Fashion Stylist Yanina Nikitina

Yanina is a freelance Fashion Stylist with more than 2 years of experience, her career starts in the world of Marketing, just realized that her passion was the fashion world from another perspective.

Yanina Nikitina was born in Saint-Petersburg, Russia, when she finished school and university and she moved to Paris to continue her studies at the age of 25. She studied marketing there and received a Master’s degree in Luxury brand marketing and international management. After 3 years in Paris where while doing her master she also had a chance to work for Cartier and Chanel, she moved to London to work for Christian Dior as a trainee manager in retail. She still didn’t have a clear idea of what she wanted to do and my only wish was to move to London.

When did you know you wanted to be a fashion stylist?

I think the first time I clearly realized that I wanted to become a stylist was after 2 years of work in luxury retail as a manager; the job which had nothing to do with the creative process and was all about running a business and managing staff. At first, I was thinking to become a personal shopper but then naturally it transformed into styling. Personal shopping and styling are two different things because when you do personal shopping, you obviously do it for a real person who has her / his own opinion, preferences, fears which you have to take into consideration. When you style an editorial, you can be as creative as the brief allows you to be and you obviously don’t have to explain your choices to the model (for example).

What’s it like being in the Fashion industry?

I can’t say that I know the fashion industry from all sides but the only thing I can say that as in any other industry there are different people there: good, bad, nice, not nice, genuine, fake and so on. There are also professional and not that professional, but the point is that sooner or later you will find your “crowd” – a group of people with who you will be happy to work together and with who you will easily understand each other.

Describe what do you do in your work?

I style editorials which means that I get clothes from different designers and put them into looks according to the brief or mood board. I style looks books for designers, photography workshops, I also do styling for some advertising. I also do some personal shopping.

Credits: photographer Rhian Cox Make-up and hair Alisha Bailey model Dayana @ BMA models
Credits: photographer Rhian Cox Make-up Alisha Bailey Hair Andy Dowall model Ellie Rosa Simmons

What do you like about your work?

I love it because styling is a creative process, it is never the same thing, it is always new ideas, I work with different people, I meet a lot of new people, it is not 9 to 5 working hours, sometimes it can be 15 hours working day but sometimes it can be 4 hours shoot. You actually never really know what will come next. This is what I find so exciting about this job.

What advice would you pass along to those starting out in the Fashion Business?

I would advise this: it is never late to start no matter how old you are, there is a place for everybody and sooner or later you will get there, be patient, remember that it is about the process and not about destination, don’t be scared to make mistakes, try to work with different people and only by trying different things and working with different photographers, make-up artists, hairstylists you will understand what is for you and what is not, and it will also help you to find your own style. Never try to copy anyone, though you can obviously be inspired by someone else’s works. And always be inspired by something.

What inspires you?

I am a big fan of paintings; I would say I am definitely Tate Britain rather than Tate Modern, and I do a lot of art exhibitions, and I love cinema which also inspires me a lot. I also get inspired by clothes itself, sometimes I can spot pieces of clothing and create an idea for a photo shoot around it. I also love faces and sometimes a particular model can inspire me for an idea for a shoot.

For more information about Yanina, please visit: Yanina Nikitina

Credits:

Photographer Rhian Cox Make-up and hair Alisha Bailey model Dayana @ BMA models (left Image)

Photographer Rhian Cox Make-up Alisha Bailey Hair Andy Dowall model Ellie Rosa Simmons (right Image)

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