Introduction: Talking to London is back. Plenty of fascinating people will sharing with us. For the 8th edition we have Niccita who is a young London based stylist. She is at the beginning of here journey. We took a moment to  discuss what it involves to be a stylist. Our conversation covered topics such as style, fashion, subcultures, grime, influences and inspirations. Nicciata explains here passion for British style and why it has a big impact on the work she does. Examples of here work have been used alongside photography by myself.  Another diverse addition to the series ‘Talking to London’, emphasising the experiences of Londoners. Let us and Niccita know what you think. Enjoy. Peace & Love.

Audio interview is below, accompanied by photographs and selected quotes;

Tumblr – www.keeksstyling.tumblr.com

Interview Highlights

10 seconds: Hi I’m Niccita a stylist from London. Just a little bit on my background. My parents were born in Kenya and moved to London when they were younger. I moved to London when I started uni 4 years ago.

50 seconds: I first studied fashion design for 2 years and graduated with a FDA. I took a year out because I realised that’s not what I wanted to do. I wasn’t really passionate about it. And I’ve always been passionate about styling. So I got into that by myself and reapplied to uni. I’ve just graduated.

1:30 min: My was a fashion designer. So that gave me the fashion background. My dad’s always been on the business side. So we’ve always had business and fashion in our family. My mum worked in Italy, in the rag trade and she went to London College of Fashion.

1:55 min: I’ve always been interested in fabrics and stuff like that. I’ve always had an eye for fashion. I’ve always grown up around it. My nan had her own fashion business, my mum did to.

2:12 min: I think my nan started her business when she was in Africa.

2:22 min: My mum did women’s ware; lingerie, hand bag design… European.

2:54 min: I definitely developed my style when I came to London… Everyone goes through that bad phase when you’re at college.

3:17min: I took a year out of uni when I finished my fashion-design course. And that year taught me a lot about myself. I literally learnt so much about myself and what I wanted to do. So from that I knew I wanted to be a stylist. Started freelancing and doing for work by myself. And then went to my third year of uni.

4:15 min: I think music influences my shoots a lot. I’m always inspired by music… Probably grime music. I did my last project on grime and fashion.

4:48 min: So Grime’s the biggest and most rebellious subculture since Punk I’d say. And with style icons, I’d say, Skepta, Novelist are the most influential and political… Grime has a clear identity.

5:10 min: It’s not about being rebellious, the fashions more comfy and it is really British. The Grime artists are promoting British brands and they believe it’s about British brands.

5:34 min: Tracksuits are a massive representation of Britain… Britain have their own style compared to anywhere else.

6:10 min: So I’m not really a massive fan of Drake or Kanye West.

6:45 min: Grimes obviously gonna get recognition in America, but I think if it got too much recognition past Britain, the whole aesthetic of it’s gonna go away.  The whole aesthetic of Grime being purely British…. Going past Britian will lose it’s identity.

7:50 min: I’ve had my tumblr for years now. Maybe like 7 years… I’ve got all me recognition from Tumblr and Instagram.

8:37 min: I’m really fascinated in British subculture and British culture. I’ve always obsessed with youth culture and stuff like that.

9: 39 min: I think street-ware and sport-ware is really working class fashion. But it’s always been like that.

10:20 min: I wouldn’t say there is a difference between upper class and working class fashion to be honest. Everyone’s slowly starting to wear the same thing. Maybe working class people are trying to afford more upper class fashion.

10:56 min: I dress to be comfy… I always wear a pair of trainers. Winter will always be tracksuits.

11:16 min: I think there is some sort of London style as well. I would say. Maybe it’s a youth style and maybe it’s a British style. There is no such thing as one London style. There are a few London styles.

12:30 min: I never really throw my clothes away. One think I do is, never throw my clothes away. My mum did the same thing to. She’s never thrown her clothes away… I’ve never regretted it. There is always something I find.

12:53 min: I have my few staple items. I re-wear them and re-wear them. I throw more stylish items on top.

14:22 min: The first thing that I always think about is the brands and models that I want to use. Then obviously the concept is a big deal. The brand is the first thing that I have in my head. Because from that I can go back and think of the concept.

15:10 min: I’ve never really actually used hair and make up that much to be honest. I like all my girls to be really natural and my guys to be all natural. But I do want to start working with more hair and makeup artists.

15:24 min: Instgram’s the key. Literally, if I’m on my phone all day it will only be on Instagram. It won’t be messaging people, texting people, it’ll literally just be like work and Instagram.

15:42 min: I’d say for models, stylists and photographers there’s a 100% community.

16:10 min: I like working with people who are similar to me. Who work fast and get the job done.

16:55 min: I wanna work with a company or magazine. Then I wanna freelance as well. I think that’s a good combination.

17:20 min: I’d love to style a cat-walk show.

17:48 min: I love British designer brands. It’s more Cottweiler, Christopher Shannon, Bobby Abley and brand like that. They’re all really good current British brands.

20:19 min: Music and fashion are two big influences together, and they always work together so well.

21:02 min: Tracksuits aren’t tracksuits anymore. They are really stylish.

21:30 min: I do like Nike tracksuits I have to say… I usually get a men’s small.

25:35 min: Manchester is really big in the creative seen. Cos it’s not London they not getting known as much.

26:35 min; I think people are appreciating British culture a lot more. And appreciating being British more.

27:26 min: But it’s like Louis Vitton as well and all those designer brands that people don’t wear anymore. It was grime artists who were making them popular.

28:25 min: I love Versace. Versace is my favourite brand. I’d say like high-fashion brand. I just think the designs are great.

29:16 min: Everywhere is different. You can’t compare anywhere to London. If you go to the suburbs, say like Reading and stuff… The more you go out of the London, the fashion changes.

33:12 min: It’s not really stylists who influence me, I just get my inspiration from flicking through magazines and stuff… I buy a lot of magazines. I pull out pages of stuff that inspires me. I’ve got a box at home… so whenever I start a new shoot, I can look through for inspiration. Or otherwise Instagram.

34:29 min: So I’d say that Simon Foxton is one of my main stylist influences. His works just really great.

34:41 min: Going forward I wanna start my own company up… I mainly want to work freelance. Do a few magazine jobs as well.

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Talking to London 2 – Mahtab
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Talking to London 6 – Georgie (Drumz of the South)
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