The GLAMOUR X SKIP “Digital Storytelling Series” focuses on fashion, youth culture, and entrepreneurship in South Africa.
Here, GLAMOUR fashion director Tania Durand chats to stylist Francois Ferreira.
Francois Ferreira is a conceptual fashion and editorial stylist based in Johannesburg with over 14 years of experience.
Fashion Director Tania Durand sits with Francois to get an inside glimpse into the profession of fashion styling and his wardrobe hire company The Source.
Francois explains that “styling is understanding how something reads on camera,” it involves fashion, brands and character building and “the clothing needs to translate into that story.”
Francois has experience in advertising, art direction, fashion styling, runway, costume design and production design. His work has been published in numerous local and international magazines.
Francois founded The Source in Johannesburg 9 years ago which specialises in South African design and they also do manufacturing of their own clothing.
The Source is a wardrobe hire space for other stylists in the fashion and film industry to rent clothing. The process of taking care of the clothing is a huge part of the job particularly due to wear and tear.
Some fabrics have a short thread count and after a few washes when stretched it causes bobbles.
Bobbling refers to round balls or bobbles on the fabric as a result of too much friction and the way you wash your clothing. Francois uses a razor blade to gently remove the bobbles from the clothing.
As a stylist Francois often has to find ways to keep his clothing lasting for longer. This includes their washing process, keeping the clothing away from the sun to prevent bleaching and having seamstresses to fix the garments.
Francois says that taking care of the garments is ultimately the best way to prevent wear and tear and to keep the garments for longer.
Styling involves sourcing expensive pieces from high-end retailers and sometimes the item accidentally gets damaged or stained even if the garments were not worn.
Francois says that this often happens and if things go wrong, he takes the garment to be dry cleaned.
Couture clothing needs to be dry cleaned because they are often valued up to R60 000 and he does not want to risk ruining the outfit.
Garment care is essential to Francois Ferreira’s day-to-day life as a stylist and at The Source.
Watch the full interview with Francois Ferreira below:
