MEMO

TO: Professor Caroline Curvan

FROM: Lauren Meola
DATE: 10/30/2019
SUBJECT: Informational Interview Summary
______________________________________________________________________
Purpose of Interview:
On October 22, 2019, I met with one of my previous professors to conduct an interview
to gain additional knowledge about one of my dream jobs: fashion styling. Professor
Perilli had been my professor for my Business of Fashion Styling class and has her own
fashion styling brand that she has built. I’ve been very interested to know much more
about being a stylist from her perspective, since she did not extensively discuss this
during our brief time in class.
Summary of Findings:
I met with Professor Perilli inside her office here at FIT and created a list of seven
questions that I believe would uncover some unknown and behind the scenes
information about being a fashion stylist. She has her own personal company called,
MelissaShops4u, where her is role to be a personal shopper and wardrobe stylist for
clients here in New York City.
I made sure I started off asking her what she loves most about her job as a stylist, and
her response stuck with me throughout the entire interview. She felt that this job can
seriously make a change in someone’s life and that it’s almost like being a fashion
therapist. I never saw it that way, but it gave me another outlook on the career and the
major impact it has on its clients. I then asked questions relating to what she has carried
throughout her career, memorable moments, and challenges she has experienced. All
her responses related back to interactions with people and how important that is. I
learned that interacting on a personal level and being honest is very important. But in
order for these personal interactions to occur she needed to acquire a customer base,
which was a big challenge in the beginning for her. She relied more on word of mouth
and less marketing, and that has worked very well for her. She also emphasized the
notion of knowing your worth, and to never “cheapen yourself” along the way. People
want to trust you and that’s how you gain clients, but always stay to true to who you are,
and people will trust you and want to work with you more than ever before.
I then went into questions about the job itself and the physical efforts that come with
being a fashion stylist. Knowing what a typical day/week for her as a stylist gives me a
general idea and understanding of what she is physically going out and doing. She was
able to give me a short rundown of her week for that same week I interviewed her,
 MEMO
which was fascinating because of how relevant it was. She mentioned that she pulls
product, edits, and assorts the product like a merchant would. Looking at styling as
merchandising is a great insight, and I can definitely bring what I’ve learned from my
previous merchandising class into a styling career. Another great insight was learning
how she keeps up with trends, and for her that is shopping the season and going into
the stores without any intentions to buy, but solely to browse the trends for the season.
I ended the interview with brand identity and how important it is to her. Since learning a
lot about branding at FIT, it led to a major curiosity about how brand image plays into
fashion styling. I learned from her perspective and her roles as a stylist that it matters
only half the time. She’s not a celebrity stylist or editorial stylist, so she focuses more
on reputation and relationship building in person, rather than focusing on creating an
identity through her website and social media. But with that, she does believe she
needs to work harder on creating that identity for herself online.
Conclusion:
Through this interview with Professor Perilli, I learned a lot about being a stylist from
someone who is currently in the industry and I felt it gave me valuable insights on what
to expect and carry with me throughout. This has left a great impact on my views for
becoming a stylist, and everything I’ve learned will become of use one day. With that
being said, I can’t forget that this is only one perspective and that there are many other
fashion styling roles outside those that she pursues. Wardrobe styling and personal
shopping are only some of the forms of fashion styling, and I would love to specifically
become an editorial stylist. However, I still believe I can take this information and adjust
it to the type of situations I may be in as an editorial stylist in the future.