London-born Colombian fashion stylist Sophie Lopez is the professional behind the looks of Kate Hudson , Goldie Hawn, Yalitza Aparicio , and many more. Although now her clientele includes mostly female powerhouses, the Los Angeles-based stylist built a career in the industry with hard work and creativity, focusing on menswear.
While living in the UK, Lopez began working at British GQ. After landing numerous “Men of The Year” covers, she decided to conquer the always-evolving world of apparel and accessories for women.
Today, the celebrity stylist has made a name by herself to the point of also adding brands such as New York & Company, Fabletics, and Bebe to her roster.
Sophie Lopez sat down with HOLA! USA to share more details about her upbringing and if there’s a fashion line in her future.
You are the total package! A Latina from London, making it big in the United States. What can you tell us about your ethnic background?
My parents are Colombian, and they emigrated to the UK. So I was actually born in London, but Spanish was my first language. My familia is very Colombiana.
And how’s your Spanish now?
I forgot. Now it is more Spanglish, so sadly, it was my first language, but it‘s funny because I certainly lost a bit of it once I started in school and then when I went to university. But whereas my sister, she is completely fluent. I’m the only one in my family that has this sort of Spanglish thing.
After finishing your studies. How did you become a renowned fashion stylist?
Well, it’s been a long journey, so it’s basically like most people, it’s through starting right at the bottom, and then working your way up, and just, luchando as we say. It certainly wasn’t something that came about overnight. You know I’ve been doing this for almost 20 years now, so, for the first... maybe seven years, I wasn’t at a point where I was successful. I was just still grafting and still sort of hustling away. So, I’m just like most things; it just takes a lot of hard work.
Our Hispanic parents are very traditional when it comes to careers. When you told them that you wanted to pursue a career in the fashion industry, did they supported you right away?
I feel like they probably didn’t really know what that was, and I don’t think that I even at that point knew what it was. It was a time before social media, and now I feel like our jobs are so sort of exposed. Back in the day, we had sort of the Rachel Zoe’s show, and that was something that really brought into the limelight what our jobs actually were are, but at that time when I was first starting out, it wasn’t really a job that was publicly known. I knew that I wanted to work on magazines, and that’s where I started. So I could say to my mamá y papá that I wanted to work en las revistas and in the moda and that kind of thing. But really the profession of being a stylist. I feel like neither they nor I really understood what that was at that time.
Representation matters a lot, and Latinas want to be represented in every single industry. What do you do to further our culture? Do you collaborate with Latin American designers when you are dressing your clients, or at least you try to include a few Latinx pieces into the wardrobe?
I do. I like to have an eclectic mix of clothes. But obviously, there are some incredible Latin American designers out there, some really great ones. We try to support in any way we can. This year we did Latin Grammys, and we did all Latin American designers with Yalitza Aparicio — who is one of my clients. And that was a fun way of showcasing designers from all over Latin America, from Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia. When you’re Latin American, I feel like it kind of comes subconsciously. You sort of do these things, and I have a few Latina clients, and it just happens organically. I also work with She Se Puede, which is a fun organization started by Latinas in Hollywood.
How do you prepare yourself for the award season?
Big award shows preparation generally starts as soon as your nominations are out. So once I know that my clients have been nominated or that will present [an award], or they are going to attend, I would start reaching out or getting in touch with people and designers almost immediately, to be honest. Especially if you are working on custom gowns, which often happens with the big awards shows, so it would be a couple of months in advance if you‘re lucky, but sometimes there’s a little bit less time because everything’s going around.
Many fashion stylists love to collaborate with other big brands. Would you like, or are you thinking of releasing your clothing line?
Never say never to anything. Never rule out these things. I feel like if an opportunity came along, and it made sense, and it is authentic to me, then sure, but I don‘t have any plans to sort of start making my own clothing brand. I feel like I enjoy doing the styling aspect. If something came up, you would look into all opportunities.
You are an inspiration to many Latinas who want to be part of this competitive but outstanding fashion world. What would you say to them?
Follow your heart. Don’t give up; work harder than everybody else because that’s really the key. You really do have to work hard; it’s a competitive industry. And the most important thing is resilience because it’s not an easy career to get successful at. You have to sort of have that tenacity to hang in there, even when it might look like you know you’re not having the success that you’ve hoped. Just hang in there because if you work hard and be persistent, then you’ll eventually get there.
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