Life in Luxury

An insider look behind the extravagant, fastpaced world of stylists, personal shoppers, and their top VIP clients

- LOVELLE G. ALMAZAR

We all know that if we wanted to have first dibs on luxury brand items, a personal shopper is our easiest way in. We know this thanks to celebrities and influencers who tag their personal shoppers on social media. But acquiring the services of personal shoppers is desired not only by consumers who want to gain access to luxury and extravagance, but also by celebrities who want to maintain their image and by well-off, busy people who want to look a certain way but don’t have time to shop.

For an insider look on the luxurious world of personal shoppers, brand associates, and their clients, we talked to long-time celebrity stylist John Lozano, former ready-to-wear (RTW) lead expert for a luxury brand and current freelance stylist Em Trava, and luxury sales associate Rey Avila.

IN A RELATIONSHIP

Em and Rey focus on walk-ins or new clients, including the clients’ own stylists and personal shoppers, and regular clients who didn’t make appointments. Part of their training included building relationships with clients. Em shares that they don’t really refer to themselves as sales associates, but as client advisors, because their job includes giving advice on certain products or items that would suit the clients. Building a relationship takes time, Em says. For those who want to work with luxury brands, Em’s advice is to do internships as much as possible because they’ll never know which opportunities may come with exposure.