By: Mike Varius
We’ve all heard the famous saying the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. Well in Miami, neither is the sand; yet for celebrity fashion stylist Steven Lassalle, better known as Lassalle he’s finding a way through the sand without sinking!
Lassalle is a celebrity and fashion stylist from New York City. During his expansive career in fashion, he’s worked on countless editorials, ad campaigns and has even designed on the micro level for independent designers, and the macro level, launching collections for national retailer Kohls and even high fashion designers like Vera Wang. Yet after 15+ years in the game, the former-designer-turned-stylist is just getting started. With his recent relocation to Miami from the buzzing New York fashion scene, Lassalle is learning more about the contrasting cities, all while learning even more about himself as he cements his roots deeper into the Miami fashion scene and builds community.
“Moving from New York and coming to Miami was like a completely different world. My mind was blown by how different things were,” says Lassalle. “My first few weeks felt like I landed straight into a new level of a video game.”
The culture shock certainly hit Lassalle hard, but his years in the industry have given him the necessary tools to adapt to the ever-changing landscape that is Miami. “It [the move] reminded me so much of [my time at J. Crew] starting a new job and having to meet a new set of people and build a whole new flow of working.”
His ability to adapt to environments, both traditional and fresh, has served to Lassalle’s advantage in the past, allowing him to land senior and managerial titles with huge brands like Chico’s, J. Crew, and Calvin Klein, just to name a few.
A simultaneous leader and student, Lassalle is constantly evolving and looking for the next experience to take his creative eye and styling to the next level. He’s served as fashion editor for publications like Loot & Riot, The Driven Magazine, QP Magazine, and Civillian Magazine, where he was tasked with finding the newest trends and the hottest emerging designers.
His move to Miami began as a challenging test for Lassalle, who jumped into the tropical Miami weather with the New York state of mind. He quickly realized that a pivot would be necessary to survival, so he became a student once again, and tapped in local talent by appointing emerging Miami designers to assist him in adjusting to the fashion scene, all while providing unique styling and career experiences to them in return. These emerging talent — spanning several ages, backgrounds, and generations — gave Lassalle a crash course on the current scene.
“A teacher has no minimum age, I’ve learned so much from my talented and ambitious team, some of them are even half my age, he says. “I see a lot of my younger self [at fashion school] in some of these designers. I remember how bad I wanted a future in fashion at that age.”
Many of these students are looking for their big break, just as Lassalle was finding his own style at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT). While at FIT, Lassalle studied fashion design and art. He spent years testing styles and learning the basics of design which led him to create his very own vision.
With the launch of his showroom, House of PR Style, Lassalle has granted emerging designers with rewarding placements – featuring some of their pieces in editorials and magazines like Numero, L’Officiel, and Nylon and in also music videos and award shows. But even more significantly, he’s establishing a community: “It’s super important to open doors for those behind you. I may not have gotten here without the help of so many mentors in my life, so it’s only right for me to pay it forward for the next generation of stylists and designers.”
The House of PR Style features collections from emerging and establish fashion and accessories designers, couturiers, and even has its own in-house design team, often being tapped to design custom pieces for some of today’s biggest artists.
With several years of styling experience under his belt, Lassalle has worked with notable Grammy-award Winning artists like Alicia Keys, and Wyclef Jean, and has styled the next generation of stars like Keke Palmer.
We never quite know what he has up his sleeve or what his next plan is, but we do know one thing: whether in the bustling concrete jungle that is New York, or sizzling South Beach of Miami, there is no city that can hold back the creative passion that fuels Lassalle. You can check out his work on www.stevenlassalle.com or Instagram @stylebylassalle
