Sydnee Paige: Wardrobe Stylist, Fashion Analyst | Styled by Sydnee Paige

Growing up playing basketball and running track, Sydnee Paige was committed to pursuing a professional athletic career after college from a young age. As she began her senior year of high school though, Sydnee remembers experimenting with her own personal style, diving into the world of photography, and quickly developing an interest for fashion. She was all in. Determined to focus on fashion, Sydnee began her collegiate journey at the University of Alabama studying fashion merchandising. During her senior year at Alabama, she secured an internship with leading luxury apparel brand, Vince Camuto, and immersed herself in the corporate realm of the fashion industry. After graduating college, Sydnee continued to work with Vince Camuto for two years as a junior account executive before deciding to embark on a journey of her own in the industry as a wardrobe stylist. The rest is history. Combining her love for fashion and sports, Sydnee has fostered her personal brand in the space and worked with an array of professional athletes in the NBA and WNBA as well as sports brands since. As she continues her journey in the industry, she is looking forward to building her company "Styled by Sydnee Paige" further and collaborating with more athletes and sports organizations in the years to come. Amazing!

Let's dive into your journey early on! You mentioned that you played basketball and ran track. Take us through that process of deciding to step away from the court/track and pursue a career in fashion styling. When did you discover that you wanted to merge your love for fashion and sports?

Yeah! I honestly thought that I wanted to do sports all the way until my senior year in high school. In high school, I really started to explore fashion and my style more. It was around the time Tumblr came out and it was just filled with inspiration. I got really into photography at that time (as well), and I just started getting really inspired in fashion. I started to gear more towards that route. It came to the point where I was like: “Ok, I'm either gonna be running track in college or I can really focus on fashion and do that.” I decided to (pursue) my love for fashion and just focus on that, but I always knew that I wanted to somehow come back and merge my two loves of fashion and sports. I really love that now I'm able to merge those two worlds and style athletes. It's honestly the best of both worlds.

During your time in college, you pursued a degree in fashion merchandising. How was that transition from college into the world of fashion and styling like for you? What were some challenges that you faced early on?

I faced a lot of challenges (*laughs*). I went to the University of Alabama for fashion merchandising and they kind of gear you towards two things: you're either going to be a buyer or an account executive. You know, they don't really show you how many different facets of fashion there are to work through. My senior year of college, we had to do an internship in New York—we had a week to come up and do a whole bunch of interviews. I did all my interviews and I actually ended up not getting chosen to get an internship here at first. That was super challenging for me and just really confusing. What ended up happening is that one of the places that I interviewed at, which was a brand called Vince Camuto, the girl who they ended up offering didn’t take it. They let me do it and, from then, my drive was so crazy. I really worked so hard there to show my worth and show that I really wanted it, and they ended up hiring me when I graduated from college. So that's actually how I ended up moving to New York, to work for them.

That's awesome! After interning with them, you worked as a styling assistant. Could you share more with us about exploring this area of the fashion industry?

After I interned with them, they ended up hiring me and I worked with them for about two years. I was working as a junior account executive, so it was very much corporate sales. You know, I went into an office every day and I just started to know that this was not the realm that I wanted to be in. But, one of my jobs there was to organize the photo shoots for the online website. I was able to start styling those out, and I had a few days where I would go on set—that's where I saw that whole world of being on set, the stylists there helping out, and all of that. I was like, “Oh ok, this is more my lane. This is more my speed of what I want to do.” I just started researching so hard on how to break into the styling world and looking at people like Monica Rose, June Ambrose, and all of these stylists out now. I was like: “How did they start?” It really was just you jumping into it and getting your feet wet. So I ended up finding a stylist who was looking for an assistant, and I literally just quit my job and turned an assistant for her—which was so different. You know, going from corporate salary to being freelance was a whirlwind of a change for me, but one of the best decisions I made.

Reflecting back on your time in the corporate world and working in that space, what were some key takeaways or lessons that you learned that you implemented when you transitioned over to the freelance world?

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