We already had the chance to meet Harriet Byczok through our “5 Flair Minutes with,” when she talked about being the stylist of Maisie Williams and the layering trend, the art of being able to play with various clothes stratifying them. But, on the occasion of our trip to London, we thought we would love to meet Harriet, this time in person, to find out even more about her.
Between comments on celebrity looks, opinions on fashion and new anecdotes about her work as a stylist and her path, the one with Harriet was a really good chat we never wanted for it to be over.
We have already talked on how you began your work as a stylist in our previous interview, but how did it change or evolve through the years and did you expect it to be that way or did it surprise you somehow?
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It was a massive shock because when I first started out as an intern, which I have previously said, it was also the recession at the time, so I felt like my interning days were going on and on, I ended up doing more or less 25 internships. I think the moment I started to get paid-work was a massive shock, it was probably actually my biggest achievement because for so long you think “it’s never going to happen,” you see so many interns and it’s such a competitive industry as well. When I gained a paid-work at once I stopped assisting.
Everyone has to assist, because that’s the only way you really learn, and that’s how you make contacts; if you are on a shoot and you are a stylist assistant and then there is the photographer assistant – and this has truly happened to me – in the next couple of years you end up working together as a photographer and stylist. So, for me it’s kind of evolved.
I think that many celebrity stylists became such important figures in the industry in the last couple of years. Before maybe people never really paid attention to the figure of the stylist, while nowadays it’s so important: everyone is looking at who’s the stylist and so on.
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It kind of makes sense, because celebrities get photographed so much, and they are so busy with their work as actresses, people forget that they have to learn their lines, they have to audition, they have to do press, and to have that extra person that just concentrates on the look makes a big difference. But I think I did a few celebrities but I did more editorial performances and I got offered Maisie: we met, and it just worked. After that I believe celebrities signed with me because I love to do it, it’s kind of where my passion is.
“To have that extra person that just concentrates on the look makes a big difference.”
Maybe a client gives you the opportunity to express yourself, of course, according to their needs and taste.
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Exactly. Because when you’re working with a model, obviously you come up with the brief and the shoot, but they wear what the teams told them to wear. It’s a little bit impersonal, you don’t enjoy that personal relationship. And also, there needs to be a lot more trust. It kind of turns out into a friendship, which is nice. With some of my clients, with whom I’ve been for years with, like Maisie, it has become a friendship, and it’s good because if they don’t like something, they can tell me. Sometimes we forget that even actresses who usually are so confident, you know, always getting photographed, need to have that kind of relationship.
Because you notice when people are wearing something, they are not feeling good with.
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Exactly, you can see it on the red carpet, which is not good for me, and it’s not good for them. If you kind of dictate and tell them what to wear, every client looks the same – everything has to be really personal, so having the client’s input is important.
“The client’s input is important.”
So, speaking about your internships and your job as an assistant, was there ever an experience that was helpful for your approach to the work?
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I think interning teaches you so much. It can be kind a bit tough because, especially during the time I was doing it because of the recession, everyone was desperate for a job and everyone was a bit stressed and hours could be really long. Learning how to, under those circumstances, still to be yourself, not being short tempered even though you’re tired and frustrated since you’ve been interning for so long, was important.
Some of the things that I liked when I was assisting was having that relationship with the stylist, I assisted some very nice and very good ones who had been in my position before and were giving me advice, but also respecting me and trusting me. You do end up having a friendship. Then you’re off at the same level and you can exchange advice with each other.
It’s so great.
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I think you’re never fully satisfied. You always want to do a little bit better, but also the industry is so fast-paced, you are always moving. But sometimes it’s good to sit back and think “ok, I’ve got time to think. Now, that was a job well done,” or “I want to do this next, I want to work with this person.”
There’s such inspiration, it’s such a creative field, that you can never feel satisfied as you said before.
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And new people are coming all the time. It’s always moving, you’re never fully satisfied, but I think everyone in the fashion industry needs to puts themselves on that path because there are no shortcuts with the fashion industry, everyone you know has worked hard. Even a really established designer was an intern, there’s no shortcut.
“Everyone you know has worked hard.”
How much do you think social media have changed and are influencing the world of celebrity stylists? And do you use them to find inspiration?
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I’m not so good on Social Media because I think that, quite often, when you are as busy as we are, you kind of forget to take the photo or something. Or if you’re in the moment, you forget about it. It’s a great platform for work, especially for Stylist, there are really good ones – I’ve seen Celebrity Stylists doing amazing jobs on their Instagram. I would like to do better on Instagram since it’s such an important place in the industry now, but sometimes it’s a little bit difficult when I’m living for the moment. It’s also quite nice to have a little bit of privacy. Especially considering that the job is not that glamorous, you can have days when, let’s say during Awards Season, I’m in my pajamas the whole time, on my laptop, emailing people frantically or on the phone chasing them. You have those moments, but you don’t always live the glamorous Instagram lifestyle enough to show.
And for inspiration, definitely. I think it’s great for new designers, I’ve contacted some designers via Instagram through my page, and it was amazing. I’m always looking for new things.
And speaking of Awards Season, what kind of advice would you give to look glamorous in such important moments?
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I think the most important thing is looking like yourself. There are so many awards during awards season, and you need to have all ideas all the time, I think the best way of having new ideas and standing out is just having your own twist on it. Like we see with Maisie, she has her own twist on it.
You know, it’s just so easy to turn out wearing a long black dress, but then you are competing with all the other hundred people wearing a long black dress. I would give the advice to stick to our own personal style, and for me, what makes an outfit a brilliant outfit are the accessories. I’m not crazy for wearing accessories myself, I guess it’s because it’s not suitable for my lifestyle, but when it comes to being photographed one good way to add your twist, your own personal style, is having it from the accessories.
