Beverly Osemwenkhae, a 30-year-old American fashion stylist recently decided to move to London to expand her fashion business in the UK. Here, Beverly tells her stories about her fashion career during the post-pandemic period.
Beverly discovered her keen interest in fashion and styling in 2012 when she worked for editorial rooms of the Cosmopolitan magazine in New York. Her early career in the fashion industry included styling black models, wardrobe, and image consulting. Until 2019 she has been working as a personal shopper for the “Intermix” store in New York (which is equivalent to Harvey Nicholes in the UK). She started her own style consulting company “Project Bee NYC” (www.projectbeenyc.com) in late 2019, before the pandemic.
“I always visit the UK and I like here. I don’t need to pick up a new language and London is only a 5-hours-flight away from New York. I am going to build up my career in London, which is out of my comfort zone. I realised I actually need to live in London in order to grow business. My clients here are mostly women.”
Talking about the differences of styles and trends between New York and London, Beverly demonstrates that “New York style is so minimal. It’s more like simple and clean lines. Whereas London is more lacey, elegant, and feminine.”
“I have around 80 clients in the USA, 40% are men, and 60% are women. They are C-suite Executives of companies, TV presenters, wealthy moms, and housewives. I am still building up my career in London, so far I have up to 10 clients here who are mostly women.”
“In March last year when everything was closed in New York, I only had two online sessions, from April to June I did not reach out to any of my clients for business. I only reached out to them to check how they are. It was extremely depressing, people were losing their jobs. Obviously, fashion styling was not my priority at that time.”
Beverly’s business gradually picked up from June, when everything started to open in New York. “The pandemic was obviously tough in New York last year, but later on of the year, things became a lot better. Believe it or not, I had more male clients than women.”
“Men needs approval from a woman”. Interestingly, Beverly’s single-male clients are keener for styling advice. “They want to look more put-together. No crazy stories, they need a woman, in other words, a stylist’s approve of what looks good on them, in order to ensure that they look more put together.”
“People are at home, a lot of those male clients are not single. I realised that maybe their girlfriends or spouses realised that they needed help with styling. So they hired me.”
In terms of Beverly’s income during the pandemic year, the 30-year-old stylist states: “I don’t want to give figures. I earned pretty decent money during the pandemic and post-pandemic years. I charge $160 USD per hour, and $800-$3000 USD for package services which include wardrobe makeover, giving styling advice on call, quarterly wardrobe edit, and shopping trips.”
“My incomes depend on the season. My biggest seasons are right now, from August to October are major for me, my clients hire me for seasonal closet change for the Autumn; Whereas March, June and July are quiet. The period between November to December is not super busy unless my clients want something specific, such as gift shopping which depends on their budget. January and February are pretty slow because everyone runs out of money.” Beverly adds.
The riches still spend a large amount of money to buy clothes in New York during the pandemic. “I have a client who’s an investment banker, he booked me to do his closet. when he moved from San Fransisco to New York last year during the pandemic. I worked with him on three very big shopping trips in July, November, and December last year. He really enjoyed it. He is fashion-conscious and aware of what looks good, he just needed an extra hand.”
In addition, a female client went on several shopping trips with Beverly in June, when New York was opening stores last year June. “We did a massive shopping session for her whole wardrobe which was worth $14,000.”
“Some consistent clients consult with me on styling once per month, such as TV presenters in America, depends on budgets for them to go shopping from their TV stations, during the pandemic last year.”
During the pandemic year, Beverly retained her customer relationships outlast Coronavirus during 2020-2021, even her fashion consulting business was not under the basic needs of most people. Beverly learned to build relationships with her persistent customers over coffee chats.
“There were a lot of clients I did not see. Around 60% of my clients were maintained during the pandemic, and they are very close to me. I am like their mother or their friend. I engage with them at personal and professional levels with my clients. Even the pandemic year was a very sensitive period for everyone, I did not contact them to sell my business directly. I started by asking them ‘how are they clothing and what’s going on with their lives in a casual way, and that’s how I maintained my client base.”
