Style Profile – Rachel Vallozzi
~By Natalie Mitchell
I recently had the pleasure of meeting Pittsburgh stylist Rachel Vallozzi and it was an awesome experience! She was extremely down-to-earth and very open about her passion for bringing the best out of her clients by helping them to revamp their wardrobe. With a natural talent for personal styling and over ten years of experience in the film and commercial industries, Rachel has become one of the top freelance stylists in the Pittsburgh area. Rachel is also co-owner of Pageboy Salon & Boutique, a joint vintage clothing store and hair salon. Located in Lawrenceville, Pageboy Salon & Boutique is a haven of vintage-inspired fashions by local and independent designers as well as pieces personally hand-picked by Rachel. The boutique also offers personal shopping, styling, and tailoring services. Rachel’s own collection, Buttercup Blues, is also featured in the store.
Photo Credits: Benjamin Butala
Check out my interview with Rachel as she shares her journey and gives advice to aspiring stylist!
SS: Tell me about yourself and how you got started as a stylist.
RV: I’m 31 and originally from Greensburg. I grew up in theater—on the acting side of things—and when I graduated high school, I worked for a year and half, saved up money, and moved to California to explore the film industry. When I was there, I got into the actors’ union but I always had an eye on the stylist when I was on set. I thought, “They look like they might be interesting!” So that was like the seed that was planted. I lived there for a year and a half and then I came back. I had been saving money from a commercial that I was in that had run for a while, and I was thinking, “I’m going to open a vintage store.” I went through some small business-assistance programs at Saint Vincent College for help with the legal paperwork, and then opened my first store! After a year and a half, I realized… it wasn’t going to work in Greensburg. But it was definitely a “live and learn” experience. I planned to move to the South Side (at that time, Lawrenceville wasn’t really “established”). But I think I hit that neighborhood on the downward slope. After three years I relocated to the North Side because I’d found a really great space. At that time I started upcycling clothing, so it became a sort of part-vintage boutique and part-studio. It wasn’t in a high traffic area, but the rent was cheap.
I had met a guy named Montie when I had relocated to Pittsburgh—I was acting in a commercial and he was styling. We’d kept in touch over the years, and he would pop into the store from time to time. Through Montie I met another stylist named Mary. This was around the time that The Mysteries of Pittsburgh was filming—a period piece set in the ‘80s—and Mary was hunting for vintage clothing for the shoot. After chatting for a bit about wanting to get involved in wardrobe, she alerted Montie, and the next day he called asking if I wanted to assist him on a commercial! It turns out Montie was trying to get out of the industry, so he ended up sort of taking me under his wing and effectively became my mentor. He started referring clients to me, and my first experience (with Animal Productions downtown) went really well.
SS: How long were you assisting your mentor Montie?
RV: Probably on and off for six months. And then I slowly started to build from there. My first client, Animal Productions, continued to hire me, and at that point I realized I needed to get into the local film Union, I.A.T.S.E. Local 489. So my first gig with the Union was with The Kill Point, a show that shot 13 episodes for SpikeTV. I don’t really like the pace of TV and movies—it’s, like, 15, 16 hours a day for five or six days a week. It’s super intense but also, to me, boring. I was used to being totally hands-on, dressing everyone in commercials. But with the union, I was put on their list and it was much easier for me to get work. Then I realized: I could shop. There is somebody that just shops for things in the wardrobe department! So I was like, that’s sweet! I did that for a couple of movies, which I liked much better, but ultimately it still really depends on the head designer. The first job I had, my supervisor and designer were amazing! I thought, “I could do this! This is great!” And then the very next shopping job, the designer was not quite as pleasant to work with.
As this was all going on, my friend Dana and I had been discussing opening a joint salon and boutique at some point. The hope was that I could move into this and not work on movie sets anymore. So right after that disappointing second shopping gig, Dana called and basically said, “Let’s do this now.” We found this amazing space in Lawrenceville on Butler Street. So now I’m doing personal styling, commercials, and the boutique. I love the personal styling—it’s one on one and I get to meet really interesting people and help them organize their closets.
SS: Tell us about a typical personal styling consultation.
