Patti Wilson, Stylist to Lizzo, Beyoncé and More, Honored With CFDA’s Media Award
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The indistinguishable and individualistic Patti Wilson will be honored with this year’s Media Award in honor of Eugenia Sheppard.
Beyoncé, Cher, Lizzo, Precious Lee, Shalom Harlow and Linda Evangelista are among the talents who Wilson has worked with — and that’s just as of late.
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Styling isn’t Wilson’s only metier. She is also a fashion consultant and acts as the senior contributing fashion editor at Dazed magazine, a post that she picked up last year.
Her portfolio, of course, is extensive after years of capturing some of the most influential celebrities, models and style-setters. Wilson is being saluted by the CFDA for decades of work with fashion publications, including Vogue Italia, V magazine, Elle, Vanity Fair and i-D Magazine. Wilson also recently worked with up-and-coming designers LaQuan Smith and Dion Lee to show off their respective spring collections and has a track record with many established designers.
A New Yorker, Wilson, like the city that she calls home, is known to be provocative and progressive. Unabashed in her approach, she relays a certain vividness and raw sexuality through her work. During her career she has worked with leading photographers, including Steven Meisel, Steven Klein, Mert + Marcus’ Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, Ryan McGinley, Inez + Vinoodh’s Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, Solve Sundsbo, Sarah Moon, David LaChapelle and the late lensmen Peter Lindbergh and Patrick Demarchelier.
Wilson doesn’t exclusively work with established photographers, though, and has made a point of working with rising talents, including Ethan James Green, Hugo Comte, Michael Bailey Gates, John Edmonds, Renell Medrano, Micaiah Carter, Cruz Valdez and Quil Lemons.
Musicians, actors and other high-profile notables have tapped Wilson for a range of projects, including music videos, editorial and advertising shoots, album covers and more. Through her inventiveness, Wilson has helped portray such celebrities as Grimes, Doja Cat, Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, Janet Jackson, Billie Eilish, Lady Gaga, Selena Gomez, Rosalía, Pink, Kim Kardashian, Zayn Malik, Rita Ora and Selena Gomez.
Wilson reportedly got her start purely by being herself. While working at a jazz club years ago, a photographer was floored by her personal style and asked if she could put it to use at photo shoots. That serendipity provided the start, but Wilson’s work ethic, open mindedness and style sense have set her apart in a competitive field.
Referring to a “Mad Magic Magnificent” shoot with Klein for Vogue Italia in 2014, Wilson said in an interview earlier this year, “It was crazy, and so incredible, that when it came out people were going ‘This is historical.’ That’s when I realized that people really do like to see something different, some excitement, masks, glamour, weirdness, I never was a big minimalist. I can do minimalism really well, but I have to wrap my head [around it] and there’s got to be a reason.”
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