What a fashion stylist does in a workday

Welcome to The Work Day, a series that charts a single day in various women’s working lives — from gallery owners to stay-at-home parents to chief executives. In this installment, we hear from Ashley Afriyie, a fashion stylist and consultant who recorded a workday in June.

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Name: Ashley Afriyie

Location: New York City

Job title: Fashion stylist and PR brand consultant

Previous jobs: I started my career in fashion magazines with multiple internships at fashion magazines including Vogue, Teen Vogue and Marie Claire U.K. (I studied abroad in London). I ended up as the fashion editor at Marie Claire U.S. right after graduating college. I was at Marie Claire for three years before completely switching career paths into public relations and special events.

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I have spent over a decade working at some of the world’s top-flight businesses and organizations such as Gucci, IMG/WME (Endeavor) and Saks Fifth Avenue. My longest stint was six-plus years at Saks Fifth Avenue in corporate on their experiential marketing and special events team.

What led me to my current role: Full transparency — it was the pandemic that led me to my current role as a fashion stylist assistant and fashion PR brand consultant. Before covid, I was working full-time at a small marketing agency as a senior account director for special events and experiential marketing. Our clients included Athleta, Hermès and Drunk Elephant, to name a few. When the pandemic hit, my role was terminated because all events were canceled.

During this time, I had to take a step back and figure out my next move. I started reconnecting with a lot of former colleagues and friends and picking up freelance jobs as stylist assistant and consulting fashion PR agencies. I now work as a fashion consultant, and my services include styling, being a celebrity stylist assistant and being a freelance publicist, consulting for fashion brands and jewelry clients and agencies.

How I spend the majority of my workday: When I’m focused on celebrity styling, my day is spent on emails all day coordinating and working closely with some of the most major fashion houses and brands in the world. Additionally, I spend my time going to market appointments hosted in the designers’ showrooms at the beginning of each season to make sure I have the latest intel and information for the current season’s collection.

My workday

6:20 a.m.: Surprisingly, I don’t rely on an alarm! I immediately start to email my European fashion brands and house PR contacts because they are a good five to six hours ahead of me. I am checking in with them on the status of the runway looks that the stylist I am working with has secured the garment for the red carpet, photo shoot, press event, etc. we’re requesting them for.

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7:30 a.m.: I usually do a group class workout — Barry’s or SoulCycle. When I don’t do either class, I go to my local gym to work out with my favorite trainer, Gabby.

8:45 a.m.: I’m back at my apartment for breakfast. I sign back online and start emailing my NYC fashion PR contacts and send emails for another hour.

10 a.m.: Arrive at the fashion studio to prep for our client styling fitting that day. I’m in our fashion closet reviewing all the designer samples that have arrived in the studio to make sure we received everything we requested from our stylist market boards is there. I ask my interns, “Did we receive the Chanel, Prada, etc. look? Did the Dior team send the shoes for this look as shown on VogueRunway.com? Have we checked all the tracking for FedEx, UPS and DHL to make sure everything has arrived?”

11 a.m.: The stylist and I have what we call a run-through. All the questions I ask our interns are confirmed with status updates. We are now editing out looks we don’t think will work for this client. It could mean it doesn’t fit our vision, it’s too small, etc. There are many reasons an outfit is edited out.

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12 p.m.: Run-through is complete, so I am now emailing my Los Angeles fashion PR contacts because it is now 9 a.m. their time and most of them are just getting (but in L.A., they take their morning hike and healthy juices very seriously, so I usually don’t hear back from them until 10 a.m. their time).

12:45 p.m.: I squeeze in a quick bite.

1 p.m.: Our client arrives for her fitting. This actress has multiple press and red carpet events to promote her latest movie, so she needs several outfits.

3:30 p.m.: We drop off samples from our fitting.

5 p.m.: Head back to the studio to wrap up the end of the day with more emails; we’re already working on another fitting date. Then I head home to rest a bit.

6 p.m.: Drinks and dinner with a fashion PR acquaintance who’s now a friend (this happens a lot).

9 p.m.: Finally home! I’m now reading on my Kindle app in bed.

10 p.m.: Lights out! I survived another day in the land of fashion tomfoolery.

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