Poking My Nose into the Fashion Industry : What is a Fashion Stylist ?

"That there should be one man die ignorant when he had the capacity for knowledge, this I call a tragedy" Thomas Carlyle

Picture : Garance Doré

The first time I've ever heard of Giovanna Battaglia, it was on Garance Doré blog (yes, if you didn't get it yet I am an avid reader of her blog). Then I saw her appearing on more and more streetstyle blogs and ultimately when this happens it means you're a fashion icon. Thanks to streetsyle photographers I discover every day plenty of stylish people and yet I don't have a clue of who they are until Garance or Tamu McPherson actually photograph them and speak about those fashion icons that we like to admire on their blogs. Words, I need words or better said  knowing who I have in front of me is essential hence my adoration for such a post. I don't ask for their civil status but knowing what they actually do is what arouses my curiosity. Poking my nose into their business is none other than a way to learn more about the fashion industry. My background and my studies having nothing to do with fashion, I have to build myself a culture about this world and the people constituting it. 

Coming back to Giovanna Battaglia, I really didn't know who she was. I googled her name and again Garance blog appeared amongst the first results of my research. That is how I discovered that being a fashion icon wasn't her real job (oh really ?!) but that she actually is a former model turned fashion stylist (but the girl has more than one string to her bow, believe me!). By the way do you really know what a fashion stylist do ? Being part of the plebs, I assumed her work consisted in dressing well models for magazines, you know that she has an eye for coordinating clothes with taste. My ignorance even made me thought : "oh well I guess stylists use moodboards like designers, but what's the fuss ? It's only putting clothes together in an harmonious way". Then "youtubing" Giovanna I found an interview that just scrambled my certainties (not to say my nonsense) that I just wanted to share with you so that you could picture what a stylist actually does.
Dying a total idiot is not in my life plan so what do you say if for next week I did a post with a selection of Giovanna's work as a fashion stylist and my vision about it ?