Clowning Around With Sylvester Yiu

Megan Hill
&
Published:
05
May
2022
Updated:
22
Sep
2023
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Sylvester is a fashion stylist, creative director and consultant. Working between London and LA, Sylvester's knack for evocative storytelling has earned him work with clients such as i-D magazine and Louis Vuitton.

Sylvester Yiu—fashion stylist and creative director

In what unusual places do you find inspiration?

I am very inspired by music and theatre. I travel regularly between London and LA and they both have very different music scenes, but that's the beauty of music.

One second I feel like classical and the next I feel like K-pop—representing these ideas in a visual (styling) way is always interesting to me.

You can work with one designer and one of their collections, who are you picking?

Marc Jacobs, hands down. I would love to style his Louis Vuitton SS2008 collection. It is my absolute favourite collection to date. It was the first time I visually saw how 'art' and 'fashion' can truly work together—from the artist's mind to the designer's approach to clothing, colour, silhouettes, etc.

Who is your dream client?

If I could style one person, I’d pick Pennywise.

He’s fascinating because, out of everything he found on earth, he decided to be a clown!

How do you want your work to be remembered?

A stylist with a timeless aesthetic.

Of course, whatever I do in the present is driven by what is currently in fashion but I hope I can look back at my work after a few years (which I actually do) and still think it works!

A collection of Sylvester Yiu's work. Made in Visualist's set.new.

We asked Sylvester to share his 'bucket list concept'—the creative vision that he hopes to one day bring to life...

Namesake

One day I walked past 'Sylvester Street' in London and I thought, 'Wouldn't it be cool to have a full editorial of models being shot at their namesake streets/roads?'

This could take place all over the world! Foreign names, on foreign streets in foreign languages—it would be a long process to cast and organise locations etc. but how cool would that be!?

Dictionary definition of this concept: one that is excessively self-absorbed.

Visualist's interpretation of 'Namesake'—models pictured at streets of the same name. Made in Visualist's set.new.

If you happen to live near a street named Pennywise, reach out to Sylvester on Instagram and TikTok. Or check out more of Sylvester's work on his website.

Learn more about moodboarding in Visualist here.

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Clowning Around With Sylvester Yiu

🟧 personal styling

An editorial concept dreamt up by stylist and creative director, Sylvester Yiu, and brought to life in Visualist.

Words by 

Megan Hill

Published on 

May 5, 2022

Sylvester is a fashion stylist, creative director and consultant. Working between London and LA, Sylvester's knack for evocative storytelling has earned him work with clients such as i-D magazine and Louis Vuitton.

In what unusual places do you find inspiration?

I am very inspired by music and theatre. I travel regularly between London and LA and they both have very different music scenes, but that's the beauty of music. One second I feel like classical and the next I feel like K-pop—representing these ideas in a visual (styling) way is always interesting to me.

You can work with one designer and one of their collections, who are you picking?

Marc Jacobs, hands down. I would love to style his Louis Vuitton SS2008 collection. It is my absolute favourite collection to date. It was the first time I visually saw how 'art' and 'fashion' can truly work together—from the artist's mind to the designer's approach to clothing, colour, silhouettes, etc.

Who is your dream client?

If I could style one person, I’d pick Pennywise. He’s fascinating because, out of everything he found on earth, he decided to be a clown!

How do you want your work to be remembered?

A stylist with a timeless aesthetic. Of course, whatever I do in the present is driven by what is currently in fashion but I hope I can look back at my work after a few years (which I actually do) and still think it works!

We asked Sylvester to share his 'bucket list concept'—the creative vision that he hopes to one day bring to life...

Namesake

One day I walked past 'Sylvester Street' in London and I thought, 'Wouldn't it be cool to have a full editorial of models being shot at their namesake streets/roads?' This could take place all over the world! Foreign names, on foreign streets in foreign languages—it would be a long process to cast and organise locations etc. but how cool would that be!?

Dictionary definition of this concept: one that is excessively self-absorbed.

If you happen to live near a street named Pennywise, reach out to Sylvester on Instagram and TikTok. Or check out more of Sylvester's work on his website.

Learn more about moodboarding in Visualist here.

Visualist is a software empowering creative professionals to work, earn and scale their businesses. Learn more here.

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