Do you think you would be excellent at deciding what stars wear in advertisements, red carpet appearances and music videos? Can you combine outfits with the best of them? Would you like to lift a celebrity’s bags? If you agreed, you might make a good fashion stylist.

Not familiar with the job title? Look around. Rachel Zoe, for instance, is a fashion stylist who stars in her own Bravo show, The Rachel Zoe Project. Her clients have included Kate Hudson, Cameron Diaz and Lindsay Lohan, and others. Then there is Clinton Kelly, co-host of What Not to Wear on TLC. He began with a journalism degree and worked at fashion periodicals before moving up to TLC.

The job of a fashion stylist — also called a wardrobe stylist, fashion editor or star stylist — is to work alongside other experts like directors, photographers, designers, hair stylists and make-up artists to make an unique look for each and every project. Fashion stylists aren’t to be confused with costume designers, who put movie, theater and television characters in costumes for performances, or image experts, who focus on more non fashion elements and may represent non-celebrities.

Designers do most their work with designer-label clothing that has appeared at fashion shows. Sometimes fashion stylists and fashion designers work together to dress star clients. Some also do personal shopping for customers, rebuild their wardrobes, or do other personal services.

You might find related coursework at numerous fashion design schools, but you don’t require it or other training to become a fashion stylist. There’re two-year associate’s programs and four year bachelor’s programs in fashion merchandising, art or visual merchandising, fashion designing, and related topics. Outside of fashion design schools, there is no specific college major aimed toward entering the profession, but fashion design, merchandising, marketing, art history, photography and communications are recommended options.

For example, Rachel Zoe became stylist with no experience apart from her own fashion sense. Clinton Kelly’s just history in the sector was as a fashion writer. The most important qualities to bring to the job hunt are experience, fashion sense and marketing savvy.

The majority of stylists become stylists by learning under other stylists. An assistant usually earns between $150 and $350 a day. Various fashion stylists’ assistants do different work. While some take part in event preparations an help chose wardrobes, others do little more than basic set-up for customers.

There are various pay scales for fashion stylists. Many are paid by the hour, some by the day. Published editorial features tend to bring in the least money; advertisements and spokesperson campaigns bring in the most. Fashion editors, a type of fashion stylist who work just on editorial features, may be paid per page. Stylists may also work for flat rates or retainers under some circumstances.

A lot of stylists use agencies to book their work for them, paying the agencies 10 to 20 percent in return. The majority of fashion stylists, however, work as freelancers, taking independent assignments by referral. A skilled stylist may make anywhere from $500 a day to $5,000 a day or more.