An interview with stylist Caroline Davis

With nearly three decades of experience working for some of the countries most loved and recognised brands, Caroline shares her stories of life as a stylist, tips & tricks and her relationships with photographers

Hi Caroline, I hope you're keeping safe in these new crazy times we live in, what have you been doing to keep yourself busy?

Unprecedented times, with so much worry for everyone, but so many amazing things coming out of it as well. I’ve been blown away by peoples’ ingenuity; re-inventing themselves on-line and even offering lessons, courses and advice for free. I was very lucky to have a busier February than normal with shoots and have some commissions for later in the year, which I now have the luxury of being able to plan much more in advance than usual!

A stylist has to plan a shoot from scratch and what’s involved depends very much on whether it’s a commercial or editorial project and the size of the budget. I sketch out ideas for each set, source all the products online-from wall finishes, flooring, decorative objects and artwork to work with the hero of the piece, so I’m very lucky to be able to so much of that from home anyway. It’s also a great time to discover new suppliers, independents and designers to try and incorporate them. Whilst we’re all in lockdown, apart from all the usual household stuff, I’m full of good intentions for for bringing a little creativity into the house everyday.

My plan is to (try) and involve the kids (older teens are not quite so keen to interact!)with some form of art/craft. Our local museum, the amazing Holburne is offering art classes every week, so I’m taking inspiration from them. I’m also hoping to improve my creative skills with technology and experiment with new techniques for my instagram posts. It’s also a great time to take a Pinterest course and finally learn how to make all these apps actually work for you, which is something I haven’t been able to devote time to in the past. I’m also particularly bad at cataloguing my photographic work and hoping to organise everything much more effectively. To be honest, like most creatives, I have to many new ideas flying around and need to try and focus on just a few, to do them properly!

So how long have you been a stylist and what got you into the profession?

I left uni with a degree in fashion and textile design and went straight into buying and merchandising for Debenhams. I had wanted to be a buyer since I was little, but the corporate environment of a large high street retailer wasn’t really for me, so I found a job in marketing for an interior fabric company. As part of a really small team and working directly alongside the owner, I had the chance to become involved in so many aspects of the business, from International trade shows, the trade showroom, stand dressers, promotional literature, running their PR and photography.

It was then that I first became involved in shoots, working alongside the stylists and photographers in the studio and on location. I loved this so much that I then applied for a full time position on a magazine, no longer in print, working as Style Director and finally joint Acting Editor, which as fantastic experience.  After two years jointly running an Interior Design Agency, completing a Penthouse Launch project for Northacre developers, I officially went freelance in 1996; a time when there were relatively few stylists out there.

The web didn’t exist, so print was booming and the only way to get into styling was being lucky enough to have an idea commissioned straight away, or by working from the ground upwards, assisting established stylists on the titles or taking on an internship. I already had lots of contacts through the magazine-photographers, designers, makers, retailers. Mobile phones were still very much in their infancy, so pounding the streets on foot, faxing and telephone were the only way to do business. I think we all walked thousands of miles a year, tracking down props from one side of London to the other!!!

Who would you say are your normal clients and do you have any favourites….?

I’ve been very lucky to have such an interesting range of clients, which is one aspect of freelancing that I absolutely love and each project has its good points! There is never an average year and subject matter is always changing.

Some of my clients include:

Editorial -Homes & Gardens, House Beautiful, Marie Claire, The Guardian, Telegraph Magazine, The Observer…

PR companies and in-house, producing images for marketing material and advertising, such as Dulux, Graham & Brown, Marks & Spencer, Oak Furnitureland 

Developers- British Land, Northacre, European Land TV advertising-Furniture Village

Interior Designers -Woodhouse & Law, Bath Independent

Designers/Retailers - Gayle Warwick Fine Linen, Rossiters of Bath, Honey Willow Jewellery.

Stand Design & Press Shows - Ideal Home Show, Cuprinol Paints, HomeStyle Paints  

That’s a great archive of clients! What advice would you give to anyone wanting to get into the profession or needing some inspiration or advice as to what to improve?

I get emails on a daily basis from aspiring stylists and hopefully I manage to reply to every one of them. I keep every mail on file for future reference and always try to get them paid assisting positions on shoots. It makes a huge difference to have an assistant who has worked their way up the ladder and really understands how a big shoot works. Apart from all the prep and planning required, on shoot is really hard work for an assistant-helping to coordinate deliveries, unpacking props, helping to clean the set, make teas, collect flowers or missing items and meticulously packing everything back up afterwards.

I always try and keep my assistants as involved on the creative side as possible-encouraging them to get involved on set and try styling where possible. Until they have portfolios of their own, seeing their own styled shots on Instagram really helps. Sometimes, social media ’stylists’ find they don’t enjoy a commercial shoot as much as they thought they would. It’s very different working to a client’s exacting standards on location, to styling beautiful media shots. Helping out established stylists is always the best idea-you can also see the difference between the different types of shoots available-commercial, residential, editorial…to see which type suits you best.

Everyone has their own strength and niche. You may prefer TV and film to stills, or even working in-house for a company, organising their shoots and teams. Stylists always remember their best assistants-how helpful they were, being pro-active, prepared for the sometimes very long hours….and we all share assistants with each other! 

What is your relationship like with photographers when on a shoot and what are you looking for from them in their delivery?

Well I hope on the whole it’s good! Having an affinity with the photographer makes the whole shoot more pleasurable and successful. It’s really important to work as a team and have a united front with the client, even if it’s the first time you’ve worked together. Sometimes a stylist gets their work through a photographer, or vice versa.

If a photographer is already on board with a project and the stylist is then brought in, you know the client is already happy with the style of work you both produce, but then it’s up to us to make sure that we both work well together too! Like stylists, all photographers work in different ways and produce different looks.I think it’s also good to go with the flow on the day and be prepared for some ideas to change with the client on set and it really helps if both the stylist and photographer are happy to work this way-it’s always teamwork.

Do you have any new plans and ideas for the future when we get out of lockdown.

Hopefully putting some of my new ideas into action and making them successful. Improving my social media skills and affinity with technology-it scares me stupid! To carry on mentoring independents and designers, which is a real passion of mine. Building our local community of creatives here in Bath, Cotswolds and The South West. I think there will be a way for us to all encourage and help each other out and maybe even work on more projects together. There are so many creatives who have moved out this way from London and I really love meeting them!

All images supplied by Caroline Davis

www.carolinedavis-stylist.com