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Meet the Influential Celebrity Wardrobe Stylist Joseph Hobbs Who Came from Humble Beginnings to Collaborate with the World’s Top Fashion Super Models
Growing up in rural Goldsboro, North Carolina (USA), Image Consultant turned Celebrity Fashion Stylist Joseph Hobbs could not have imaged he would be hanging out, collaborating, and making friends with the famous and influential. After all he was born in abject poverty and struggled during his adolescent years just to survive. However, as a young boy, he would often collect fashion magazines and marvel at the lifestyle associated with the glamour of Hollywood, New York, Paris, London, and Paris. Hobbs at an early age had an interest in the fashion trend outlooks given his curiosity for what was in vogue and a dream to have a career collaborating with designers and models.
Taken from his parents at an early age he lived with foster families up to the age of 15 before being sent to a children’s group home. He knew that upon turning 18 years and forced to leave the group home that attending college was the ideal path to having a stable life and a career. Hobbs put himself through college completing undergraduate and graduate school and after taking a series of career paths found himself on the road to becoming an image consultant and later a celebrity fashion stylist in Hollywood, California.
Over the course of many years working freelance image consulting and wardrobe styling projects but never given up hope of making the right connections, Hobbs got his big break. It was in 2009 he was introduced to Victoria’s Secret (VS) supermodel Andriana Lima by André Leon Talley who was an American fashion journalist, stylist, creative director, and editor-at-large of Vogue magazine. Sure, the Victoria Secret Fashion Show is focused on lingerer blue it’s called fashion for many reasons given the efforts made to produce the event much like a runway show which is covered by New York fashion photographers as well as the national and international press.
The VS show provides a great fashion trend outlook for lingerie. After walking in 20 runway shows for Victoria’s Secret, Adriana Lima who is a supermodel concluded her run in 2018. It seems that Lima was always making fashion news. Hailing from Brazil, Lima began modeling as a teen and joined Victoria’s Secret early on in her career when she walked during the 1999 fashion show. She officially signed a contract with the brand in 2000, making Lima a booking as a Victoria’s Secret Angel for the next 18 years.
Celebrity Fashion Stylist Joseph Hobbs in 2011 attended the Victoria Secret Fashion for the first time as the guest of Super Model Adriana Lima who later introduced him to the likes of models such as Miranda Kerr, Lily Aldridge, Lily Donaldson, Joan Smalls, Izabel Goulart, Doutzen Kroes, Lindsay Ellingson, Behati Prinsloo, Jacquelyn Jablonski, Joan Smalls, Sui He, Candice Swanepoel, and Erin Heatherton. Throughout her almost 20-year history with the brand, Lima wore several show-stopping looks, including giant Angel wings and even the coveted Fantasy Bra. Talking with Hobbs, he indicated that off the runway, Lima told him “what we do in the shadows as angel models come to light in the fashion shows.” Lima has sought to maintain her image by carefully selecting various designer clothing and accessories for pictures and videos.
There is a whole network of power stylists around the globe, working hard to create the looks you see on the red carpet, in magazines, and on social media. Curating a recognizable persona, from their hair and beauty to clothes and home decor, is a full-time job for some celebrities, and we all know that they may enlist various chefs, trainers, and makeup artists to help. Wardrobe stylist like Joseph Hobbs of Showbizly is another extension of what the meaning of an image consultant is: someone who can create an entire persona for someone through style. It doesn’t stop with what celebrities wear on TV or in music videos, either. Many stylists are former fashion editors who help style photoshoots and press appearances – and street style is a whole other category
Hobbs told us that on the day of the show in 2011, he had an opportunity to go backstage to see the show come together, a fashion picture in motion, to interview some of the Angels along with another hundred magazines/media outlets as well as influencers that make up fashion news. The models arrive at the venue at 10:00 am and get their hair and makeup done. Over the years it appeared the show seemed to even inspire rock and roll fashion designers. Yeah, “the music is supposed to always come first,” but don’t let anyone kid you: In popular music, a musician’s look is a very close second ask the likes of Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, and Rihanna just to name a few who wear lingerer as outer garments. While inside a fashion house near the Lexington Army in New York where the Victoria Fashion Show has taken place for years, Celebrity Fashion Stylist Joseph Hobbs of Showbizly also had a chance to meet the world-famous Victoria’s Secret Angels Miranda Kerr who wore the iconic angel wings and the $2.5 million Fantasy Treasure Bra.
Joining the models for some high-energy performances at that 2011 show were Nicki Minaj in an appropriately eye-catching get-up and Maroon 5, as well as Jay-Z and Kanye West. Hobbs told us that what blows people’s minds is that Victoria Secret does the entire show twice during the day, once at 4:00 pm and the second at 8:00 pm and it’s a remarkable fashion hour. The assumption is what if something goes wrong with the first show? So, VS will film it twice, just in case, as they want it to be perfect for when it airs a month later. People might think that lots of lingerie-clad women are every man’s dream, but the show is very much made by women, for women (70% of viewers are female). The world knows what to watch during December as the VS show is the most viewed on earth with over 250 billion social media impressions.
The last-ever show, televised in December of 2018, suffered the worst ratings in its broadcast history. But now, as Victoria’s Secret prepares to split from its parent L Brands what is today a separate public entity, it is rewriting its playbook. Its Angels are being replaced with brand ambassadors who represent all body types and ages. Its stores are getting refreshed with plus-size mannequins and lighter-colored fixtures and making the brand more accessible online. Similar brands are using the VS brand as a guide for how to earn money online with their lingerie lines. The company is also planning to test a handful of off-mall locations. According to Hobbs, not being inclusive isn’t sustainable — financially or otherwise. Cleary he was given his opinion about the VS brand as a former image consultant. One thing is for certain, as a Celebrity Fashion Stylist he can serve as an inspiration that you can overcome challenges and struggles as well as fulfill your dreams if you never give up hope.
Harper Harrison is a reporter for The Hear UP. Harper got an internship at the NPR and worked as a reporter and producer. harper has also worked as a reporter for the Medium. Harper covers health and science for The Hear UP.
