Hiring a personal stylist, who will handpick and curate your wardrobe, used to be a fashion luxury that only the wealthy or celebrities could afford. Today, Style For Hire, a fashion startup co-founded by celebrity stylist Stacy London and Cindy McLaughlin, is launching as a way to help the masses master the art of their own personal style.
The startup allows users to find a vetted stylist in their city to help them choose clothing for a special event, or more. With 135 stylists in 24 cities in the U.S., including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco and Boston; Style For Hire allows you to search for stylists by type of style and more.
As London and McLaughlin explain, the stylists goal is to help clients think about how to invest more strategically in their wardrobes, considering cost-per-wear, saving and spending habits and ultimately, to develop a wardrobe that is workable and wearable for any age, body type, lifestyle or budget.
Services offered include: closet audits, closet “shopping,” and personal shopping for all types of lifestyle needs: re-entering the workforce, weight loss/gain styling, eco-styling, plus size and petites styling, bridal shopping, prom shopping, vacation shopping and seasonal dressing.
The rate per hour currently ranges from $65 to $300 and the average length of an appointment is 2.6 hours. Soft launched a year ago, Style For Hire has seen an impressive return rate from early clients—46% re-booked two or more times and 22% came back 3 or more times within the year.
McLaughlin explains that Style For Hire is an offline business enabled by an online platform and will eventually add more tools that will give users more online access to personal stylists. The startup has raised $1.5 million in funding from Golden Seeds.