KS2 / KS3 PSHE: A career as a fashion stylist

My name is Ayishat Akanbi and I work as a freelance stylist.

MUSIC: "Express Yourself" by Labrinth

I say the same thing twiceI'm awkward when I speak

Ain't got the perfect smileDon't turn heads on my street…

Fashion and styling were something that I always kind of had in me. Even since I was a kid, I always kind of wanted my own way of doing things. My mum stopped choosing what clothes I wore when I was about five. I just had an opinion from then. I was like, "Nah, I don't feel that, Mummy. Nah, I'm not wearing that."

I just got talking to a lot of people and started telling people I wanted to be a stylist and stuff like that, and people seemed to really believe in me, even before I'd fully believed in myself. People were like, "Yeah, you can do it," and giving me little opportunities here and there.

I've always had my own sort of style. I never really looked like most people, and I spent so long when I was young trying to fit in, and then realising, "I don't think that's going to work, it's not me." And when I tried to dress how other people dressed, I just felt really silly, and I just felt it just wasn't comfortable. Then I thought, "You know what? I'm just going to be totally who I am."

Hello, you all right?

Yeah, how are you?

Yeah, not too bad.

A stylist is in control of the overall image of an artist or even a regular person. So I basically tell them what to wear, basically. With celebrities, generally speaking, when you see them on TV, in magazines, in papers, they have been styled by someone, which is something I never knew until I got into it.

MUSIC: "Earthquake" by Labrinth

So in case you don't know, Labrinth is a super-talented singer-songwriter-producer. He's got a few gigs coming up, so I'm going to get him some pieces. What we're doing at the moment, I've got my lovely work experience girl Nicole helping me out with the mood board. She's kind of referencing the images of what we need to go out and get today. It's just basically cuttings out from magazines, catalogues, could be pieces of fabric. And then this is what I use to show to the person I'm styling and as a reference point for myself, just to refer back to every now and then and make sure everything's consistent.

So now we're off to the West End, we're going to Oxford Street, where we're going to hit a high street store, one of my favourites for Labrinth, and see what they've got today. The great thing about fashion is that it's all around us, so you can learn from people. So whenever I saw an outfit I liked, I would question myself as to why I liked it. "What was it? What's drawn you to this?" And then I would kind of note that down in my head and start applying the same principles to the way I dressed myself. So yeah, this is definitely a Labrinth-esque piece.

So now we're heading back to the office, where I'm going to try it on a friend of mine, James. Yeah, thank you again for standing in, for being my Labrinth. You can put this on. And these shoes. See you in a sec. I get to try on clothes on him and just make sure everything's working, as they're a similar build.

SHE LAUGHS

MUSIC: "Ooh Wee" by Ghostface Killah, Nate Dogg and Mark Ronson

This is something that Labrinth would wear, like, at a festival, on stage. It's kind of got that sort of Woodstock vibe about it, you know, looks a little earthy, which is good for festivals. My favourite piece is definitely the shoes. I love the white gum sole, the colour, I think it just really… The green, sort of bottle green and burgundy really work nicely together, and they kind of pull in what's going on here. I have an idea for something. This would be a good outfit for festivals in terms of colour. Keeping it quite casual, like a lounge sort of suit, you know? And shorts, you know, deck shoes.

Oo-ooh wee…

Now that this has kind of worked out for me, it was a dream that I had, I wanted to style, and it's worked out. Now, I feel like there's nothing I can't do if I put my mind to it. I think if your will is strong enough and you stay motivated, even when you have setbacks, even when you fail sometimes, you fail again and you fail better, and you will eventually get to your goal, I think.