When it comes to fashion, few people know styling like Rachel Fanconi.
Over the course of her 30-year career, she’s styled the likes of Helen Mirren, Rachel Weisz and David Beckham for award ceremonies, red carpet events and magazine photoshoots.
Now 49, the fashion legend is still one of the most trusted names in the industry.
We chatted to her about red carpet heels, missing U2 and why she thinks clothes are about to get a whole lot more comfortable.
Were you a budding stylist when you were growing up?
My family remembers me making cardboard shoes and being outraged at the idea I wasn’t allowed to wear them at school! I was the only kid who was dressing up like pop star Adam Ant.
I came from a small town in Devon, so magazines were our connection to the outside world in a way that online is now.
I studied at the London College of Fashion, then started an internship on newspapers, learning about deadlines and doing stuff fast.
I went freelance just at the start of the celebrity culture with the launch of Hello! magazine. Prior to that, people didn’t know what styling was.
But you can see from pictures at the Oscars where the switch suddenly happened from stars doing their own make-up and hair and wearing their own clothes, to becoming far more polished.
Who was the first famous person you styled?
It was the American chef Robert Carrier, who was a real hoot. I realised then that when you style, you’re doing something that’s really helpful to others.
Sometimes when I was younger I’d see diva-like behaviour but the trend for that has gone.
Now, stars want a safe pair of hands and although someone might have a difficult day they have usually asked for you in person.
What’s the trickiest part of styling?
Travelling light is not my thing. I’m a three-rail girl as a minimum and when
I first went freelance me and my husband lived in a flat on the fourth floor that had no lifts – a big mistake.
It would take me half an hour of cardio to get everything upstairs and we’d joke I could compete in a new game show – World’s Strongest Stylist. He would say I could beat anyone in the three-metre dash with four Ikea bags in my hands!
So it’s not all glamour then?
In my second week of interning I had a very angry call from a PR saying, ‘You can’t send stuff back to me like this,’ and it gave me such a kick up the bum.
Now, if anyone is assisting me, I try to emphasise the bits of the job that are the least glamorous, such as making sure stuff goes back looking immaculate or shopping for tissue and a stack of zip-lock bags. The job is 50% creativity and 50% logistics.
So what’s gone wrong?
Foreign trips always sound great but when you come off the phone you think, ‘This is going to be a nightmare!’
I’ve only ever lost one bag of clothes but I learned from that. If I’m flying with a band I’ll never pack a bag per person.
I’ll distribute the outfits across the cases and pack breakables like sunglasses and jewellery in Tupperware, which I distribute.
Once, a client in Monte Carlo wanted me to get the suitcases across to a yacht for the shoot in an inflatable dinghy. I had to point out we would sink. I wasn’t worried about drowning, I was terrified of the clothes being ruined!
What are the pitfalls of the job?
I’m usually at a shoot at 8am or earlier for commercials. I’ve always hung everything the night before and done an outfit-build at home. On some jobs, colour is the most important thing.
If it’s a magazine cover you can’t repeat colours that were used on the front the month before. Meanwhile, you have to ensure the clothes aren’t marked, so the sight of someone in a white suit drinking a latte sends your blood pressure through the roof.
I’m the Ministry Of No Fun. There’s regularly a moment on location shoots just after the wrap where someone shouts, ‘Let’s jump in the pool wearing that dress!’ and I have to say firmly, ‘That’s not going to happen!’
So what’s going to be the hot look post-pandemic?
People will be looking for clothes that retain that sense of ease that they had in lockdown with clever draping and fabrics that feel great.
They will want bright colour and optimism and it will be interesting to see what happens with heels.
We’ve had trainers in for seasons and seasons and I think women are in a new comfort zone where they feel they don’t have to dress up in heels any more.
Do your stress levels rise when a client is on a red carpet in heels?
If you’ve put someone in a heel who would rather be in a flat they are not going to be comfortable. You need to be creative.
If they are not a heel wearer, try a high-heel platform so they have extra height on the red carpet without instability – or look for a heel that’s further set back, which is slightly easier to balance on.
Mistakes, you’ve made a few?
One year we were dressing a client at the Brit Awards and as I was prepping the rail, some music started in the background.
It was ages before I realised it was U2 doing their sound check. I had been thinking, ‘I need to steam these garments’ while one of the biggest bands in the world had been playing on the stage.
It was a good way to learn you shouldn’t get so caught up with the job that you forget to enjoy some of the nice things about it.
For more information, visit Rachel’s website.
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