Our new heroine Olga Shevtsova is a personal stylist and image maker with ten years of experience and her own philosophy of life. In an interview with Daily Hub News, she revealed interesting details of her work, and told us how a stylist can become your ally, how to accustom yourself to sophistication and beauty, and how to accept your wrinkles and age-related changes with dignity and gratitude.

Our new heroine, Olga Shevtsova is a personal stylist and image maker with ten years of experience and her own philosophy of life. In an interview with Daily Hub News, she revealed interesting details of her work, as well as how a stylist can become your ally, how to accustom yourself to sophistication and beauty, and how to accept your wrinkles and age-related changes with dignity and gratitude.

Olga, as I know, you are an Indologist, that is, a specialist in the history and culture of the peoples of Hindustan. What prompted you to plunge into such an unusual and extraordinary field?

First of all, my great-grandmother's library had many books, including about India. From there I learned about all the Indian actors known in the Soviet Union. And when it was time to go to school, my father took me to the gymnasium of oriental languages. There I was asked what language I wanted to study. There were already two full classes for Chinese, so there were either Arabic or Hindi, and I chose Hindi. It was fate! My teacher, Olena Bordilovska, was simply magical, she would tell us about the alphabet and at any moment could strike a pose and say that this is how the god Shiva stands. She made us fall in love with all this... I liked the alphabet, I felt the culture. I'm very adaptable, if I got excited, I was like an Indian, you couldn't tell the difference."

I wanted to become a diplomat. After the interview, I entered Taras Shevchenko University because I had diplomas and victories at the Olympiads. This has been my path since childhood, it was like it was in my blood, I wanted to connect my life with India, to go there, and I was partially able to realize this in my story.

And what about now? Is Indology a source of inspiration for you in your business, or an opportunity to look at the world from a different perspective? In high school and at university, I had a discipline called Oriental Studies, where we were taught why it is important to respect other cultures. Today it helps me build relationships with different nations. I had the opportunity to test this when I worked in an IT company with international teams and had to switch from one culture to another.

As a stylist, I also work with Indian women, there are several clients I met in India and now work online. If necessary, I can quickly switch to their language, and I know Indian fashion and follow their designers. This is an unobvious skill. It comes with languages because the more languages you know, the more times you are a human being.

And you understand another mentality better through language...

This is also true. I can also say that if one of my clients likes ethno, boho, some kind of eastern story, then I can organize it all in a cool way. I have a lot of references in my head and I can quickly show a person some images so that they are on the same page with me.

When did you, a person with such unique interests and hobbies, feel that you wanted to help others change their lives by working with style? How did it all start?

It started during my time working with the Indian Embassy and the girls knew that I was interested in fashion, took cutting and sewing courses. At that time, the famous Indian designer JJ Valaya and his team came to Ukrainian Fashion Week. I was invited to be his assistant and guide. While organizing the processes, I noticed that something was missing, that there was chaos, but I did my best. Talking to JJ Valaya and his team, I realized that despite my deep ambitions, I don't want to create clothes because it is very energy-consuming and resource-intensive. But if you are engaged in styling, you are sort of involved in creation, and sort of not, something on the edge. After that, I decided to get an education in this area in my spare time, took courses, listened to stylists and analyzed markets.

What do you like most about being a stylist?

I am an open person, it is easy to get to know me. In addition, in this work, you delve into another person, their inner experiences, desires. And then this person comes out of the fitting room and starts dancing while looking in the mirror. And this means that their outer and inner selves have united. It's magic! I like to show people that it is possible to go beyond, and I teach my clients this. It is a process of energy and knowledge exchange. I also like to see the result of the work right now, not after a while. We meet, and I realize whether I can "pull" this person. There are moments that I cannot influence. I refuse when I realize that now it is better for a person to go to a psychologist or to deal with themselves, and only then come back to me. There are also people who do not need help in principle, and it is just a waste of time. If we start working, then we need to set goals. It's a long work.

What is the most difficult stage of interaction between a stylist and a client?

This is the moment when the client either trusts you or not. Usually, stylists see the prospect of your style development in advance. There is an understanding of where we can go with this texture, fabric, person, persona. When the client trusts us and likes the result, this magic happens again. But it's just psychology, plus I look at it from all sides: relevance, practicality, whether it suits this particular person. It's like a Rubik's cube that needs to be assembled. There are also people who are embarrassed to say that they don't like the clothes. Therefore, I immediately agree that the person should be sincere and not be afraid to say "no" because I will have two or three more options for them.

Name the main signs that a person urgently needs the help of a stylist.

If I need to go on stage, will I want to dress myself? Or would I want another person to do it because I need to accumulate strength for the performance? I had an insight that I should delegate not the work that I don't like, but the work that I do well, and you just need to explain your expectations. And at the same time, you should take on difficult work and understand it. It is important to understand that you can direct your time and energy to what needs your attention now.

When you realize that you have nothing to wear, this is the first signal that you need tools for a different way of looking at yourself. For such cases, I have a short course, a long course and the opportunity to work with me personally.

