Stylist Spotlight: Dina Vibes
Meet Dina Vibes, the latest stylist in our Stylist Spotlight series. Yes, she's just as cool as her name. Get to know her and her story:
Tell us a little about yourself and your career so far? When did you realize you wanted to be a stylist?
So this question is a bit hard to answer only because my talents have been instinctual for me. I have been doing what I do today professionally ever since I was little and didn’t know what I do today professionally had a name let alone a career attached to it. I used to put my stuffed animals in different locations/poses and take photos of them! As I got older, I also dabbled in photography AND religiously watched America’s Next Top Model and took the tips/tricks of what they said and applied it to myself and on the weekends when I was in high school on my friends. I was doing their makeup/hair/styling/helping them pose/shoot them the whole nine yards! I then had a fashion column I shot/styled and wrote about trends for my college. 2 years later I got an internship in NYC at a dress company and being in NY I met many people.
I started shooting for a jewelry brand and a handbag brand, curating the whole shoot. I then started working with musicians, doing music videos and doing hair/makeup and then a year started styling them! Then I assisted a very talented stylist in NY and learned so much and stepped foot on my first photoshoot set and saw the entire team which was crazy for me because I had only seen this kind of set on TV and for my own shoots done everything myself. I then only did styling and makeup. Then I stopped all of that and pursued modeling for awhile. Then I creative directed a shoot for a t-shirt company that I also modeled in, and then I went to LA and just strictly did creative directing and wardrobe styling and my work completely blew up. Now I’m back on the east coast!
What inspired you to pursue styling as a career and how did you get your first gig?
What inspired me was being in New York and meeting people who were actually doing what I just did as a hobby as their career. I was like wait....I can do that? You can pursue that and it’s OKAY??!?! So I just went for it, and what really branched me out with this is working with musicians. My first actual paid gig was because of a dear friend of mine, Irene. I was assisting her while she was running her first jewelry pop up shop. She introduced me to this girl (who is now a very close friend to this day) Olivia, and we hit it off. I saw her current photos at the time and I knew she needed me! We met at the Mall in Long Island and I did the good old buy and return, and chose so much, I was in the changing room, and people were coming in and out and the way I was helping Olivia the customers thought I worked there and I just rolled with it and started helping them! The next day we had the photoshoot and killed it! Fast forward 5 years to 2018 and I just styled her for her music video for her second album.
Just by looking at your work, we can tell you’re a very creative person. What inspires you?
So many things inspire me. Walking into a random art gallery I’ll get inspired. I have many vivid dreams, and I always write them down and get inspired. Old Vogue work always inspires me. Nature, music, especially traveling to a new place. Sometimes pieces themselves inspire me and my brain just runs wild with ideas.
Walk us through your typical shoot, tell us a bit about how you prep (pulls) to how you keep everything in order while on set
Well, I used to do it all on my own, in LA I would uber to showrooms, and spread out the pulls to 2 days because I didn’t have my own car. Suitcases were a huge help!
In NY doing pulls is much harder, because even if you do have a car it is NOT easier, there is never parking so I would have my friends come with me and sit in he car with the flashes on while I pulled so I wouldn’t get a ticket, because if I didn’t have a car I wouldn’t be able to carry all the bags by myself. Now that I’ve been back in NY for awhile, I have lovely assistants and I divide the returns between them, Suitcases are a must, people probably think I’m a damn jetsetter.
As far as keeping everything organized on set, I always keep jewelry together and try my best to keep clothing in the same area, because some sets you won’t have a wardrobe rack. Luckily, I have a very photographic memory, so even if they get all mismatched from different showrooms and brands, I will know where they go and if anything is missing instantly. If I have the outfits already picked out, I pack them in the suitcase in the order of last to first looks, so I’m not digging around! For my jewelry, clear bags are a must so I can find everything easily. I also have my clips, safety pins, lint rollers in their own separate bag.
Is there a project/editorial that you're most proud of?
I am most proud of my shoot that got into Vogue Italia because everything that could have went wrong that day DID! It was a stressful day and the photographer (Dylan Perlot) and I almost cut the whole series. But it ended up being published in Vogue Italia, before the hype of so many people getting their images selected by them. I was really proud of the team, of us, and of myself.
I am also proud of my shoot with an Albino Model, with my good friend Azur Mele. It incorporated an octopus and a live frog. I had the idea in my mind for this shoot for 2 years. Having a vision finally come to life and be better than what I envisioned is the best feeling in the world.Also my shoot for Cake Magazine, those looks I am absolutely in love with, the designers I pulled from were phenomenal. I’m very proud of those looks.
What would be your advice to those trying to break into fashion and styling?
DO IT! DO NOT LISTEN TO YOUR PARENTS! If that is what gets your heart pumping, your mind racing then go for it! Also, I was taught very early on, “You are only as good as the people who help you.” I have been helped by many amazing, talented human beings. Find those people, learn from them. Intern/assist a stylist and a fashion designer. Assisting a stylist will help you learn the tips and tricks of being on set and help you know how to be organized. Interning for a fashion designer will help you learn about the clothing from a technical side, the fabrics, how to steam, what you can and can not steam and why, what kind of fabrics stretch and don’t, the fit for certain cuts on different body types, how to sew! I was lucky to have gotten to learn from genuine people.
Some aren’t so lucky, so if that does happen to you, know it will only make you stronger because you need a backbone in this side of the industry. Take your friends and style them for fun, go buy and return, practice. You need to know how to put patterns together that are so wrong but make them so right. Knowing how to layer and keep it all balanced, these things are all important, you will learn a lot as you grow, but it’s good to practice. We as stylists do ALOT, get your upper arm strength ready lol.