RV: Usually I go into their closets first. I help them separate—like, “these are things that I know I need to get rid of but I need someone to tell me to get rid of it,” or “these are things that I haven’t worn because I don’t know if they still fit me or the cut is strange.” Another pile of clothes is “I love these things but I don’t know what to wear with this.” So we’ll go through and I’ll have them try on all the question marks. We figure out what needs to be donated, what could be tailored, and what they have in their closet that they just didn’t think to put together. I make a list of what we need in their wardrobe to create complete outfits. Then we make a priority list—”I have this much money so this is what I need to buy first for this season.” I take photos of the things that they have in their closet that we put together so they can refer to the photo when they’re getting dressed. Usually I shop with the client but sometimes people prefer that I just shop for them alone.
But before we even start, I get a sense of what their lifestyle is, what their needs are, what their insecurities are, what their colors are, what their comfort levels are…all of that. It’s like in film, you create a character. But instead of creating it, I’m pulling it out of the person. And then we make a world of it.
SS: What are your top three styling tips?
RV: Number one would be tailoring, for sure, because I feel like a lot of times things just need updated. The clothes could be perfectly fine and will be in style again once they’re tailored.
Number two: don’t buy cheap jewelry. A lot of people have this idea that you buy something at a store and you buy all the jewelry that they display with it and it’s like, there’s not an easier way to cheapen an outfit than to buy all that gaudy jewelry. When pieces are brushed metals they look richer, they look like antiques or something that you can have for the next 30 years and will never have to replace it.
And number three: only buy what you’re comfortable in and shop for the body you have now. People are often like, “I’m going to lose twenty pounds.” Don’t do it! Because you will sit around and say you’re going to lose twenty pounds and then you’re going to feel bad about yourself because you have nothing to wear, and then you won’t be motivated to lose the twenty pounds! So I make people shop for their body now. You can always get clothing tailored when you drop the weight.
I feel like whenever someone is uncomfortable with something about their body, which everybody is, then it becomes this thing that they focus on, they can’t get out of that tunnel to figure out, hey, I can wear this and look hot! It doesn’t matter that I don’t like my legs or whatever it is. Sooner or later people start to change their perspective. They stop beating themselves up. I’m really big about not trying to make you be something that you’re not. I just want to figure out what the best of you is and pull that out.
SS: Do you have a favorite designer?
RV: I’ll be honest—and this is terrible, but—I don’t pay attention. People send me blogs and sometimes I look at them, but I don’t like to be on the computer any more than I have to. I don’t watch TV but I do pay attention to trends. I have a couple of magazines that I look at. Mostly I pay attention to people. Wherever I am I pay attention to people, what they have on their bodies and how they put it together—so much to a point where it’s distracting!
I’m really into upcycled clothes. Ono, whom I met at the Handmade Arcade this year and now sells her collection Sew Ono at Pageboy, her stuff is adorable. There’s a local girl named Jackie, of Iron City Upcyclery, her stuff is really precious. There’s another girl named Monika whom I met at Handmade Arcade who works under the name Zuzablue. But overall I’m really interested in promoting local independent artists.
SS: Any advice that you would give to aspiring stylists?
RV: I would say build a website! People want to see you, they want to see what you do. I feel like that’s the best thing that I did. And make sure that it’s searchable. Beyond that, listen to your intuition. Yeah, I think that’s really it. Oh, and do any freelance work you can. Self employment takes patience and it takes motivation. I think they’re two schools of people, those people that need a paycheck and those people that can just wing it. I think if you can be that person that can just wing it, your life will be very rewarding. But I’m biased, of course!
SS: What do you see for yourself in the future?
RV: I’m trying to have people working with me. I want to be at the point with clients where I can delegate work and have people help me with things, like returns. I’ve done it before and have guided them with what to do with my clients so that I can take on more. Being one person and having three major things going can be a lot so I want to start training people.
Visit Rachel and her business partner Dana in person at Pageboy Salon and Boutique, 3613 Butler Street, Pittsburgh, PA, or on the web
Check them out on Twitter
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Photo Credits: Benjamin Butala
Featured Image: Jana Cruder
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