FASHION STYLING FOR 20 YEARS

20 years in and finally writing it down.

This year marks 20 years in business. It has been a real journey. I am exctied, but mostly proud of all that I have achieved.

Not 20 years “playing with clothes” as a teenager, but 20 years since I registered my ABN in my early twenties and stepped into the very real, very uncertain world of building a styling and consultancy business from the ground up.

Back then, personal styling looked very different.

There was no Instagram. No polished reels. No algorithms rewarding visibility. The industry still carried the residue of the 80s “Image Consultant”, and the idea of personal styling as a profession was, at best, niche, and at worst, misunderstood.

I started with a small advertisement on Gumtree. I scraped together $300 and had a basic website built. Blue background, pink male and female stick figures, listing my services. It was far from refined. But it was a start.

Showing Up

I had just returned from studying fashion in Milan, full of energy and completely unaware of how difficult the road ahead would be.

I also formally trained in image consulting. I still remember being told I was too young, that this industry was “for wealthy housewives”, and that I didn’t really have a place in it.

I did it anyway.

Because even then, I understood something that has stayed with me for two decades:

This work is about people, not clothing.

The Business of Building Confidence

Connection has always been at the centre of how I work, and it remains one of the most undervalued aspects of this industry.

Not networking for the sake of it, but genuine connection, understanding people, their context, their ambition, and how they want to show up in the world. The most meaningful and consistent work I have done, has come from relationships.

I have worked across most areas of the styling sphere with well know brands on incredible projects along with possessing a large database of personal styling clients. And interestingly, this is my very first blog post. After 20 years focused on the work itself, it feels like the right time to start sharing more of the thinking behind it.

More to come.

With style,

Caitlin.