Kev Couture spoke at The Runway's Fashion 411 Speaker Series, where he discussed celebrity product placement and personal branding. We were able to sit down with Kev Couture to get a little bit of his background, and how he became a Celebrity Stylist.
His clients are primarily NFL players, but he also has styled for the Red Carpet and other top ranking clients. Read our interview below.
Jon Szerlag: So Kev, how did you get into styling? Was it something you always wanted to do?
Kev Couture: I really wasn’t thinking about styling, I was working in a boutique in a retail store, I was there buyer, so I was going out to the trade shows and ordering from the shows and people were enjoying the clothes I was picking out.
It was going good, I was doing a really good job. Things changed when the wardrobe assistance for the 'The Gun,' which 50 Cent starred in, she came in looking for some clothes to put 50 Cent in. She came to our store. She came in and I told her I had a few ideas for her and that she should come back in a few days and I would have the outfits picked out that I think would fit.
She came back and liked everything I picked out, but she had to get it cleared by the head wardrobe stylist. So she took pictures and took it back to the head stylist. They came back and they used about 70-percent of what I picked out.
They brought me on to the set to meet the head wardrobe stylist for the movie. So I met her and she told me I had a great eye and I should think about styling.
I thought about it and she said if you ever want to intern, you can intern for me. So I interned with her for about a year and a half. She taught me all about the business. It was a lot of work. I drove to Chicago once every day of the week for a Hush Puppies shoes. Their main headquarters are in Rockford, Michigan.
Every year they have a big convention and fashion show with vendors from all over the world come to see what is coming out for the next season. That was one of the biggest projects that I was working on as an intern. That was a lot of sleepless nights. It was 130 or 140 looks. It was a lot.
After I got done with that, the internship, I decided to start my own company. I was still working at the boutique and Red Lobster. The way I came up with Kev Couture, was that I went in one day on a day off. I was sitting at the bar and my coworker came out and I was explaining to her I was starting my own business but I need a name. I didn’t know what to name it.
She said, "You know what? Why don’t you just go with Kev Couture." I said, "You know what, that sounds good!" She wrote it on my receipt, which I still have at home. She came up with my name while I was at where I used to work.
From there, I tried to go to every fashion show that came up in Detroit, and Chicago to get my name out. I was styling photoshoots, music video so I could get my name out.
Once I got my name started, Kev Couture, I went to Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to change the name. You want to keep all the platforms the same. Sometimes they may have their business name but it may be hard to find them because they switch their names all around. If you have a business name, keep it all the same. That is what I ended up doing, I knew there are a lot of stylists and you have to do something to separate you.
I went to all these shows. There were a whole bunch in Detroit and Chicago I was styling for. That is where you will meet designers and other people who come to the shows and get a lot of networking. Styling is about building relationships and getting clientele. You need to know how to build and foster those relationships.
While in Detroit, I met this lady who ran the marketing and PR for a lot of the Lions and a lot of NFL clients. When I first met her, I didn’t start styling NFL players the next day. I started out styling her first. So I styled her for a lot of her events and then she was like, "Man Kev is pretty good." I did her closet over, I did a lot. She was like, "Kev is a good stylist."
So when a player was looking for a stylist, she would recommend me. That was my first NFL player. And then it spawned from there. That was in 2013, but it took me awhile to get my first NFL client.
If you want to network and get into your creative inspiration, you have to go to where the shows are. I went to the New York Fashion week. I didn’t even know if I was going to get in because its invite only. I went there for the inspiration. I went there in 2012 not even knowing if I was going to get in.
When I decided to open up Kev Couture, I went into Facebook and started to friend all the fashion people. A lot of the people in fashion, I wanted to be their friends. I would send them friend requests and get them to accept me. That is how it happened.
One of my friends, Mary, she accepted me and she asked if I was going to be going to New York, and I told her yes, She asked if I was going to be going to any shows and I said I wasn’t because I didn’t get any invites, but I am going to go to see what is up and get inspiration
When I was out there, she brought me into a show. That was a blast. New York Fashion Week was awesome for me. And from there, I just tried to keep branding myself.
I went to the Fashion Week, got my first NFL client and then I started to find my niche. Athletes. There are a lot of stylists and a lot of what you can do. Personal styling, you can style for runway or you can do music video, movies. You can do a lot of styling, but it is important once you have done a lot you want to figure out what you want to do and find your niche. And I found mine with athletes.
I style men and women, but I still style athletes. And that is pretty much my story.
Szerlag: Kev, thank you very much for talking with me.
Couture: Thank you.
To see our interview, click here.