As a stylist, Beverly helps people to look good better in their outfits. In terms of giving styling advice for male clients, Beverly urges them to be “polished and tailored”, and start with keeping things “simple”. Beverly reckons investments in a good watch and a pair of good jeans for men are essential. “For women to have good bags, for men to have good watches, for men and women to have great shoes, stay polished and tailored. That’s pretty much it. You don’t have to go to Brunello Cucinelli to buy outfits if you don’t have the budget, you can still go to TK Max and you can still get the same effect. Just focus on what you need.”
Beverly suggests women invest in buying lingerie during the pandemic, “Because this is kind of 24-7 kind of thing which can be transitional.” She adds.
Beverly also helps her female clients to boost the confidence that they really need, by styling their hair and makeups, assisting in lightings for zoom meetings, and virtual dating during the pandemic. She believes a good appearance can help her C-suites clients to shift their energy and be more productive, as well as to be a good example for their employees. “You don’t need to get dressed up and wear prom heels when you are at home, but put on something nice such as a nice shirt.”
“I did several virtual services to my female clients for fashion consulting on Instagram and Zoom. When the pandemic came, it forced me to show up online which I did before.”
“People found my videos online were helpful. I talked about body shapes, analysed what they should wear and what colour is best for their skin tone. My online sessions start from organising their wardrobe, then styling, and finally shopping.”
Beverly assisted her female clients in dating in the age of Covid in New York, by giving advice on what to wear. “I have a client who is an artist and wears comfortable clothes all the time. While we were in a cloth-shopping session, I encouraged her to buy leather pants, a pair of burgundy suede boots, and a plain sweater and a coat for her date. She was happy with my styling sessions and now she’s got a boyfriend during the pandemic.”
However, giving advice to people on what to wear is not always easy. “A client of mine was very price-conscious and not very comfortable with her body. We did online sessions and shopping trips. Even I said to her that she looked incredible in that outfit, she didn’t see it and wouldn’t buy it. I think she wasn’t open enough and mentally ready for being styled.”
On the other hand, the post-lockdown did not make Beverly’s fashion business easy. “London is quiet, I am still building up my career here. I can’t wait to go back to New York.” Beverly claims.
“Look good, feel good, make an effort, and be the best version of yourself was my life motto for last year and now.” Beverly demonstrates.
Beverly felt very supportive when speaking about the tremendous “Black Lives Matter” movement in 2020. “I wasn’t in New York last year during the chaotic period of Black Lives Matter, I was in London.”
“A lot of my clients reached out to me to ask how can they help, and asked me to teach them something more that they need to learn, in order to connect with black communities more appropriately. I felt like America is very different from the UK in terms of the concept of racism.”
“One of my biggest clients, who are extremely wealthy and we are really close friends, once we had a very open conversation with me regarding the Black Lives Matter movement. She said that she knew that she was extremely privileged and she was aware of her privilege. Women from other races will not get the same opportunities that she gets at her age, because she is a white woman. Things are easier to those who are fortunate.” Beverly demonstrates.
“I think the whole Black Lives Matter was a brutal awakening at a very sensitive time, where we are all home during the pandemic. For me I was happy the event was happening. In America, it was a long-unsolved social issue. It was a good opportunity for people to reflect and educate themselves of how do we make black women and men more included within the society.”
“Being a black stylist in America, Sometimes I need to put more effort and works than others,” Beverly admits.
“Within the fashion industry you will see it all the time that most of the black models are not getting jobs nor bookings, or for example 10 black models fighting for one role. If the designer needs 40 models for a fashion show, why do they only pick 1 black model?”
Talking about how her cultural background affects her fashion styling business, Beverly says “As a business founder, I don’t want to miss any opportunities nor partnerships for my fashion consulting career. As a black business owner, for instance, my partnerships with Harvey Nicholes in London which I have right now, I need to push more and make more phone calls for the business than my friends who are white. I need to be more consistent as a minority.”
“I am glad that I went through the hardships. Being a black business owner has motivated me to be tough, because having my own business is not easy. If I don’t work, I don’t have any money.” Beverly concludes.
Photo credit
Calvin Visuals via unsplash
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