I also have times when you open the closet and everything is not okay. This suggests that: 1) I've reached a new level; 2) it's time to go through your clothes and ask yourself the question "who are you, where are you going, what's going on in your life?". If you don't use this energy, things start using you. Things are there to serve us, not the other way around. This is about lifestyle and your worldview. In this case, the stylist will show you the way, and it will be fun to check how modern you think, how outdated you are, how much you think in certain patterns.

How to develop a sense of style? Where to get inspiration if you are at the very beginning of this journey?

And it's about everything around you. If you surround yourself with sporty things, then you think in this category and will choose the same things. The question here is what you surround yourself with. If you go to nature, do you pay attention to the colors that are in nature? Do you get inspired? Inspiration! If these colors resonate with you, you can find them in stores, try them on, and look at the combination.
You can also get inspiration from Pinterest, Instagram, a collection of photos, and analyzing your old photos. You can make a gallery of selfies and watch how you dress. For example, if you don't tuck in the top, your legs look shorter; put on a belt - the picture changes; a heel — again, different feelings.
When you're in white, you won't eat a cutlet on the run, you'll sit down, find a fork-knife — it disciplines you. You need to surround yourself with beauty, and gradually a sense of style will come. Every woman has it in her. This is also a question for our parents, what they put into our heads, maybe something like: wear torn clothes in the house, but go out beautiful. The choice is up to you. You have to understand that you need to look as beautiful as possible at home because at home you are with your closest people, and you are alone with yourself. If you don't feel good about yourself, then where is the point.

Describe your style.

I am in favor of using clothes as a tool. When I need to be focused, I dress accordingly. If I don't have energy and strength, I go to the gym. My style is diverse because I experiment a lot when I have time. But in general, I am in favor of classic minimalism. Each brand has its own DNA, and each brand focuses on a certain heroine. I really like Yves Saint Laurent, Tom Ford and their minimalist view of women, the ability to give women business energy. I'm at the peak of my career now, and these brands really appeal to me. I can create an image for myself in the style of these brands and dress accordingly.

Your favorite designer?

He had ruffles, flounces, a little bit of Victorian history. I also like the Vionnet brand, it was abandoned for a long time, and then it was bought by a Kazakh businesswoman Goga Ashkenazy. I would also mention Marc Jacobs and Karl Lagerfeld. The latter had a collection dedicated to India. Watching Europeans wearing Indian clothes, I felt my 'naughty' fantasy becoming a reality: people respect Indian culture, do not consider India a dirty country, know about Mahatma Gandhi, Indira Gandhi, know who Jawaharlal Nehru is.

What fashion of what times impresses and inspires you the most?

After the Second World War, women went into romanticism, wore floral dresses, various collars, bright makeup to somehow decorate this world of devastation. I would like to explore this period more. I like it when women are able to make sure that no one influences their condition. She is the only one, and she is the source of everything. It's such a cult, and I want it to exist now. It can be difficult for me to establish this contact, it may or may not exist.

I can add that I have Ukrainian clients who live in several countries, including Romania and Germany. We have created a separate wardrobe for each country. They switch from one lifestyle to another. All my clients from Ukraine, despite the war, are fashionable (smiles).

How do you understand femininity in the modern world, given all the progressive changes that have taken place?

I don't want to offend anyone, but too many people want to imitate Kim Kardashian with all her surgical interventions. No one wants to grow up naturally. To me, femininity is naturalness, when you recognize yourself as you are. I had an insight on this topic: is this fake only in appearance, or does it also manifest itself in relationships? If you really need it, I don't see anything wrong with Botox, but to follow all the new products and not take care of your health is not femininity for me, it's something else.

For me, femininity is wrinkles, it's when we look at famous models like Claudia Schiffer, Cindy Crawford and others and see how far they've come. It's so cool to get old and see your wrinkles, to realize that you've lived such a long life. Because some people don't age because they die young. And you have the opportunity to carry your beauty that you have and pass it on to your children.

Whose celebrity style do you like?

I really like the style of Hailey Bieber and Victoria Beckham. Victoria has a uniform, it's like she doesn't go to bed at all, someone says it's fake. I think that Victoria knows herself very well and feels very good about herself, she can afford to look like this because she has done a lot for it. And Hailey Bieber is simple, but at the same time feminine and elegant. By the way, I like the way Olena Zelenska's stylist works and what he offers her. I also like the style of Dasha Shapovalova, a famous person in the history of Ukrainian fashion. She has a collection of cool archival pieces that are no longer available.

In cinema, I like the image of Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman and Vivien Leigh in Gone with the Wind. I grew up with the movie and the book Gone with the Wind, and when I saw green velvet in a store, I made a dress out of it. Of course, it was not in a similar style, but it was a reference. I wore this dress and it seemed to me that I was as strong and strong-willed, and somewhat silly, as Scarlett O'Hara.

Suggest your favorite books about fashion and style.

I am in favor of digital publications. I can advise you to subscribe to Harper's Bazaar and Vogue, as well as look at Scandinavian publications, our Ukrainian publications, publications from different countries, and analyze them. There is also an online edition of Business of Fashion. When I was writing about fashion, my morning started with opening their website and seeing what was going on.

The website and Instagram Olga Shevtsova.