Work for brands like Gucci and Dior too It was amazing because I discovered a world that I did not know, a very elevated and great universe, working with specialist seamstresses, having access to the entire collection, being part of the message transmitted by the brand, and so I could continue. And well, as always my heart beats strong when it is with Argentina, and the last parade we did with Noel and Diego Romero for Ay Not Dead with themes of the great, Charly García himself, was like scoring a goal with his hand. We achieved the perfect mariage between their ideas and mine, it was a very beautiful, interesting and even exciting creative process. It gives me a lot of emotion and satisfaction to work for my country, especially when designers trust my gaze and give me freedom to contribute my vision to their project. Nothing and no other place managed to give me the pure happiness that it gives me when I work with Argentines in my country. Very crazy right?

and Clara Ballester