L.A. STYLIST I PROFILE
Kitchener woman builds L.A. career guiding celebs to their best looks
Kitchener woman helps others dress their best.
AS A YOUNG GIRL, Jordan Stolch could often be found rummaging through her mother’s closet, searching for her fanciest dresses and accessories.
“They were so big on me, but I didn’t care,” Stolch recalls. “I felt amazing in them.”
That feeling was so strong, Stolch says, she soon became “obsessed with fashion.”
Whenever a red-carpet event came on television, Stolch would sit with her mother, Mary Stolch, in their Kitchener living room and closely study what each celebrity wore. She bought every fashion magazine she could find and began taking notes of designer names and researching their rise to fame.
As a teen, she hung out with fashionable friends and was often the “go to” person for their outfit choices.
“I’ve always been in love with fashion,” says Stolch, now 27. “I knew I wanted to be some kind of stylist.”
Today, Stolch can say she has achieved that goal.
She left Kitchener two years ago for Los Angeles, Calif., hoping to get her shot in the fashion industry. It ended up being the best decision she has ever made.
“As soon as I start thinking about an idea I can’t ignore it,” she says during >>
>> a phone interview from her L.A. home. “I decided there was no reason not to take a chance.”
At the time, Stolch was working as the director of e-commerce and corporate sales for Inspirations Dancewear in Kitchener. She says it was owner Amber Riedel who taught her that women can be successful in business.
In particular, Stolch says, Riedel taught her not to “place any kind of restrictions on myself or what I am capable of.”
“I don’t think there are words for how strongly I feel for her or how aware I am that she has had one of the strongest impacts on my life.”
With the thought of turning her dream into reality, Stolch started researching educational, business and financial opportunities in Los Angeles. She applied and was accepted to the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising.
The decision to uproot her life was not easy. She had to leave her family, her friends, her job. She had to move to an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar people. But if anyone could do it, it would be her. She learned a lot about being on her own as a young girl when she attended Canada’s National Ballet School in Toronto. She moved when she was in Grade 5 and stayed in a residence with other dancers for seven years. She moved back to Kitchener to complete Grade 12 at St. Mary’s High School and then studied sociology at the University of Waterloo.
“Learning to live without your parents at nine years old taught me to be entirely self-sufficient and truly reliant on myself to take care of my needs,” she says. “While other people may have been too afraid of being on their own or not having a support system physically in front of them, I knew I would be able to make it.”
As a student at the Fashion Institute, Stolch says she spent every free minute interning for fashion stylists, trying to make the right connections in such a competitive field.
When she graduated in June 2012, she landed an internship with well-known celebrity fashion stylist Jessica Paster and was chosen to help dress celebrities for the Academy Awards, the Golden Globe Awards and the American Idol competition.
“I was thrown right into it,” Stolch says. “It was so scary at the time.”
Her keen eye for detail and dedication to her work did not go unnoticed.
After a few weeks, Stolch was hired and began dressing contestants for the ninth season of So You Think You Can Dance. She also helped dress singer Taylor Swift for an award show and worked on tours for singers Shania Twain and Pink.
Recently, Stolch decided it was time to go solo and “focus on what I wanted to do as a stylist.”
Her true passion, she says, is working with new artists to help them identify an image. In particular, Stolch is fascinated by what she refers to as “music and fashion and the fusion of the two.”
“What an artist looks like really depicts who their fans are going to be,” she explains.
Since launching her solo career, Stolch has become a full-time stylist for British singersongwriter Cher Lloyd, who finished fourth in season 7 of the X Factor.
She is also working with singer-songwriter Dia Frampton, who landed the runner-up spot on the first season of The Voice. Stolch has also recently added up-and-coming musician Preston Knight to her client list.
When she lands a new client, Stolch first requests they send her visual references of
styles that appeal to them.
“I like to get a general idea of what they like. I find a lot of people can’t articulate but can show you what they like,” she explains. From there, Stolch will work with the client to find a style that suits them. She will then contact fashion boutiques and designers to borrow – and then return – clothing and accessories for her clients to wear to special appearances, such as red carpet events, photo shoots, movie premieres, music videos, fashion shows and press interviews.
Stolch says she enjoys taking risks in the fashion world when dressing her clients but only “risks that are genuine to the person. “I never want to push anything on a client because at the end of the day, they are the ones wearing it.” So far, she has nailed it. Her clients – and the press – have been pleased with her choices, she says. Still, she knows there will come a time when the media give a negative review of her choice. It’s almost expected, she says. “You have to have a thick skin in this industry where everyone is criticizing you.” While she considers herself successful, Stolch says it has come at a price. She >>
>> works long, demanding hours trying to make a name for herself. She doesn’t have time to date or socialize outside of work. And she misses her family.
“I moved my life for my career,” she says. “Right now this is the only thing I’m focused on. I don’t stop. I’m very relentless.”
Stolch says it takes a certain kind of person – a very committed person – to succeed in this business.
“A lot of people want to work in fashion, but you have to be willing to give up everything,” she says, noting that those who are considering such a career must want it “more than they want anything else. “Those are the ones who will succeed.” So far, Stolch says she has no regrets – only sheer determination to see her business grow.
“I know there is further I want to go,” she says. “I know what I want.”
And while she may live in L.A., Stolch hasn’t forgotten her Waterloo Region roots. She is still in touch with her friends and gives them free fashion advice on a regular basis.
“They send me photos all the time of outfits they’ve put together or things they want to buy in the store when they aren’t sure. I make fashion judgments very quickly, either yes or no, and they know that I will always be 100 per cent honest.”
Stolch has to hold back tears when she talks about her family, in particular her mother whom she credits with introducing her to fashion.
She says it is her family, including her younger brother and sister, who have helped her succeed in her dream.
“I miss them every day, but we talk a lot and try to stay as up to date on each other’s lives as possible. I don’t know what I would do without them. I know how lucky I am to have this amazing family who just wants nothing more than to see me succeed.”
Whenever she goes home for a visit, Stolch says her mother is waiting for her with open arms and, of course, the latest edition of Vogue.
“She’s amazing like that,” Stolch says.