www.businessinsider.com: I'm a freelance stylist. I mostly style musicians, and I'm also a TikTok influencer. I style clients and then I'll also create content with them. It's cool how the two jobs intertwine.
I'm from North Carolina originally. I had been living between LA and New York before I enrolled in Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York. I had only done one semester at FIT before dropping out in December.
12 comments:
It is so interesting to see a successful freelance stylist working because of social media. That’s like the dream - you DM someone you admire and miraculously, you become friends. I won’t lie, I’ve done that myself a couple times (to no avail). I think the power of TikTok is staggering. I found Jules’ TikTok, and I have never encountered it before, but I can see that it holds a significant role in her continued work. Styling is one of those careers that you don’t necessarily think of, but it’s actually so lucrative and widespread. What a cool life to live - messaging a brand like, “Hey, can X wear this thing for free?” “Sure!” I think music styling is one of my favorite genres. I love how adventurous that kind of fashion can get. Quick tangent - the SNL photographer, Mary Ellen Matthews, is one of my biggest inspirations. Her photography is consistently innovative and vibrant and visually surprising, and it always matches the vibe of the styling. I’ve seen the most classic, reserved photos to the most wild insane images from her, all done well.
This article gives me a lot of hope for my future. Even though I am deciding to stick with the route of college, unlike her, I feel like this gives me a lot of inspiration to keep a focus outside of school as well. To keep a presence on social media and the web. And especially to be actively looking for opportunities that can help me get to where I want to be in the future. Something that I do dislike in this article though is it’s creating this narrative that if you just reach out, you'll get the opportunity. This is so widely untrue. I have had many occurrences in my life already where I work super hard, reach out over and over again, and get nothing in return. Zero opportunity. I feel like this is how it goes most of the time and by describing the beginning of her experience as dropping out of school, I don’t think this paints the best picture. Not to say that you can’t get anywhere without a college education, but I think the world would be a better place if everyone had the opportunity to get a college education.
This article does help me in thinking what I should do if I cannot pursue a career in the theatre industry. I think the opportunity that author or the speaker in this article got is truly one of a kind and hard to replicate. However, the story and the action that they did inspires me into thinking what I wish to do. When I was pick and choosing the subject that I wanted to major in, I focused and settled on philosophy and have been preparing for it for more than three years. During May last year, a scary but interesting thought passed my mind, I thought what if I major in drama design related things? Would that be fun? I do love theatre and have been active in school theatre for years but the complete change in path and major scares me. Eventually I did make the change and I think it was a change that was worth all the extra effort I put in.
This article was so inspiring to read. It's so cool to see how many things can be done with a background in design, especially things you wouldn’t normally think about. It’s also super cool to see how social media has been used to create so many opportunities for people. Going into this field can definitely feel like such a huge gamble (both art and theater specifically), but seeing that there are so many success stories makes me feel a whole lot better about going into the industry. Social media is such an interesting and simple tool to use, and something that almost everyone has access to. Seeing that landing these jobs is as simple as shooting a direct message on instagram is such a weird thing to see is possible, but it's really reassuring to know that I have the same opportunities that these people doing such amazing things have.
I like that this article is a reflection of someone successful who didnt finish college. Our society puts so much pressure on youth to go to college and get a degree when most don’t know what they want to do with their life yet or college isnt the right structure of training for them. Her comment about school making her feel insecure about her abilities really hit me in the gut. Lots of arts departments have this terrible tradition of tearing people apart to put them back together, but why do we need to tear apart? Why cant art schools and conservatories be a positive building of skills instead? I don’t think getting jobs by messaging people on social media is as easy as she made it seem tho. I think tik tok is a great tool for the creative industry and its interesting to read how she utilized it to capitalize on her career.
While part of me is just a little tiny bit bitter to see a TikToker winning, the better part of me is really excited to see this type of success. Evidently, college is not the only way through life, but our society allows for very little time to rest or figure stuff out, and college is often a recourse for those who have an idea but not a commitment. Too much of our lives revolve around working, making a career, making a living, survival. We were not meant to survive this way, and I am glad that this person has found a way to capitalize on her potential. I will say, while being a go-getter is a definite boon, as with it being the entertainment industry, it still comes down to the right place, the right time, and relying on the mercy/goodwill/et cetera of highly capricious people. Best of success to Jules Wettreich.
