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If you paid attention to pop culture at all this year, you’re probably familiar with the work of fashion stylist Chris Horan.
Along with his biggest client, the English pop singer Charli XCX, Horan helped devise the loose, sweaty, some might even say trashy, but altogether hypnotic aesthetic that became “brat summer.” From the aggressive lime green color of the “Brat” album’s cover to some of Charli’s buzziest looks, including her punk-inspired Met Gala ensemble, Horan’s aesthetic choices were seen everywhere.
“I find that the best way to work with a client is to start from the beginning,” Horan said. “I did [Charli’s previous album] ‘Crash’ with her, and with ‘Brat,’ we also started from the ground up. She came in with a whole booklet she had created of the style that she wanted and the direction she wanted to go. And then, for months, she, her creative director [Imogene Strauss] and I put ideas together. That’s my favorite way to work: pitching lots of ideas from scratch and building from there.”
Horan said the piece of “Brat” he’s most proud of is the music video for “360,” one of the album’s lead singles. The video features several Charli-adjacent “it” girls, including Julia Fox, Rachel Sennott, Chloe Cherry, Hari Nef and Chloe Sevigny. Horan dressed all of them for the video.
“There was a lot of talent there, and it was quite a feat to dress them all,” he said. “But all of them were happy with their looks and we accomplished making them look like themselves. That was Charli’s goal: Make all these women feel their best.”
Horan is working at a time when, he acknowledged, stylists are much more audience-facing than they used to be. In the age of Instagram, stylists like Horan, Law Roach and Mimi Cuttrell are as well-known as their clients. It’s a change that is both a blessing and a curse, he said.
“I just try to be consistent with my Instagram,” he said. “I’m not trying to make it perfect. It’s not a personal brand. But at the same time, people don’t look at portfolios anymore. Publicists send their clients a stylist’s Instagram to get a sense of their style.”
Moving forward, Horan said he will continue to work with Charli XCX — they’re now planning her looks for awards season next year. But he will also turn his attention to some of his other clients. One who will be taking much of his focus: Christina Aguilera.
