Working with PRs

One of the most important things you will need to do as a stylist is to build up good relationships with PRs. Public Relations (PR) is a core element of the fashion industry. Fashion PR agencies work with designers to promote their products and communicate their brand across a range of channels: digital, print and events. Agents within PR companies will usually represent a number of different luxury or niche brand designers and actively promote those designers to the fashion industry, the press and the consumer. Alternatively an individual designer may have their own in-house PR who acts as their press officer and deals with sample requests. High-street brands or designers will also have their own PR departments in charge of lending samples (clothes, shoes, accessories etc).

The PR agency is in place to manage the fashion identity of the brand they are representing and push it forward. Whether it is producing high-quality fashion shows or working alongside fashion stylists, they will track the consumer, their behaviour and their values, which in turn enables the PR company to create powerful brand platforms that appeal directly to the consumer.

PRs are your main point of contact in fashion styling. You need to know which designers a PR represents, where they are based and who is the correct person to contact. Fashion stylists work with PRs to organize call-ins, where a stylist will call up to request a look or sample of a designer brand to borrow for a shoot.

The PR will use their discretion as to whether they feel the placement of the sample in the selected magazine is worth the loan. Samples are lent to stylists free of charge; however, there is an understanding that all samples will be returned in the same pristine condition as they were sent out. Building up trust with the various PR representatives is vital. You must build a reputation with them as a reliable stylist to lend to, not only in how you look after the samples but where you promote the brand they are lending.

PRs are very guarded in who they will lend to. This should not be a problem for leading magazines, but for lesser-known publications samples may be harder to borrow. Most PRs will not lend samples for advertising, unless it is of high quality and worth their while: the PR is mostly looking to get the sample credited to the designer they represent and this will not happen in an advertising campaign for certain products or brands such as breakfast cereals or motorcars. For music videos, the decision to lend samples will depend on who the artist is and if the PR company wants their client’s designs to be associated with the brand the artist represents.

PR companies will notify you of the latest launches and collections by emailing press releases (having worked with them once you should automatically be on their mailing list) and holding press days at the start of the season, when you can view the latest collections off the catwalk. Press days are usually organized two to three months after the shows; just before, these new collections will start to be shot for magazines.