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Fleur McCrone
Words Hannah George
The guest QVC host and lecturer at the London School of Style, Fleur McCrone gracefully empowers each and everyone of her clients to find their own unique style and identity through her personal styling company ‘Fine Styling.’
Hannah: Tell me about your styling career?
Fleur: The styling is a second career after the kids. I was sort of at that point where they were growing up and going to school, and I was thinking I want a career, but I don't want to go back to what it was I was doing before. It just didn't feel like me and it didn't fit with my life.
I've always loved fashion and style - I just thought I just kept coming back to going into the industry. I think I probably would have done it in my 20s if I'd had more confidence. I think I felt that it was a hard industry to get into and that there would be a lot of competition. Of course, at the London College of Style, which is where I went on to get qualified. From there, I just kind of built up my business. I definitely wouldn't have predicted the things to happen to me that have happened. When I thought about personal styling, I just thought I'd just be working primarily with one to one clients, which is the main part of my job but all the other things that have come as a result of that. I now lecture at the College of Style and in styling, and then the QVC opportunity came up - that's talking about clothes and being a special expert on that on their show. Then kind of working at London with that London Fashion Week and getting to know I've got built up a boutique relationship with a designer called Paul Costello, who I work with at every London Fashion Week.
I work hours and hours and hours on the business but I absolutely love what I do! I love making a difference to people's lives, which is what I can do through clothes, and I get lucky because I get quite a lot of feedback because... it's about relationship building with the people that you work with. Quite often I'll see a client on a regular basis. That put me in twice a year to do a style update. It's just lovely being able to kind of be on that journey with people and help them to sort of give them some new confidence.
H: Tell me a little bit more about you and QVC. How did that opportunity come about? At what stage in your career did that come about? How long have you been doing that?
F: I've been doing that for about 18 months, maybe I haven't been in since , but hopefully that's going to come back on because I think the QVC style channel, which is what I am, which is what I was working on. It stopped for a while, whilst Covid was going on but I think starting it and that came about through just some contacts that kind of just knew the lady who takes the talent there. I just got put forward, and I had to do a couple of kinds of auditions - which were so scary. From that, you kind of go onto that database. They have a big database of guests; they have a lot of people that they can pick to choose to go onto the show. So, it's a kind of ad hoc thing for me. I'm not regularly on there, but it's really fun to do when I get the chance.
H: Would you say that your connections, your contact list is very important in the industry that you're in?
F: I think it helps, definitely, to have a good network, and when you're building any business, that’s one of the key things that you need to do is to build your network. Firstly, to just meet people, who know people, who know the people, who can know about who can. But also to get yourself into as many different places as possible so that they know about what it is that you do. So to me, the most powerful way of promoting myself is face to face with a group. Having a group of women - typically doing a style presentation to them is the most powerful way in which I can kind of get clients, because what I do is such a personal service. People have to feel really comfortable with it and feel like they can work with me. You get that sense when you actually meet someone face to face and you hear them talking about what it is they do.
H: Talk to me about lecturing and you said that through that, you've been able to do London Fashion Week and the designer Paul Costello, just tell me a little bit more about that as well.
F: The lecturing came about through the London College of Style. I just kept really close contact with the guys in the college who ran it and they're very keen on giving people opportunities - post qualification and they have a lot of graduates training the graduates, teaching on their courses, because I know it is ideal, really, because I'm on the ground. I'm working, I'm there and I'm doing the job. I share actual experience as well as knowing all the theory behind how to style somebody. They have a very good network of good relationships with many designers. Designers need people to come and help backstage in London Fashion Week. So, London College of Style supplies a lot of students and graduates to do that each fashion week and I kind of got involved in that. That's how I built up the relationship with Paul Costello specifically. I have done it with other designers as well - but I like working for him. He's nice.
H: Who is on your styling wishlist. Who would you like to style?
F: That's a good question. I think for me, somebody like Davina McCall or Claudia Winkleman. I love them, and I think they're amazing. They're really good role models; like strong women. I'd love the opportunity to style them one day, and I like their style as it is anyways.
H: Is there anything else that you would want to add that you'd want our readers to know?
F: Don't let yourself - hold yourself back from doing new and scary things because during the course at LCF, it was really out of my comfort zone and it was a really big decision but it turned out to be the best decision I've ever made. If you've got a passion for something, then follow your dreams. I'm in my 40s, so having that second career and if you've had kids it's not the end of your career. It is about reinventing yourself and having a bit more confidence to go for something that you didn't think you could do previously.