Marshall’s Chair: Stephanie Rad
Marshall Lin heads down to Stephanie Rad’s studio just a day after her big
Borne out of a love for pants, Rad offers seven different pant styles within her collection of separates and suiting for the modern woman.
Here, Rad talks more about her label and the friendly wave that brought her into Marshall’s chair.
How did you meet Marshall?
My sister had been seeing another stylist at Frederic Fekkai, and one day, I kinda met Marshall, gave him a little wave, and watched him do someone’s hair. So very naturally, for my next appointment, I booked one with Marshall. I have a lot of hair and I don’t like to do too much to it. He understands how my hair moves and all my concerns; he really knows how to make women comfortable in their hair. I consider myself a modern woman, who runs around a lot and goes from day to night, so I don’t like having to worry too much about my hair.
How did you know he was the hairstylist for you?
I don’t know if I knew for sure, but I was just amazed at his technique as I was watching him style that woman’s hair.
When it came to creating your first lookbook, you obviously turned to Marshall to do the model’s (Ruby Aldridge) hair as well, how important is hair for the look and feel of your brand?
I would like to say that my brand is very collectable. There’s a blazer that you can buy now and wear over the next five years. My clothes are classic pieces, but they are also interpretive, and this is important because so many women have completely different aesthetics and I love that they can make my pieces their own. I think the hair, beauty and accessories brings the whole look together. When it comes to the hair itself, I like that someone with a shaved head, or really long hair can wear my clothes however way they style them.
How did you finally decide on the hairstyle for your lookbook?
I like to surround myself with people who are much smarter than me. Marshall’s vision for hair was something tousled, more relaxed, really texturized – something that was a little rock and roll, but also easy to wear to work. I relayed his opinion to the rest of my team and they jumped on board right away.
How did you get into fashion design?
I have a really fun background in fashion. I worked in retail when I was younger, I worked at Rock & Republic, which is a denim company, in sales and customer service when they were launching. Then I worked at Michael Kors in merchandising, my boss at that time was the fashion director at the company and it was all about making the brand consistent, so I got to see every aspect of the brand and got an amazing education there. I moved on to real estate and really learnt the ins and outs of running a business. Then I worked at the fashion agency SWW Creative with Stephanie Winston Wolkoff – she is an amazing mentor to me. All these experiences led me to my label. I always wanted to make sure that I was prepared to run my own label, I’m sure I’ll make mistakes just like everyone else, but I wanted to get a good education in running my own business prior to starting
Who is the Stephanie Rad Girl?
That is so hard for me. At the end of the day, she’s the woman who has too much on her plate and she travels quite a bit – whether for work, pleasure, or with her family. She’s the woman whose purse is always a little too big because she’s constantly running around. I think she’s someone who wants to be comfortable; she’s chic and comfortable with who she is. Because she’s comfortable with who she is, she’s sexy, and she can make my clothes what she wants them to be.
Pants are at the center of your label, why is that?
I love the look of a real trouser, and I had difficulty finding something comfortable and had enough stretch to hold everything where it’s supposed to be. And I didn’t just want a basic pair of pants, I wanted ones with an elevated design.
I have seven different pairs of pants in my collection and I think there’s something for everybody. It’s funny that my mom picked out the same pair of pants as my 18-year-old cousin. I like for things to fit everybody.
There is an extra 2 or 3 inches in each pair of pants that allows you to make alterations if you’re a little taller because I know it’s a little harder for taller women to find great pants.
Everything fits everybody. I wanted to create a great staple.
In a few words, what does beauty mean to you?
I think we can all agree that beauty is from the inside. If your content, you will glow, but I love the beauty industry for giving us a helping hand. We may sometimes lean on our make-up a little too much, but it allows us to fix that one thing that may not be quite right and I love that.
. As told to Stacey Chia