“I’m not crazy for wearing accessories myself, I guess it’s because it’s not suitable for my lifestyle, but when it comes to being photographed one good way to add your twist, your own personal style, is having it from the accessories.”
Is there a look from an Awards Season or events that you really loved?
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Angelina Jolie at the Golden Globes, the white Look. And Margot Robbie in the white look at the Oscars. She’s wearing a long dress and even just the shape of it, the bottom. It’s not just a white dress, it’s all about the shape. It’s not only about the details, but that kind of shape also makes such a big difference: as I’ve been saying earlier, having something a little bit different. And Millie Bobby Brown, she always looks cool. I think she looks really age-appropriate in this one as well and she’s having fun with this. I like the fact that she is wearing comfortable shoes, and it works with her dress. It’s almost like a little Spice Girls inspired, her hair and her shoes.
Then Mandy Moore at the SAG Awards. Just the color. A lot of people are afraid of color but I’m not. Not everyone suits every single color, but there are some colors that can make you stand out and make you look “wow.” It could not be good on someone else, but I think that blue really makes her stand out. And it’s not an obvious color. I’m pretty sure she was the only one wearing that kind of bright-blue-bold-shoe look at the SAGS.
Did you see her white wedding dress from Rodarte? I loved that.
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Oh my god, I’m obsessed with wedding dresses, I have a really big problem, maybe it’s I work on the red carpet, so I work with long dresses all the time. But yes, her wedding dress was absolutely amazing, and yet again a little bit more fun.
Women empowerment and inclusivity are always more and more important topics: what do you feel fashion could do to reinforce that and to show real strength and beauty?
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I think the fashion industry is really open-minded which helps. We take it for granted a lot of the time, but you can wear whatever you want and look whatever way you want. You go to work, and people are just being themselves. In terms of empowerment, in the industry, I’d say every industry has a long way to go in terms of women sort of getting equal rights and stuff, but I think we’re probably one of the industries with a lot of strong and powerful women, industry’s self-employed like businesswomen, a lot of the top designers being women as well. Obviously, there’s the topic of women, of female models, getting paid what they are getting. In terms of what feminism is about, it’s everyone being treated equally, and I think in the fashion industry, everyone’s experience is different, but it is an industry where it comes across a strong, powerful, business-wise world of women. And it’s also an industry where everyone is kind of accepted.
What was, in your opinion, a trend from last year that you really loved and which one will be a great trend in 2019 instead?
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We all can dress a little bit more comfortable now. I think that’s something it took a long time coming. Even at the Louis Vuitton: did you see their new trainers, the ones with the sock? I think everyone wants to be comfortable like everyone has a life to live, has a job to go to and another pro is that you want to look good but your priorities are, like, getting on with this. Even in our jobs in fashion, as a stylist you can’t be glamorous all the time, sometimes you are on your knees doing a shoe and your client is your priority. It’s good to see the evolution of this side of fashion.
How is your relationship with beauty and skincare?
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Now that I’m 29, I know it’s not old, but I think I’m sort looking after myself a little bit more, everything is about looking after yourself using moisturizers and eye cream and just the last couple of years I’ve made it a ritual and trying lots of stuff. I want to grow old gracefully but wearing that extra bit of sunscreen or stuff like that. I love beauty products, I do: I’m actually a little bit obsessed with them. Not for vanity, I’m just obsessed because a good moisturizer is amazing.
And I think makeup is an art form, but for me, clothes are more my thing than makeup. Clothes are really my thing, but when it comes to styling, having hair and makeup can make a look even more amazing or if it’s not right it can make the look terrible. So quite often when I’m styling people, we have to sort of sit together, hair and makeup say what they think, and we look at the whole look.
“We all can dress a little bit more comfortable now. I think that’s something it took a long time coming.”
Three fashion things you can’t live without?
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My laptop. A pair of trainers, as I said earlier, and a good pair of jeans. I think when you get that [pair of] jeans that are perfect for you and comfortable, you can look good. Like you guys said in my last article, a good pair of shoes, a coat and the right pair of jeans. Fashion doesn’t have to be that hard, but when you find the item wear it again and again.
What is a fashion piece you would love to buy, sooner or later?
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This is really archaic, it’s not even new. Do you know the Stella McCartney wedges, the ones with the wedges and the layers, I want a pair of those, I need to buy them because I feel like the business keeps reinventing them because they are popular. They’re also timeless, and they were such a big hit when she came out with them. Like, a pair of jeans, trainers in the day, plumber shoes: and also the heel is a good daytime heel, which is kind of gratifying. It can be a natural daytime heel-shoe, and I’m quite short so I like a little bit of height when I can. So yeah, probably those.
Do you have a favorite fashion look from a movie or TV series?
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“Clueless.” I love the film. I can watch it again and again. And it’s just preppy and fun and cool, just 90s. I’m obsessed with the 90s and I think those were like a massive trend quite recently, there are still things that are 90s-Inspired that people can’t get enough. I feel like if I see anything plaid or tartan, I have to buy it. But with movies, I am obsessed with forms anyway, and I think as a creative you need to be watching all the time to get inspiration, and I think movies are one of my favorite sources of inspiration.
What’s next for you?
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I’ve been doing a bit of writing in the last few years, maybe the last year or so. My degree’s in journalism, and I forgot that writing was so therapeutic. So, I think I would do more writing. I also want to keep dressing cool, cool girls and every client you get is so different. With my clients at the moment, we’re always thinking and developing new ideas and I just want to keep doing that. Also, I haven’t styled anyone for the Oscar’s before, and every stylist’s dream is the Oscars.