This article truly encapsulates how much the entertainment business is about knowing people and being able to strike up a conversation. It is so easy to wrap yourself in your work and forget that there is such a things as talking to people in a genuine way. Honestly, it is quite hard to come up and talk to people. Especially in an unfamiliar environment, so i like that this person was able to do so. In the article she talks about how like a ping pong ball she was propelled from one job opportunity to another. It is quite inspiring. It also shows that a striking appearance leaves an impression. I can’t wait to see more work from Jules Wettreich. I like her frank, raw, honesty. Her chill vibes. I think one of the most impressive parts is saying how she prices outfits. I usually am told “get payed what you are worth” but dont receive further guidance. It is quite obnoxious when trying to gauge what to price things.
I think this really sums up some of the shifts were seeing in how folks get jobs and make a break into the industry. Her’s is not the first story of success like this I've seen even this week. Social media platforms have blown the lid off the entertainment industry and just like this article pointed out have become just as influential as getting the right degree. I think there has always been a certain extent of knowing the right person in this industry, but the fact that it now extends to a random direct message landing you something real is super new and different. I honestly don't know how I feel about the new influencer path to the industry, but I do think it's an interesting shift away from traditional college avenues. And I suppose if I got lucky with the right dm I'd be pretty dang happy with it.
As fascinating as I find the phenomenon of TikTok, it's a little dangerous to imply that there is wide success in becoming a TikTok influencer. This is just another version of the small-town whoever who moves to LA and is discovered on the street by an agent, then swiftly becomes a star. Does it happen? Yes. Is it common? Absolutely not. I think social media is a significant and important tool that one can use to bolster success and gain opportunities, but one shouldn't put all their eggs into the TikTok/YouTube/whatever basket. The path to stardom of Olivia Rodrigo will never happen again. That said, I think it's totally valid to take advantage of social media for the engagement it fosters and as a medium to practice one's art form. If a DM can land an opportunity, that's a wonderful thing, but it shouldn't be expected. It was kind of glossed over, but Jules didn't reach out to artists asking for jobs, she simply complimented them and built a rapport before floating the idea of collaborating. The key for her (and I'm sure others) was in the approach.
I think of this article demonstrates just how important networking is to our industry and adjacent industries. when you put yourself out there and introduce yourself to everybody around you make your presence be known people are gonna try and remember you for a future projects that they may need help on. It’s quite serendipitous how when she left school she was very quickly given that opportunity. The world of personal stylists is not one I know a whole lot about. For some reason I was never really sure where the need for stylists come from. I guess it makes sense for musicians to need one be cause they need the create that “look” for the group to fit there music style. But when it came to runway I assumed that the designer would have already decided what pieces to put where. Personal styling is really interesting to me and I hope to learn more in the future.
Jules Wettreich seems to have a great deal of self-awareness and confidence, which is the key to how she got where she is. I loved reading this article because I really got an inside look as to who is as a person beyond a collaborator. But that seems to be what makes a good collaborator—getting along with others by showing your true self. And clothing is so so personal. Jules’s process for styling individuals feels so authentic because she actually gets to know them and their vision before deciding what to put on their bodies. As an avid watcher of red carpets growing up, my favorite looks were the ones where I thought a celebrity looked comfortable and confident in a look—not just if they were wearing a gorgeous gown by a famous designer. I carry this lesson with me with my own personal style: wearing what feels like me.
I have some conflicting ideas about this article. On one hand, Wettreich's story is pretty impressive. She only went to school for one semester, and her career started all on social media. Tik Tok doesn't seem like it could actually get you a job, but I guess it can. Then again, there's the element of this article that seems unrealistic. Social media doesn't guarantee success, of course, and I think that Wettreich's story is a one in a million. If I didn't, I would have dropped out already and started messaging people on Instagram. As for Wettreich's job in it of itself, I didn't really know how much a job like that paid. The fashion industry is not my forte nor my intended field of work, but I had no idea that you could make so much money from just styling people. All in all, I think that this is a really great, albeit somewhat far-fetched, success story for Wettreich.
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