The music video has gone through a whole process. From the Spice Girls to Beyoncé, it’s clear that the artistic integrity of the music video has evolved, developed, and its visual style has perfected over time.
The music video has been an important element of a song’s commercial success for decades. In the 80s and 90s, the expansion of MTV meant that if you didn’t have a video to accompany your latest single, it was nearly impossible for your music to climb the charts. Today, with the rise of platforms like YouTube, it’s more important than ever for your music to not only sound good but also have powerful visuals ready to go viral.
So, it’s no surprise that music videos offer artists a fantastic opportunity to express their individual style—many choose to tell a carefully crafted story about who they are and what they believe through the clothes they wear.
Style in Music: More Important Than Ever
This trend shows no signs of slowing down; brands are investing more and more money into the sector to ensure their visibility with the general public. This highlights the central importance of the stylist in conveying an artist’s visual message, and their influence on fashion is stronger than ever.
In this context, what does it take to style a modern music video? Recently, Noëlla, a Fashion Stylist, orchestrated the styling for emerging artist MALLAURY, for her track “Baby Boy” from her latest EP ‘LOVE 66’. This project required a week of intensive preparation before the shoot, with every detail meticulously refined to align perfectly with Mallaury’s universe. From showroom appointments and fittings to accessory adjustments, the challenge lay in finding brands that matched the artist’s body type, artistic preferences, and the video’s artistic direction. This successfully completed challenge demonstrates the seamless fusion between the artist’s creative vision and the stylist’s expertise.
This collaboration between Noëlla and Mallaury illustrates the crucial importance of styling in creating a powerful visual identity. Each outfit selected is not just a combination of clothing, but an authentic expression of the artist’s very essence. Every detail, from textures to colors, contributes to crafting a captivating aesthetic that sparks the public’s imagination and reinforces the message of the music.
Therefore, the role of the stylist in creating a modern music video goes far beyond simply dressing an artist; it is a true artistic collaboration that brings a shared vision to life and leaves an indelible mark on both the music and fashion industries.
The Challenges of Sizing in the Fashion Industry
In the music video industry, stylists like Noëlla face numerous challenges, including those related to the availability of clothing samples. One of the major obstacles Noëlla and Mallaury encountered was the sizing and body types of the clothing samples.
In many press offices and with many designers, the available pieces are often one-size samples, typically on the smaller end of the spectrum. This sizing limitation can be problematic because artists come in a variety of body types, and it is essential to adapt the clothing to their specific needs.
For Noëlla, finding pieces that suited Mallaury’s body type while staying true to her artistic vision and personal style was a major challenge. It required thorough research and increased creativity to find alternative solutions.
It’s important to emphasize that this issue is not only a challenge for individual stylists but also for the fashion industry as a whole. It would be beneficial for fashion houses and designers to consider the diversity of body types and offer a wider range of sizes for their samples. This would allow stylists to better represent body diversity in their creations and provide artists with a greater variety of choices for their visual projects.
Efforts to make designer pieces more accessible to a range of body types would be an important step toward fostering a more inclusive and authentic representation in the fashion and styling industry, particularly for music video projects.
