Dream Job: Nashville Gypsy Fashion Stylist Leanne Ford
“Believe that you can do it, even if it is ‘a dream job’. Someone has to do it, so it might as well be you!”
-Leanne Ford
Name: Leanne Ford
Location: Nashville TN! . .. .and NY . . .and LA. . .. and Pittsburgh
Occupation: Wardrobe Stylist
Ten things that describe who you are.
Creative, A good time, Kind, Carefree, Gypsy, Open, Loving, Tomato-lover, Dance maniac, Sing-a-longer.
Tell me about your personal style.
Fashionably Scrubby? If grandma used to be a hippie rocker chick, I am the grandma.
Do you have a favorite artist? Photographer?
Hmm, I have favorite writers: Dorothy Parker, Jack Kerouac, CS Lewis. I really love photography, but not the kind I am involved in. I love documentary photography, getting life and people and places and showing them beautifully without changing anything about what you are shooting. And I love love love music! All kinds, but to sum up my style of music, I would say anything from Lost Highway Records.
When did you realize that styling could be a viable career choice?
It was pretty much a fluke. I realized I could and should be a stylist when people started calling me and asking me to style for them! I was working in PR for Roxy, and the VP of Design and I had a mutual admiration club going, so she would ask me to come on the shoots and style. I was so excited because it was in Palm Desert, which is so fun. Then, a magazine in California, FOAM, that I worked with called and asked me if I was interested in being their Fashion Editor. So for two years I conceptualized, produced, and styled three shoots an issue. When I moved back to New York, I realized I had a huge portfolio of work and could style full time. It really worked out perfectly for me.
When did you decide to become a freelancer?
When I realized I could! It is perfect for me. I am able to be where I want, when I want. I do not have to call off for my two weeks vacation, and I can make a nice amount of money to have a nice life. And the sky is the limit, the options are totally open. Those are all great things for me as a person.
What inspires you?
OH! Roadtrips! Cowboys! Indians! The South! Old Things! Vintage shops! People watching! Colors! My parents’ old picture albums! White washed wood! Schillers in LES! Flea Markets! Music that makes me want to cry! There are so many things I see and hear that make me want to create something!
Do you do all your own shopping?
I don’t like clothing shopping, I never have. And I especially don’t like shopping now that I do it for a living. But yea I find my own stuff. I like to find treasures, but these days I get most excited about finding things for my house.
Do you have a huge clothing collection yourself? Any favorite pieces?
I sell off a lot of clothes after I have worn them, so my closet rotates a lot I think. My friends love me because I have these clothing sales were everything is usually 5 or 10 bucks. I also move so much, so it is hard to keep too many clothes. But I definitely have enough. I like to find a couple pieces or outfits and just wear them over and over until I pretty much want to burn them. I have these amazing boots that I found in a Goodwill in Austin and I have worn them so much that the zippers on the sides are broken, and I keep wearing them. I also found the perfect Chloe open wooden heels from a couple years ago and wear them almost constantly. And anything vintage with sequins I love to wear right now, but bring I bring the look back down to earth with what I wear it with.
Where is your favorite place to be in the whole world?
I have four.
1. With my man.
2. My home in Nashville, TN
3. Deer Valley. It’s a summer camp for the whole family in the hills of Pennsylvania that I went to every summer for 22 years. Its kind of like “Dirty Dancing” without the dancing.
4. The highway
Any advice to others pursuing styling as a career?
Be prepared to work for free for awhile to get your book together. Shoot as much as you can with your friends in the business – find photographers and hair/makeup friends who want to create with you. Get a book together and get your work online. Talk to everyone you know and introduce yourself to as many creative and industry people as you can. Believe that you can do it, even if it is “a dream job”. Someone has to do it, so it might as well be you! Eventually people will start seeing your book and offer to pay you for your work. Phew! Get a rolling rack, a steamer, some clips, and double sided tape, then go for it!
February 2nd, 2010 at 6:13 am
(This is Richard) Wow. My inspirations are right on par with hers! Great list of ’stuff.’