How this Fashion Designer Built a Career and Business with Style

Real-Life Relaunch

Chloeé O’Hayon-Crosby, Owner, Styled by Chloeé

“It only takes one person to really help your career. Remember that each client has the ability to refer you. It’s like a seed. Just keep doing what you’re doing.”

Chloeé O’Hayon-Crosby is a Paris-trained fashion designer who relaunched her career as a stylist in Southern California. As the owner of Styled by Chloeé, she provides personal styling, wardrobe styling and costume design services for clients that have included Cirque Du Soleil, Glamour Italia, and several independent films. 

I spoke with Chloeé about her career path and how she built a successful freelance business that plays perfectly to her background, creativity and people skills.

Q: How did you get started in fashion?

As a kid, I’d play with Barbies and make dresses for them out of random things around the house.  I remember my dad asking me what I wanted to do when I grew up. When I said that I didn’t know, he told me that maybe I could make clothes for Barbies as a living. And that’s all I want to do. I went to high school in France. I took a year and went to art school at the Beaux Arts. My parents wanted me to go to law school before pursuing fashion. But I knew what I wanted.  I took a train into Paris and got myself an appointment with ESMOD without any references. I told myself, they’re going to interview me and I’m going to get in. And I did.

I studied tailoring and design, and I worked for a few different brands as a freelance designer. One day, my cousin called me and said, ‘I have a friend who is a stylist. She can’t make it to this job for Glamour Italy. Can you do it?’ And I was like, ‘I can try. I've never done it, but, okay, let's do it.’ 

Q: How did you pivot from fashion design into personal styling?

My personal life changed, and I moved back to California with no idea of what was next. I knew I didn't want to go back into fashion. I started my career pretty young at 18, so I was burned out by 25.  I didn't really know what I wanted. 

For about a year and a half, I worked random jobs. I worked at Urban Outfitters for $9.50 an hour. I was a waitress, a telemarketer for nonprofits. I eventually even managed an assisted living facility for the elderly. I did it all.

At one of my many jobs, I was a hostess at a Kimpton Hotel in Santa Barbara.  The manager knew my background and asked me if I’d be interested in styling a brand photoshoot at the hotel. I had fun! 

I gradually started getting personal styling clients in Santa Barbara through word-of-mouth.  Styling was fun, it was creative, and I was good at it. In Europe, people don’t really hire stylists. For me, it was a discovery that people will actually pay me to do this!

Q: Once you discovered styling as a career, how did you build your business and attract clients?

This was all before Instagram exploded. I discovered Yelp and tried to get as many reviews as I could. I needed to get people to talk about me. I started going to a lot more social events. I made business cards for myself. I also set up fun photoshoots with photographers where I’d style my friends.

I would tell people what I did every opportunity I got. Everyone I talked to would ask, ‘What do you do?’ and instead of saying, ‘Oh, I work here and here,’ I’d actually say, ‘I’m a stylist.’

Q: How did your work on film projects begin?

One of the models I had worked with on the Santa Barbara hotel shoot really liked me and hired me as her personal stylist. When I moved down to LA, she hired me for some headshots. I would meet photographers and they would recommend me for corporate photoshoots. 

Word of mouth led to projects like music videos, and eventually one of my friends was like, ‘Hey do you want to do film?’ Then I got to design actual costumes, like for a 1940s period piece.

Q: What advice do you have for others who are building a service-based business?

Whatever you’re building, it takes time to make 100% of your living from it. It only takes one person to really help your career. Remember that each client has the ability to refer you. It’s like a seed. Just keep doing what you’re doing. Look at your competitors and don’t see it as a competition, but more of inspiration. 

We're all doing the best we can. We all think, ‘Oh this person is super successful, and it was easy for them.’ We all have these assumptions, these stories we tell ourselves, and then you realize everyone has gone in some way through what you're going through. They've struggled in one way or another and it's kind of a right of passage.  If you're not struggling, then how are you going to appreciate what you're doing?

It's going to make you grow, that's for sure.