How To Become A Personal Stylist: What It Is and Career Path

What is a personal stylist and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Clients hire personal stylists to take care of their styling choices and put across a desirable image by selecting clothing, taking body type and personal needs into consideration. Their assistance often extends to hair, make-up, or home decor.

This position will grant you a flexible and exciting opportunity to make the most of your acute sense of style while adhering to your clients' needs. You will select garments for various types of use, from everyday wear to important public events or business occasions. You will use your special connections with stores and brands to deliver the combination of garments that best fit your customer's purpose and taste. Staying ahead of fashion trends will be your bread and butter. You will need to be proactive in your research regarding the world of fashion. Creativity and flexibility to adapt to your client will also be essential. You will mediate between fashion stores and your clients and set up appointments for hair and make-up. Going on shopping trips and minimizing the stress your client has to go through to achieve the desired look will be among your key responsibilities.

A degree in fashion design will make you stand out from the crowd. But personal taste and talent often overwrite formal education here--the key to your success in building your client base, which you might achieve in various ways. Certifications may help you get credit, and experience in the fashion industry will be helpful in terms of practical knowledge and creating your network.

ScorePersonal StylistUS Average

Salary

2.8

Avg. Salary $35,212

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.5

Growth rate 11%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.24%

Asian 5.13%

Black or African American 12.23%

Hispanic or Latino 15.87%

Unknown 4.62%

White 60.91%

Gender

female 78.70%

male 21.30%

Age - 44

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 44

Stress level

8.5

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.7

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

7.3

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a personal stylist

Explore personal stylist education requirements

Most common personal stylist degrees

Bachelor's

65.6 %

Associate

19.6 %

High School Diploma

8.2 %

Start to develop specific personal stylist skills

Skills	Percentages
Customer Service	24.31%
Product Knowledge	17.48%
POS	12.58%
Customer Satisfaction	8.93%
Sales Floor	5.62%

Complete relevant personal stylist training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New personal stylists learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a personal stylist based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real personal stylist resumes.

Research personal stylist duties and responsibilities

Manage daily operations of the gallery including budgeting, small payroll and reconciling business accounts, eliminating off-site accounting fees.
Train and develop new associates on POS systems and sales methods.
Maintain company's costumes and accessories efficiently to ensure their quality and richness
Build presentations through extensive research to help develop advertising campaigns and magazine editorials.

Prepare your personal stylist resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your personal stylist resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a personal stylist resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable personal stylist resume templates

Build a professional personal stylist resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your personal stylist resume.

Apply for personal stylist jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a personal stylist job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do personal stylists rate their job?

-/5

5 stars

4 stars

3 stars

2 stars

1 star

Personal stylist reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Oct 2021

Pros

It’s rewarding when you see your client no matter what age they are they will stand out, because my expertise and talent

Cons

I don’t like spending money with out having knowledge and good taste to buy

A zippia user wrote a review on May 2019