I decided to embark on a career as a personal stylist, working one-on-one with clients to help them develop their personal style. I had no close associates or mentors already working in the field, and therefore felt finding an appropriate course would give me a solid foundation in the industry. That’s when I found the Australian College of Professional Styling and enrolled in The Professional Photo, Film, TV & Personal Stylist’s Course.
The idea of a self-paced course, that I could complete from home, really made sense as it meant I could study while starting to build my business. The structure of The Professional Photo, Film, TV & Personal Stylist’s Course meant that I could combine learning the theory of styling with learning on the job.
The course materials provided a very good foundation for becoming a professional stylist. In addition to gaining knowledge in personal styling, I loved learning about the fashion industry, fashion history and trend forecasting. The tutorials were directly relevant to my business and I continue to make reference to them in my daily work now.
The depth and breadth of the materials added so much to my understanding, giving me both new knowledge and reinforcing what I already knew. It gave me more confidence in speaking to my clients and other industry professionals. I also found my tutor’s feedback on my assignments to be very constructive, realistic and motivational. The administrative support from the College was also great and any questions that I had were answer promptly.
I found the final assignment of producing a portfolio challenging and was keen to produce a good result. I decided to build my portfolio as a website and relaunch it as my business site (www.annabelhayles.com). I know that I would not have taken this step without the knowledge and motivation gained from undertaking the course. It also gave me the opportunity to work with web designers and developers giving me new tools for my business.
A photo shoot for a mock magazine cover was an option for one of the assignments and this experience is something I would not have done without the course. The knowledge I gained from this experience was also invaluable in providing ideas which eventually became the content for my website.
The course has provided me with a good grounding, great confidence and a strong base to keep extending my learning on specialist topics. I now have an established business in personal styling and have developed a personal client base. It is lovely to get feedback from my clients that people notice the difference my styling has made to them. One client actually sent me a text the other day. She had been stopped in the street by someone wanting to tell her “how fabulous she looked”.
For anyone who is considering personal styling or fashion styling I would strongly recommend the course.
Thank you to my tutor and to the staff at the Australian College of Professional Styling