Meet Naz Meknat of Style by Naz in West Hollywood

Naz, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
After I finished high school in Iran, I moved to the United States, more specifically Southern California where my family lived. Not knowing my way around and how anything worked around here I took a few years to strengthen my English and figure out what it was I wanted to do. After trying a few different types of jobs and not feeling satisfied, I decided to pursue my passion.

I enrolled in Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, (FIDM) and got my degree in Visual Merchandising. After I graduated I tried my hands at almost everything in fashion and eventually I realized Styling was what I loved the most and was best at, so I started an internship with a stylist to learn the business a little more and after a few months I started my own company, Style by Naz in 2006.

Has it been a smooth road?
Absolutely not. This is not an easy business to break in to, especially for someone like myself who started way later in life. I went to college when I was 28, my classmates were all fresh out of high school.

For the first few years, I had another job to support myself while I tried to build a clientele and worked on my Styling business. Being a Fashion Stylist looks very glamorous from the outside, but there is a lot of hard work involved. You have to be Strong both physically and mentally to survive in this industry, it takes a lot of patience.

At the beginning, you will work many long hours for free just to prove you are qualified and you are willing to do the hard work and to be able to make a name for yourself in this business especially in Los Angeles where the competition is fierce. This was particularly harder for me because I started in this game so much later than most of my peers.

By the time I graduated college and started working on building my business I was way older than the most stylists who were already established in the business. It could get discouraging at times, but I knew what I wanted, and I worked very hard to earn my spot.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
Style by Naz offers Styling for Red carpet, Editorial shoots, Ad campaigns and Private/Personal Shopping and styling. However lately most of my time has been spent dressing a few celebrity clients I have for their Red carpet events, press tours or any other public appearances they might have.

Personal Styling is what I do most these days which is the favorite part of my job. What I am known for at this moment is Styling men. Although I have worked and still work with many female clients, my male clients have been getting a lot of exposure in recent years therefor my name is more associated with my male clients.

I’ve  been trying to take on less editorial jobs to focus more on my personal clients. This choice has definitely paid off; my dedication to my clients had landed them on best-dressed lists many times in the past couple of years which makes me very proud.

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Los Angeles is probably the best place to be a Stylist. If someone is just starting up, they can choose from a list of established, well-known stylists who all live and work here to intern for and learn the ins and outs of this business. New York is also good, but in my opinion, Los Angeles is number one. Everything you need is here, Hollywood, celebrities, showrooms, studios and a lot of non-celebrity professionals who need a stylist. Also, the weather in California makes our running around town all day everyday a lot easier compared to New York or London.